Professor Randy Blazak, Criminologist - The Lynching of Leo Frank
[Editor note: Apologies for this politically incorrect post, but it is presented here on Flickr to highlight the tireless conflict between Leo Frank's detractors and defenders, even more than a century after the case began. First Trigger Warning: Insensitive language is used in the below published retort to Professor Randy Blazak, Criminologist at Portland State University. Permission granted to republish this critique by the retorting author. This post is for informational purposes only. Second Trigger Warning: The following open letter was originally published on YouTube in the comments section and has been updated, it has some very impolite language, viewer discretion is advised. Sensitive people should not read forward. Apologies to anyone offended by the republishing of this updated (version 2.0) open letter retort to RB about the Frank case, but it is presented here to highlight the contentious and controversial battle over the facts of the Frank-Phagan affair. -- Leo Frank Case Flickr Curator]
An Open Letter to Criminology Professor Randy Blazak of Portland State University (Washington State) about his Leo Frank lynching video published on Aug 21, 2009 at YouTube.com
The Source of Randy Blazak's video on YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmg16BuvCEs
Dear Mr. Randy Blazak of Portland State University,
The Leo Frank case news report
www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2017/05/22/leo-...
you promote-posted from the Washington Post authored by Jacob Bogage suggests www.LeoFrank.info 'The Leo Frank Research Library', and -- through Jewish Daily Forward derivative links -- 'The American Mercury' www.theamericanmercury.org are posting "fakenews" research analysis about the murder of Mary Phagan and trial of Leo Frank, but when I went to both of those alleged "disingenuous" websites, I learned a tremendous amount of factual information about the true crime from the primary source legal records and original 1913 newspaper account facsimiles (The Leo Frank Research Library offers almost all the Atlanta newspaper reports about the Frank-Phagan affair from April 1913 onward in PDF).
Many of the independent articles posted on these two websites give you direct links to the 1913 Leo Frank trial brief of evidence (300+ pages), 1914 Leo Frank Georgia Supreme Court appeals records (1800+ pages) and the newspaper reports from the dailies (thousands of pages): Atlanta Georgian, Atlanta Journal and Atlanta Constitution (1913-1915 is where the highest concentration of reports appear).
Thus anyone can fact check claims about this notorious case and see whether or not these websites provide an accurate portrait of what was reported to have occurred, long ago. I was quite impressed by the scholarly Leo Frank case articles published on www.LeoFrank.org and www.LeoFrank.info and www.theamericanmercury.org since I have read every monograph on the criminal case available, and there is not a single book that even comes close to the breadth and accuracy of the information provided by the above said websites.
So my question to you is this: How do we reconcile the very well written, researched and scholarly articles published on The American Mercury, with people like you, Jacob Bogage, The Jewish Daily Forward, Abraham Foxman (ADL), Mark Potok (SPLC) and others who are suggesting these "disingenuous" websites promote false narratives?
I don't consider personal attacks or ad hominem arguments against the alleged authors of these websites as a legitimate reason as to why we shouldn't fact check and explore ideas or positions that we agree or disagree with. There are no opinions or consensuses above scrutiny, including mine and yours or clusters of pseudo-scholars and fakenews journalists.
Let me break it down for you Randy: no ideas, public statements, ideologies or arguments are above scrutiny, no matter the source. And absolutely all claims made about the Leo Frank case should inspire inquiry because of the contentious nature of the affair. No history is dogma above revisionism or factchecking for that matter.
I'm actually surprised you're a criminologist by training and a professor by trade, because most of the things you said in your Leo Frank Lynching video published on YouTube, do not stand up to minimum fact checking and I wrote the specific reasons why in a separate post in the comments area of your video. I'm now going to outline them here with more details, because my response on YouTube was shadow banned by either you, or the new ADL censors on YouTube. So get ready for the Barbara Streisand Effect.
