The Racist Trials

Accusations and punishment

"Court is now in session. Will the defendant please stand? Goodwife Redd, you are accused of scathing racial dialogue hurled at the young plaintiffs. How do you plead?"

"Not guilty, your honor," the dirty blonde-haired woman answered. 

"She lies! She lies!" screamed a youth from the opposite side of the room. 

"She did utter at us the vilest of names in regard to our skin!" cried another, clutching her hands to her face. 

"Goodwife Redd mocked us as people and spoke cruelly of our heritage!" shrieked a third youth, standing and collapsing forward.

"Order! Order!" called Judge How. The youth continued to yell, seemingly in pain, before making an effort to settle down. 

"Goodwife Redd, can you deny the behavior of these young people before you?" Judge Topp asked. 

"I can say nothing about their conduct, your honor, other than discipline appears sorely in need."

"She does strike at us with her words! She calls for us to be pummeled within an inch of our lives!"   

 

"Make her stop! Make her stop! She beats us! She beats us!" 

"Order! Order! Goodwife Redd, we cannot have this behavior occurring in our society today. Will you not spare these youth your venomous words and show them mercy?"

"These youth conduct themselves as they deem fit. I have nothing to do with it, nor have I with them. My life is separate from them."

"Goody Redd pushes us away from her presence! She banishes us to darkness!"

"We are swallowed up in the pits of misery!"

"Goodwife Redd will not set us free! Help us! Oh, mercy on us!"

"Goodwife Redd, if you will not undo the torture you inflict upon these most unfortunate youth with your words of hate, this court has no choice but to sentence you to be punished as deemed necessary!"

"Why would you perpetrate such nefarious acts, Goodwife Redd?"

"I have done nothing, your honors. Tis the children themselves with mischevious impudence who perpetrate this foul display."

"Nay, my lord. I did hear her! The children speak true!"

"Order! Order!"

"Goodwife White, you speak falsely! I have done nothing to these children!"

"Silence, Goodwife Redd. Goodwife White, you have sufficient evidence to substantiate your claim?"

"Aye, my lord, I did hear Goody Redd say to young Tron that he was a misfit befitting his geneology, Trina is unaware of her parentage and Trey bears the mark of illiteracy."

"Is this true, Goodwife Redd?"

"Whatever I have spoke of the infidels is truth, M'lord. I bore no falsehoods."

"She berates us before society! She denies us any form of equal standing!"

"Am I not a youth ordained to be a capable young man as much as anyone else, your honor, without enduring the wickedness of Goody Redd?" 

"Order, young Trey. Be at peace!" 

"I cannot, your honor, as long as Goody Redd imbues this hatred within me. I must act out with no remorse to my fellow man!"

"Order! Order! Goody Redd, how can you deny the harm you inflict upon these youth?"

"Tis not of my doing, your honor!"

"Tis Goody Redd who harms us! Goody Redd and others!"

"Goody Redd and her clan to curse us and strike us down. Make them stop!"

"Goody Redd, who are these others who assist you in these racist acts?"

"I know of no other contributor, your honor!"

"She lies! She does speak her vile racism with Goody Watts! Goody Watts is just as racist!"

"Order! Order! Goodwife Watts, come forward!"

"Your honor!"

"Come forward as the court instructs, woman!"

"Stop her! She does look upon us with scorn and malice! She hates us! She casts us into the filth and mire!" 

"Goodwife Watts, are these charges against you true? Are you a racist?"

"Nay, my lord, I know not of what the children speak!"

"She lies! She hates us! She showers us with her condescending pity!" 

"Goody Watts and Goody Redd are racists among us, your honor! Punish them accordingly!"  

"Your honors, I cannot speak for Goodwife Watts, but I have done no misdeed unto these troubled youth! if anything, I would only seek to offer them guidance and discipline in the ways of our land."

"Goody Redd lies! She wants us banished from the village, turned out with the cattle, have us stricken from existence, so she may see us no more!" 

"Goody Redd soars with the winged bats and fowl in the air, high above our heads, looking down upon us with utter contempt!" 

"Goodwife Redd, the court can do nothing for you unless you confess your racist deeds. Do you admit to being a racist?"

"I do not, your honor."

"She lies!" came a voice from the back. 

The congregants turned to see who spoke. 

"Who are you, woman? Identify yourself!"

"I am Hara, former servant to Goodwife Redd."

"Hara, what --?"

"Silence, Goodwife Redd. Do you have evidence, woman?"

"I do, your honor. Goodwife Redd did work her evil on me when I was in her employ. She struck at me when I failed her commands or disobeyed."

"She was my servant, your honor, as old John is your manservant. We must chastise them however necessary to get proper work from them."

"Is this true, old John?"

The massive black man standing near the door answered, "aye. His honorable Judge Topp does indeed punish me severely if I perform the wrong task."

"The judge does attack us with his racist knives as well!"

"He strikes at us with no regard! He binds us with his viciousness!" 

"We are helpless to the judge's treachery!"

"Judge Topp, the witnesses do accuse you of racism as well!"

"Order! I am the judge and the law-giver! I cannot be accused of racism!"

"Judge Topp burns our skin with his racism!"

"He sets our flesh on fire! Make him stop!"

"Bailiffs, remove Judge Topp from the bench!"

"Judge How, you cannot do this!"

"Judge Topp, you are accused of racism! How do you plead?"

"No!"

"How do you plead?"

"I am no racist, Judge How! You know this!"

"The victims do say otherwise, Judge Topp!"

"Lies!"

"Judge Topp sends his lackeys to deliver suspicion and cruelty upon our doorstep!" 

"We are bound to Judge Topp's designation where we may venture and can go no further. We are unable to escape!"

"These are lies! I will stand for no more!"

"Silence, Judge Topp! Goodwife Redd, Goodwife Watts, Judge Topp, you have been accused of being racists. How do you plead?"

"Not guilty, your honor!"

"Not guilty, your honor!"

"Not guilty!"

"They lie about their actions! They hurt us!"

"Order! Order! -- Goodwife Redd, Goodwife Watts, Judge Topp, if you will not confess to this horrible deed you have inflicted upon the land, the court has no choice but to see to it you are sufficiently punished to the fullest extent for your crimes. Your status in our community will be stripped from your being, you will be returned to the humblest of your origin and you will start over with your existence until you are deemed sufficiently worthy of any regard once more. Court dismissed!" 

"What a minute, your honor."

"What's that?"

"Young Trey, young Tron, you have qualms with the verdict?"

"Yes, yes, your honor. We are harmed on a daily basis during our productive years and this is all the punishment they get? They lose their jobs?"

"Goody Redd and Goody Watts are housewives. They don't have a job!" 

"Order, children! Clearly you have greater animosity within you to be tended to that you will never be satisfied with any form of retribution given to Goodwife Redd, Goodwife Watts and Judge Top, so the court will see to it that they will be removed from your sight to harass you no further and transferred to far side of the village upon the hillside." 

"They're being moved to a higher up neighborhood? Is that right?"

"You will not question the rulingns of the court, young Trey. The case is dismissed. You shall suffer no more." 

The patrons all flowed out of the building, leaving Trey, Tron and Trina standing alone. 

"Come, children," Hara summoned to them. "We shall leave this atmosphere."

"No," old John said. "We'll leave this building, but we will never leave this atmosphere. Ever."