article_snippet.sent: It meant they wouldn't be held responsible.
article_snippet.sent: The trial had been covered extensively, and nobody could believe that the fatal beating -- with the extent of the physical wounds to McDuffie's head and body -- could be justified or excused.
article_snippet.sent: I was also afraid that such senseless violence could only derail the legitimate causes of the African-American community, causes historically advanced by nonviolent civil disobedience and through legislative channels.
article_snippet.sent: But two months ago, I agreed to moderate a panel at the National Center for Civil and Human Rights called "Riot -- The Voice of the Unheard?
article_snippet.sent: Although pegged to the past, the purpose of the panel was to examine how current events relating to police actions against African-American men could potentially lead to rioting and what could be done to prevent the purpose of the panel.
article_snippet.sent: This is a controversial part of our civil rights history that has been sanitized.