Please try to be open minded about this case and actually learn the facts from the primary sources. Don't presume that just because some activist hack journalist or activist academics make agenda based claims that they are true. Be skeptical about everything you read from all sides of the case, prosecution or defense, and try doing some original research by looking into the sources of every claim that is made about the Frank-Phagan affair you hear, see or learn.
I fact checked everything you said in your video and you are patently incorrect on numerous fronts and I provide the evidence as to why I believe you are wrong. You got a lot of homework to do, because it's obvious you don't really understand what transpired in this criminal case at even a basic introductory level. Shame on you Professor Blazak for pushing obvious false history and fake news.
Things you should know, but don't #1:
Leo Frank was never officially absolved or exonerated regarding his August 25, 1913 conviction for the murder of Mary Phagan when he was given a posthumous pardon on March 11th, 1986. The Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles officially stated that they were not going to address Leo Frank's guilt or innocence when they gave him back his right to vote (Felons can't legally vote during State political elections in Georgia) some 71 years after he was hanged on August 17, 1915 for the April 26, 1913, strangulation-murder of Mary Phagan. I learned this fact that Leo Frank was not officially absolved or exonerated of the Mary Phagan murder from pro-Frank biased sources like Wikipedia, Steve Oney and also the Ben Loeterman docudrama called People vs. Leo Frank (they state so at the very end if I'm not mistaken). You can see the biased docudrama on YouTube, here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9fRs2xd890
You should know this because you claim he was/is innocent in your video, but the evidence is overwhelming of his guilt and his conviction was never overturned to date and I doubt anyone exonerate him when they learn Leo Frank changed his alibi on the witness stand and placed himself at the scene of the murder.
Since you're a criminologist, you really should read the Leo Frank trial brief of evidence, and get your facts straight before spreading obvious falsehoods about his supposed "innocence".
Attempts for more than 100 years to have his conviction overturned have utterly failed between 1913 - 2017, maybe you should stop hiding behind racism and delve in a little deeper into why it would be an injustice to overturn his official status of guilty as charged. His coreligionists haven't given up and continue working behind the scenes even at this "late hour" a century later, still trying to subvert justice for Mary Phagan and get the Toilet-Strangler's conviction nullified.
Indisputable fact you should know #2:
Leo Frank's wife, Lucille Selig, refused to be buried next to her "Beloved Husband" (his inscription on his grave marker at Mount Carmel cemetery, Queens, NY). When she died April 23rd, 1957, her last will and testament (Registered in 1954 and present in the Georgia Archives) is evidence of this fact. I first learned the fact of this historical curiosity from Steve Oney that Lucille Selig wanted to be cremated and have her ashes spread in Atlanta (Oney, Georgia Magazine, March 2004). Oney learned about her post-passing aftermath in the early 1990s from Lucille Selig's nephew living on the West Coast of Florida. Oney talked about it in an article published in UGA's Georgia Magazine, March 2004, Features (the article is available online and you should consider reading it if you want the details). I contacted the Mount Carmel cemetery in Queens, NY, and verified that the grave left-adjacent to Leo Frank's grave is still empty. I think that empty grave sustains State Exhibit J, Magnolia "Mineola" McKnight's Affidavit, Signed and Notarized, June 3rd, 1913.
Indisputable fact you show know #3:
Leo Frank astoundingly changed his alibi on the witness stand during the final week of his trial, with an "unconscious" visit to the men's toilet in the metal room, and thus placed himself precisely at the prosecution's theory of where the scene of the crime had occurred and at the time when the prosecution proposed to the jury when the Phagan murder had likely happened. Leo Frank in soccer terminology shot an "own goal". Check out Leo Frank's "unconscious" visit to the men's toilet in his trial testimony (look in the leo frank trial brief of evidence, 1913) to explain why Monteen Stover found his office empty at the exact same time Frank formerly told police Mary Phagan was with him at his business office (See State Exhibit B and Atlanta Constitution, August 2nd 1913).
