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IDKMYDE: Martinsville 7 · The Breakfast Club

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: On today's episode. If I didn't know, maybe you didn't either.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: I have a question. How many of y'all knew that?
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: In nineteen fifty one, the United States pulled off the
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: largest mass execution for a single crime in modern history. YEP,
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: Seven black men in Virginia gone, just like that. They
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: were called the Martinsville seventh. I didn't know. Maybe you didn't.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: I didn't know. Maybe I didn't know. I didn't know.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: Maybe you didn't I did. I didn't know. I didn't know.
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: I didn't know. Now I know what you're thinking. Damn
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: what they do? Well, they were accused of raping a
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: white woman. There's some debate about whether they were guilty
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: or not. Some folks like, nah, they did it, and
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: there's others like, but where's the evidence? Though? Either way,
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: the real crime here was how fast the system moved
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: to snatch their lives. Let me break it down for you.
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: These men were arrested, interrogated with no lawyers, just some
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: cops breathing down the next screaming at him like sign here,
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: and when you got no rights, no support, and you're terrified,
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: you'll sign anything, confessions, check evidence, crickets. Then they get
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: dragged in front of all white juries in a segregated courtroom.
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: Y'all know what that meant. It was over before it
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: even started. The trials were done in days. They got
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: sentenced to death faster and you can uber eat a
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: four piece Supreme Combo from Bojangles. Appeals ignored, and in
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: nineteen fifty one, Virginia said next and put them in
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: the electric chair. Seven men, two days? Can we pause
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: for a second? Two days? Men, I've seen people wait
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: longer for an oil change. Now fast forward to nineteen
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: eighty nine. We all know about the Central Park five right,
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: Five black and Latino teenagers accused of attacking a white
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: woman in New York. The current president of the United
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: States took out a full page add on them. They
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: were interrogated the same way. No lawyers, no parents, just
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: a room full of cops, like write this down if
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: you ever want to see sunlight again, buddy. They confessed
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: to crimes that they didn't commit, got thrown in prison,
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: and it took thirteen years and DNA evidence to clear
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: their names. But the Martinsville seven, they didn't get those
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: thirteen years. They didn't get Netflix documentaries or avaduvine directing
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: their story, they got two years, a sham trial, and
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: an electric chair. Seventy years later, though, seventy years later,
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: Virginia was like, oh my bad and pardoned them. Pardoned
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: them after their families had already lost everything, Like what's
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: a pardon gonna do? Give them free Wi Fi in
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: the afterlife. And here's the kicker. Some people still argue
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: about their guilt, like, well, maybe they did it okay,
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: but even if they did, seven death sentences, trials rushed
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: like a thirty minute lunch break, where's the humanity? The
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: Martinsville seven and the Central Park five are two sides
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: of the same dirty coin black men sacrificed on the
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: altar of white. But be ye not confused. These stories
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: ain't just about the past. They're about what's still broken
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: in the present. And I didn't know. Maybe you didn't either.
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: Listen up, man, if you love this series, you can
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: now listen to us every single week starting in March,
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: for all types of things that I didn't know. Maybe
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: you didn't either. Did you know snails have two thousand
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: teeth at least and they're all on their tongue? Or
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: did you know that Julia White Erkle was supposed to
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: be Rudy in the Cosby Show, but then Keisha Knight
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: Pulliam pulled up and sprinkle some black girl magic on
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: it weekly starting in March. I didn't know. Maybe you
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: didn't either. Make sure you're following the show on the
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: Our Heart app so that you can hear more. Okay, Bye,