Reflections on “Murder on a Sunday Morning”

Race and class are powerful forces in our culture today. Having a certain race and class can increase or decrease your opportunities in life. People can be falsely labeled and categorized because of a stereotype about their race, which causes a vicious cycle of inequality. Brent Butler found out how powerful the forces of race and class can be.
One of the aspects of the Brent Butler case that most surprised me was the fact that he was beaten by a black detective. The detective went as far as hitting Brent Butler and even threated him with his gun in order to get a confession out of Brent Butler. My first reaction was why a black detective would intimidate someone of his own race, Brent Butler, into signing a confession for a murder.
I believe one of the reasons the detective took these extreme measures is because of the his experiences with the force of race and class throughout his life. One of the first things the detective said to Brent Butler was “Its niggers like you that give us a bad name.” Blacks in the police force can be subjects of racism. “I remember having a conversation with a captain, and he sat me down and gave me the spiel about, “I want you to know one of the criteria is that you have to have a thick skin. If you can’t stand being called a nigger and still do you job, you don’t need to be here because you’re gonna get called all kinds of names”” (RCL pg. 229). The detective also would have experienced inequality as a direct result of these forces throughout his life growing up. Whatever the source, the detective felt very strongly that he was put at a disadvantage in life because of the forces of race and class which cause inequality. He felt that the driving sources of these forces were people like Brent Butler, giving blacks a bad name.
In addition to the race and class aspect of the detective motivation to get a confession from Brent Butler, the media also played a role in adding fuel to the fire. Since it was a white woman on vacation that ended up being murdered the media was all over this story in Jacksonville, creating a lot of pressure on the investigation to find the murderer. After a couple of hours the investigation, acting on their preconceived prejudice notions, rounded up black people from the street who seem like they could have been involved with this murder. Brent Butler was one of the victims of the strong demand for justice, which was fueled by the media in Jacksonville. Once Brent Butler was positively identified as the murderer by an eyewitness the detective thought Brent Butler was guilty. Acting on his emotions, the detective was angry that once again a black person is giving his race a bad name which was being broadcasted in the media. The media caused his anger to escalate to the extent that he hit and threated Brent Butler into signing a murder confession.
It turned out that Brent Butler was on his way to fill out a job application the day he was labeled as a suspect in a murder. Just because someone is a certain skin type or they live in a certain neighborhood they can be automatically labeled as a murder suspect. This case shows just how powerful the forces of race and class can be.
Duane Fuhrman