The Ugly Racist Anti-Black Anti-Gentile Framing:
The ugliest part of this famous 20th century criminal case is that the racist Leo Frank tried to frame two of his black employees, first Newt Lee the Nightwatchman and then Jim Conley (the accessory after the fact). And the ugliness of this racist framing, continues even today a century later and you're a permanent part of that ugly racist history now. Congratulations on always playing the race-card against White people, but actually being a politically racist and hypocrite yourself.
So the natural follow-up question is this: When is this ugly racist framing against Black people going to end? or is it going to drag on forever, since it's been going on already for 104 years strong and counting. Why do you pretend to be an anti-racist leftist in real life (yes I watched all your anti-White ramblings on YouTube), but have no problem framing innocent black people for a crime where there is no evidence for their guilt beyond a reasonable doubt?
Ponder this during your free time: Why do you feel comfortable framing a black man for the crime, one who actually helped the police learn the juicy details of what happened after the Toilet-Strangler raped and murdered his child laborer?
I want to get specific now because I went to the "disingenuous" Leo Frank Research Library at www.LeoFrank.info to fact check everything you said in your Leo Frank lynching video and you made a number of factually incorrect statements that need to be flushed out like the turd that won't flush.
1. At 14 seconds of your Leo Frank lynching video, you said Leo Frank was from Texas, but this statement is a little bit of a misrepresentation. Leo Frank was born in Cuero Texas April 17, 1884 and was moved from there when he was 3 months old (approximately July 1884) to Brooklyn, NY, and lived there, until he attended college at Cornell University during school terms in Ithaca, NY (September 1902- June 1906). So to say Leo Frank was from Texas, is a just a misnomer, he spent the first major part of his life in New York City from July 1884 to September 1902 and 4 years more upstate NY (Ithaca) during school terms. Leo Frank, living in Texas for 3 months during his 31 year long life span, does not make him from Texas. Brooklyn, NY was where he always called home and that was where he was raised and educated until he went off to college to study mechanical engineering in the same State. So from 1884 to 1906 he primarily lived in New York State, that's roughly 22 years of his 31 year life span. From 1908 to 1915 he lived in primarily Atlanta Georgia, or 7 years approximately. Other than some domestic vacations in the U.S., he made two transatlantic trips spending the summer of 1905 in Europe, and 9 months in Germany from late 1907 to August of 1908 apprenticing in pencil manufacturing. Compare that with 3 unmemorable goo-goo ga-ga baby months in Texas. So clearly to say he was from Texas shows a clear lack of understanding about his life and what geographic areas influenced him most significantly. Randy, do you remember anything from the first 3 months of your life on the outside from birth to 12 weeks later?!
2. At 19 seconds you suggest he was falsely accused of raping and strangling a 13-year-old girl in his employ. Leo Frank was only indicted for murder and tried for murder, not rape, but there was material medical forensic evidence testified about at the trial, indicating she had been "outraged" (raped) and Conley testified that Frank confessed to him that he wanted to be with her (have sex) and she refused (Conley's trial testimony, August 4, 1913).
You are entitled to believe whatever you want about his innocence or guilt, but who is more qualified to judge the merits of the trial, a regressive criminologist who literally doesn't even know the most elementary facts of the case and never read the trial brief of evidence, or some of the best legal minds in America at the time who could deliberate in their quiet and calm quarters? My point is this, you clearly didn't bother to learn anything even rudimentary about the affair, but act like an authoritative scholar.
