The New York Conspiracy Trials

Fear causes hatred, hatred causes violence. This was more evident in the New York slave conspiracy trial in 1741. Just like Salem Witch trial violence, a series of natural environments combined with words from one or two of the lower classes of society caused hysteria and bloodshed. This situation is vulnerable in modern standards and is also very fragile in the standards of the 1740s. After two slaves robbed the store owned by Rebecca Hogg, rumors of conspiracy began.

A series of rapid tests were conducted at the City Hall, known as the New York Conspiracy Test in 1741, and the government executed 17 New Yorkers. Thirteen black men were burned publicly, others (including four Caucasians) were hanged. 70 slaves were sold to the West Indies. There is little evidence that a well-designed conspiracy exists as New Yorker imagined. The events that happened in New York in 1741 show racial division between Britain and the United States and the panic between white caused great violence and oppression against terrible slave population. Finally, the conspiracy experiment further promoted white rule and power between enslaved New Yorkers.

In a book about Sacco and Vanzetti's trial, Herbert B. Ehrmann talks about how the American legal system is intertwined with Massachusetts' justice and social leaders. His conclusion likewise applies to New York's conspiracy trial in 1741 and other trials in many other periods. So, the problem for us is not what kind of person the defendant is, but what kind of person we are.

New York Panthers, Sundiata Acoli experienced a two year imprisonment waiting for the Panther 21 conspiracy trial. He and his colleague were eventually prosecuted innocently. The case is historical, a typical case where the police and the government are trying to neutralize the organization by imprisoning their leaders. On May 2, 1973, Sundiata Acoli, Assata Shakur, Zayd Shakur were ambushed by state police on the New Jersey toll road and attacked. Asata injured and Zaid was killed. During the gun battle, state police officers were shot in self-defense. Sundiata was tried and convicted in a massive hysteric environment, but there was no reliable evidence that he had killed a soldier or participated in a shooting. He was sentenced to 30 years imprisonment