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Speaker 1: On today's episode. If I didn't know, maybe you didn't either.

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Speaker 1: I have a question. How many of y'all knew that?

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Speaker 1: In nineteen fifty one, the United States pulled off the

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Speaker 1: largest mass execution for a single crime in modern history. YEP,

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Speaker 1: Seven black men in Virginia gone, just like that. They

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Speaker 1: were called the Martinsville seventh. I didn't know. Maybe you didn't.

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Speaker 1: I didn't know. Maybe I didn't know. I didn't know.

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Speaker 1: Maybe you didn't I did. I didn't know. I didn't know.

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Speaker 1: I didn't know. Now I know what you're thinking. Damn

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Speaker 1: what they do? Well, they were accused of raping a

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Speaker 1: white woman. There's some debate about whether they were guilty

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Speaker 1: or not. Some folks like, nah, they did it, and

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Speaker 1: there's others like, but where's the evidence? Though? Either way,

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Speaker 1: the real crime here was how fast the system moved

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Speaker 1: to snatch their lives. Let me break it down for you.

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Speaker 1: These men were arrested, interrogated with no lawyers, just some

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Speaker 1: cops breathing down the next screaming at him like sign here,

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Speaker 1: and when you got no rights, no support, and you're terrified,

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Speaker 1: you'll sign anything, confessions, check evidence, crickets. Then they get

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Speaker 1: dragged in front of all white juries in a segregated courtroom.

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Speaker 1: Y'all know what that meant. It was over before it

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Speaker 1: even started. The trials were done in days. They got

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Speaker 1: sentenced to death faster and you can uber eat a

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Speaker 1: four piece Supreme Combo from Bojangles. Appeals ignored, and in

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Speaker 1: nineteen fifty one, Virginia said next and put them in

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Speaker 1: the electric chair. Seven men, two days? Can we pause

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Speaker 1: for a second? Two days? Men, I've seen people wait

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Speaker 1: longer for an oil change. Now fast forward to nineteen

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Speaker 1: eighty nine. We all know about the Central Park five right,

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Speaker 1: Five black and Latino teenagers accused of attacking a white

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Speaker 1: woman in New York. The current president of the United

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Speaker 1: States took out a full page add on them. They

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Speaker 1: were interrogated the same way. No lawyers, no parents, just

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Speaker 1: a room full of cops, like write this down if

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Speaker 1: you ever want to see sunlight again, buddy. They confessed

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Speaker 1: to crimes that they didn't commit, got thrown in prison,

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Speaker 1: and it took thirteen years and DNA evidence to clear

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Speaker 1: their names. But the Martinsville seven, they didn't get those

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Speaker 1: thirteen years. They didn't get Netflix documentaries or avaduvine directing

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Speaker 1: their story, they got two years, a sham trial, and

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Speaker 1: an electric chair. Seventy years later, though, seventy years later,

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Speaker 1: Virginia was like, oh my bad and pardoned them. Pardoned

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Speaker 1: them after their families had already lost everything, Like what's

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Speaker 1: a pardon gonna do? Give them free Wi Fi in

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Speaker 1: the afterlife. And here's the kicker. Some people still argue

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Speaker 1: about their guilt, like, well, maybe they did it okay,

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Speaker 1: but even if they did, seven death sentences, trials rushed

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Speaker 1: like a thirty minute lunch break, where's the humanity? The

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Speaker 1: Martinsville seven and the Central Park five are two sides

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Speaker 1: of the same dirty coin black men sacrificed on the

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Speaker 1: altar of white. But be ye not confused. These stories

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Speaker 1: ain't just about the past. They're about what's still broken

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Speaker 1: in the present. And I didn't know. Maybe you didn't either.

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Speaker 1: Listen up, man, if you love this series, you can

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Speaker 1: now listen to us every single week starting in March,

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Speaker 1: for all types of things that I didn't know. Maybe

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Speaker 1: you didn't either. Did you know snails have two thousand

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Speaker 1: teeth at least and they're all on their tongue? Or

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Speaker 1: did you know that Julia White Erkle was supposed to

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Speaker 1: be Rudy in the Cosby Show, but then Keisha Knight

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Speaker 1: Pulliam pulled up and sprinkle some black girl magic on

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Speaker 1: it weekly starting in March. I didn't know. Maybe you

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Speaker 1: didn't either. Make sure you're following the show on the

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Speaker 1: Our Heart app so that you can hear more. Okay, Bye,