In reality if he was falsely accused, why did the presiding judge Leonard Strickland Roan reject Leo Frank's appeal for a new trial on more than 100 grounds (100 is not a typo)! Why did the Georgia Supreme Court rule that the evidence presented at the trial of Leo Frank proved his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt? Why did every State appeals court reject -- in their majority and unanimous decisions -- his petitions including -- after his state appeals exhausted -- the Supreme Court of the United States? Why did the Governor of Georgia at the time, John Slaton, not pardon him in 1915, but merely gave him an equal punishment for the crime of murder at the time which was life in prison? I guess you didn't read Governor Slaton's 29-page commutation order of June 21, 1915, he never gives any indication he thought Leo Frank's trial was a sham or Leo Frank was innocent and Conley was guilty, quite the contrary, Slaton said he was sustaining the judge, jury and appeals courts in his final decision (you might want to actually read page 29 of the order). Why did the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles refuse to exonerate and absolve Leo Frank of the murder when they pardoned him in 1986? Why did Nathan Deal and the Georgia state congress in 2015 refuse to say Leo Frank was innocent when Rabbi Steven Lebow organized the Jewish community and several leading activist judges to petition the governor and congress of Georgia? There is a good video about it on YouTube by Eli Goodstein, titled "Leo Frank Doc Final Cut", published March 16, 2016. Source: www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEIv8ZQ0MAc to see how the racist hate crime hoax of anti-Semitism is perpetuated about the trial for more than a century.
You're a criminologist by training and professor at Portland State University, so you might want to actually take a break from your echo chamber to look at the evidence from alternative points of view, like The American Mercury www.theamericanmercury.org and Leo Frank Research Library www.leofrank.info that actually publish with learned commentary info about the official Leo Frank trial brief of evidence, Leo Frank Georgia Supreme Court records and original MSM newspaper reports from 1913 Atlanta.
Most of the modern books written today about this case, if they are pro-Frank, intentionally leave out 99% of the incriminating evidence presented against Leo Frank at his trial, forcing students of the case to go back to the official records from 1913-1915 to learn what really happened.
3. Circa 26 seconds you claim there was clear evidence the Black janitor (maintenance worker) Jim Conley was the real culprit, but this is absolutely not true. There is scant evidence of his guilt, in fact it was Jim Conley who partly helped the police solve the murder. Don't you think falsely accusing a black man of a crime he didn't commit is a bit racist? If there was evidence Jim Conley helped Leo Frank murder Mary Phagan he would have been tried. Read the article by the American Mercury debunking the Alonzo Mann Hoax, it puts things into perspective and context too about Jim Conley's roll as the accessory-after-the-fact.
4. You accuse the South of being Anti-Semitic, this is a racist Anti-Gentile blood libel, the South was never Anti-Semitic taken as a whole, in fact the south is the exact opposite, very philo-semitic and has always been, with only minor exceptions and exceptions are not the rule. The highest concentration of Christian and Gentile Zionists can be found in the South, and the census data from 20th century, pre-1940 shows many Jews and Gentiles married (Ancestry.com). So you're statement about the South being anti-Semitic at the time is racist, bigoted, prejudiced, anti-Southern, Anti-White, Anti-Christian, Anti-Gentile and just flat out blood libel. All of this excepting Tom Watson, who obvious wrote some anti-Semitic statements about Leo Frank's Northern media supporters in his Watson's Magazine, January, March, August, September and October of 1915 (you should read them or listen to the free audio books of them online at The American Mercury, you might learn a thing or two from a seasoned attorney vastly more intelligent than you and more knowledgeable about the Frank case than the average hack criminology professor). Those ad hominem statements by one man doesn't make the entire South anti-Semitic. You're totally stereotyping the people of the South from 100 years ago based on the statements of one populist politician and it's totally false and racist that you're doing so. The population of Jews in the South has steadily risen over the decades, proving the broad claims of Southern anti-Semitism are nothing but ugly blood libel against the Southern peoples. This however does not exonerate the South of generally treating Black people as far below second class citizens.
5. At 58 seconds, you say the Governor John Slaton was convinced of Leo Frank's innocence. If Governor John Slaton was convinced of Leo Frank's innocence why didn't he pardon him? I guess you never read any of John Slaton's papers, because he absolutely never said once in his life Leo Frank was innocent in any direct quotes documented. You either made that up or just regurgitated the claim from one of Leo Frank's activist defenders.
