Black Legion (1937)

Samuel S. Hinds: Judge

Quotes 

• Judge : Your idea of patriotism and Americanism is hideous to all decent citizens. It violates every protection guaranteed them by the Bill of Rights contained in our Constitution. The Bill of Rights, assuring to us all freedom of religious opinion, and security of person and property against the attack of illegal and extralegal forces, is the cornerstone of true Americanism, and must be jealously guarded if we are to remain a free people. We cannot permit racial or religious hatreds to be stirred up, so that innocent citizens become the victims of accusations brought in secrecy. We cannot permit unknown tribunals to pass judgments, nor punishments to be inflicted by a band of hooded terrorists. Unless all of these illegal and extralegal forces are ruthlessly wiped out, this nation may as well abandon its Constitution, forget its Bill of Rights, tear down its courts of justice, and revert to the barbarism of government by primitive violence. This would mean relinquishing everything that civilized man has won by the most prodigious effort over a course of the past five centuries. The American people made their choice long ago; their blood and their sacrifices secured for us the basic human rights: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Their wisdom built the whole structure of our democratic form of government, expressly to keep sacred and inviolate these same and human rights. It is our duty to guard them zealously if we are to remain a nation of free men. As Abraham Lincoln said, our reliance is in the love of liberty which God has planted in us. Our defense is the spirit that prizes liberty as the heritage of all men, in all lands, everywhere. Destroy this spirit, and you have planted the seeds of despotism at your own doors.