Thread by @ScottHech

Meet Lynn. Her husband was sentenced to 34 years. 2 people on his jury voted "not-guilty." Any other state in the country: No conviction. Not in Oregon. KKK ensured minority voices could be silenced. It worked. "How many people have they done this to?"

Most think of the KKK in terms of physical violence. Intimidation. But they also used legal & legislative process to pass laws exacting legal violence. In Oregon they pushed a law to silence jurors. "Non-unanimous juries."

In Louisiana in 1898, the KKK pushed non-unanimous juries to “establish the supremacy of the white race" & “ensure African-American juror service would be meaningless.” In 1934, Oregon joined them. At the time of the law’s passage there were *34,000+ active KKK members in Oregon.

Every juror’s voice is supposed to matter. Yet Oregon & Louisiana allowed up to 2 jurors to be silenced. KKK pushed these laws to establish white supremacy. To convict whoever they wanted. Legal lynchings. It worked. Watch this powerful explainer & story:

Impact: Black people already less likely to be selected on a jury. More likely to be accused of crime. Non-unanimous juries led to disproportionate convictions. KKK got their way. Lynn & her husband suffered. "I missed his hugs. I missed his presence."

The impact of non-unanimous Jim Crow juries has not only been felt by those locked up because of them. Non-white jurors were demoralized. Attacked by their "peers." Shut up. Silenced. Cash Spencer: “It breaks my heart. The system is not built for me.”

Oregon's AG, Ellen Rosenblum (@ORDOJ), could end the racist stain of this non-unanimous jury law if she wanted to. Yet instead of joining Oregon's most powerful leaders--bipartisan--to petition the Supreme Court she joined LOUISIANA* to ask them to keep the racist law alive.

Oregon's AG, Ellen Rosenblum, could end the racist stain of this non-unanimous jury law if she wanted to. But even after the Supreme Court ruled the law unconstitutional, she kept fighting. In local courts to block people from new fair trials. Then in the Supreme Court. Again.

The result of Oregon's AG, Ellen Rosenblum, fighting in Oregon courts & arguing to maintain white supremacy in the Supreme Court: Not just a major loss on this one issue. A Supreme Court decision damaging to millions impacted by other issues to come.

But she can still do right!

Oregon AG Ellen Rosenblum can act. Right now. Her claim she has to follow the ultra-conservative Supreme Court for guidance on Justice in Oregon is both false & a supremely dangerous precedent to set. As Chelsea Clinton put it, State leaders can/must act:

Now Ellen Rosenblum is trying to pass the buck again. First she claimed she was "awaiting guidance" from the Supreme Court.

Now she wants the state legislature to tell her what to do? @ORDOJ, why won't you just use the power you have to do justice?

All Oregon advocates are asking for from Ellen Rosenblum is she stop opposing requests from hundreds still in prison. That she listen to her community, the local ACLU, Human Rights Watch, people & families directly impacted. That way, local DAs can then decide whether to retry.

Join me & a growing coalition of tens of thousands around the country in calling on Ellen Rosenblum (
@ORDOJ)-and by extension all state leaders--to use the power they have to end systemic racism. act.colorofchange.org/sign/People_st…

Please follow @stillinprison, visit stillinprison.org for more info & to take action, and join a growing chorus & coalition dedicated to justice asking Oregon's Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum (@ORDOJ) to use her power to topple this racist legal monument once and for all.