Where you aware that Governor John Slaton was the law partner of Luther Rosser who represented Leo Frank at trial? Are you aware that Governor Slaton was part-owner of the Law firm that represented Leo Frank at his trial? Do you not see that as an illegal conflict of interest and betrayal of the Georgia and U.S. Constitution for the Governor to pardon his own law client!?!?
6. Circa 135 seconds you said half of 3,000 Jews who lived in Georgia fled the state, this is categorically false, the census data from 1910 and 1920 is now in the public domain (Ancestry.com), and the Jewish population actually increased between this time in Georgia, not decreased by half, so you are stating fake news and false history, like you do throughout most of your entire video. Half the Jews of Georgia did not leave the state during the decade between 1910 to 1920, you are promoting an ugly racist anti-Gentile smear.
7. Circa 141 if I heard you correctly, you said the 1915 lynching led to the founding of the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, this is fake news and fake history if you stated so. The Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith was founded 2 years earlier in October of 1913, and some Jewish sources claim that it was the conviction and death sentence of Leo Frank the B'nai B'rith president of Atlanta, is what galvanized the founding of the ADL by B'nai B'rith in 1913, NOT 1915.
8. Leo Frank wasn't lynched right where you were standing in the video, he was actually lynched about 300 feet in front of where you are facing in the video -- just for your own edification. In other words, the lynching historical marker is not the exact location or even "near" where the lynching happened.
Should we presume your PhD dissertation is also filled with academic dishonesty? Does your PhD dissertation need to be publicly fact checked and the results published on the Internet? Because you seem to have a real problem with the truth when it comes to criminology and you're a university professor charged with the task of educating students to boot!
Most of the facts you present in your Leo Frank Lynching video at 1200 Roswell Road are objectively misrepresentations, fake news, false history and show that you never actually did any real original research into this case, but just repeat what you read from hack journalists and fakenews historians.
My challenge to you is this:
Listen to the free 2015 audio book at The American Mercury, 'The Murder of Little Mary Phagan' by Mary Phagan-Kean the great niece (1989), read by Vanessa Neubauer (the entire audio book is available FREE) and also listen to the 'Leo Frank Trial' (which is now in the process of being released, in weekly segments) at the same website and by the same orator.
The American Mercury and Leo Frank Research Library have produced the best researched and scholarly articles about the Leo Frank case anywhere on the Internet, and you should try reading alternative sources of information, instead of basing your entire world view on the words of politically correct ivory tower of ignorance pseudo-scholars or from information that you learned via fake news journalists and false news historians, which you parrot like a Muppet in your video. You clearly don't have even a basic understanding of the case and you are originally from Atlanta and a criminologist by training, WOW!
And please be my guest and censor or delete my response to your video on YouTube, suppress the truths I have presented here, and I promise you this will be revised, upgraded, enhanced and posted on major discussion forums as a gargantuan long winded open letter. So be a coward if you want and ignore me, and censor me or delete me, but you obviously only know made-up anti-Gentile version of this famous criminal case and you are very obviously a neo-Marxist anti-White self-loathing professor from the interviews I have watch of you online. You have the right to be whatever you want, but it's obvious your biases make it impossible for you to be a genuine criminologist who seeks the truth.
I don't claim to be the ultimate authority on this case, but I can easily fact check what people claim and I too have come to learn I don't know everything about this affair either, but when I discover something I stated was wrong, I at least try to correct myself. What I have stated above is not the last word on anything either. I'm open to discussion, improving my understanding and willing to revise any statements that can be improved or not accurate.
However that being said, you just GOT FACT CHECKED and POWNED for objectively being a bona fide pseudo-scholar.
Best Regards.
Vincent Tucci, Brooklyn, NY
PS: I don't claim that any research is the last word on this case, but it's definitely inspiration for discussion. Here's some reading material handy for you Randy:
Leo Frank: The Coroner’s Inquest Into The Mary Phagan’s Murder Mystery, May, 1913
theamericanmercury.org/2015/08/leo-frank-the-coroners-inq...
100 Years Ago Today: The Trial of Leo Frank Begins, July 28, 1913.
theamericanmercury.org/2013/07/100-years-ago-today-the-tr...
The Summer of 1913 Leo Frank Trial Week One
theamericanmercury.org/2013/08/the-leo-frank-trial-week-one/
The Summer of 1913 Leo Frank Trial Week Two
theamericanmercury.org/2013/08/the-leo-frank-trial-week-two/
The Summer of 1913 Leo Frank Trial Week Three
theamericanmercury.org/2013/08/the-leo-frank-trial-week-t...
One Hundred Years Ago Leo Frank Mounts the Witness Stand on August 18, 1913.
theamericanmercury.org/2013/08/100-years-ago-today-leo-fr...
The Summer of 1913 Leo Frank Trial Week Four
theamericanmercury.org/2013/09/the-leo-frank-trial-week-f...
Leo Frank Trial Closing Arguments, August, 1913: Luther Rosser, Reuben Arnold and Frank Hooper, 1913
theamericanmercury.org/2013/10/the-leo-frank-trial-closin...
Closing Arguments of Prosecutor Hugh Dorsey at the Leo Frank Trial, August 22, 23, 25, 1913
theamericanmercury.org/2013/12/the-leo-frank-trial-closin...
Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith (ADL): One Hundred Years of Jewish Hate, October 1913 – 2013
theamericanmercury.org/2013/10/adl-100-years-of-hate/
An Empty Grave in NYC: The Amazing Story of Mrs. Leo Frank, Lucille Selig (1888 - 1957).
theamericanmercury.org/2015/09/the-amazing-story-of-mrs-l...
Leo Frank Pardon (1982 - 1986): The Astounding Alonzo Mann Hoax and ADL-led Posthumous Pardon of Leo Frank
theamericanmercury.org/2015/09/the-astounding-alonzo-mann...
Leo Frank Case Analysis, Centennial of Mary Phagan Murder: One Hundred Arguments Why Leo Frank is Guilty
theamericanmercury.org/2013/04/100-reasons-proving-leo-fr...
Professor Emeritus of Judaic Studies: Leonard Dinnerstein’s Pseudo-history About The Leo Frank Case
theamericanmercury.org/2012/10/the-leo-frank-case-a-pseud...
Review of Tabloid Style Journalist Steve Oney’s, 'And The Dead Shall Rise': Who Really Solved the Mary Phagan Murder Case?
theamericanmercury.org/2012/10/who-really-solved-the-mary...
New Audio Book: The Murder of Little Mary Phagan by Mary Phagan-Kean (1989), read by Vanessa Neubauer (2015)
theamericanmercury.org/2015/12/new-audio-book-the-murder-...
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U.S. Senator From Georgia, Tom Watson, Five Part Series on The Leo Frank Case, 1915:
A Mercury Exclusive: Introduction to Tom Watson on the Leo Frank Case
theamericanmercury.org/2014/03/a-mercury-exclusive-tom-wa...
Tom Watson: The Leo Frank Case, January, 1915
theamericanmercury.org/2014/03/tom-watson-the-leo-frank-c...
Tom Watson: A Full Review of the Leo Frank Case, March, 1915
theamericanmercury.org/2014/03/tom-watson-a-full-review-o...
Tom Watson: The Celebrated Case of The State of Georgia vs. Leo Frank, August, 1915
theamericanmercury.org/2014/03/tom-watson-the-celebrated-...
Tom Watson: The Official Record in the Case of Leo Frank, a Jew Pervert, September, 1915
theamericanmercury.org/2014/03/the-official-record-in-the...
Tom Watson: The Rich Jews Indict a State, October, 1915
theamericanmercury.org/2014/03/tom-watson-the-rich-jews-i...
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