Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. Quotes
A pun does not commonly justify a blow in return. But if a blow were given for such cause, and death ensued, the jury would be judges both of the facts and of the pun, and might, if the latter were of an aggravated character, return a verdict of justifiable homicide.
Holmes, Oliver Wendell. The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table, Phillips, Sampson and Company, 1858, p. 13.
Describing events in the battle of Talishatchee, where Tennessee soldiers under General Andrew Jackson wiped out every one of the adult male Red Stick Creek Indians in the settlement in retaliation for their massacre of the population of Fort Mims:
It was common then for people to die in tenements as a result of shoddy construction, poisoning by sewer gas, and unsanitary conditions. As the result of the efforts of reformers like Riis and Theodore Roosevelt health inspectors were appointed and errant builders went to jail—in some cases for manslaughter.
The United States has agreed to this treaty. The principle is part of the law in most states except Florida and a few other jurisdictions which have adopted “stand your ground” legislation.
Given that the Black population is less than 15 percent of the total, the odds against this occurring by chance is less than 100 million to one. The problem was then very hard to solve in that in most cases the cause was not anti-Black hostility. Rather it was that most police—including some Black police officers—were more fearful for Black males relative to white males and perceived themselves or the public in mortal danger much more often with Blacks than with whites in similar situations. Much of this was a historical societal bias and fear of Black males and much was the result of the disproportionate media depiction of violent Black males.
He was threatening to shoot another Texas State Legislator, Ramon Romero, with whom he had been brawling on the floor of the Texas House of Represenatives. Rinaldi had claimed that all the Hispanics who were protesting the bill he was supporting were Illegals and called ICE. Romero objected to the Racial Profiling and generalization of many Hispanic Citizens whose ancestors were Texas Citizens when Texas became a Republic.
Oliver Wendell Holmes was an American physician, poet, and polymath based in Boston. Grouped among the Fireside Poets, he was acclaimed by his peers as one of the best writers of the day. His most famous prose works are the "Breakfast-Table" series, which began with The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table (1858). He was also an important medical reformer. In addition to his work as an author and poet, Holmes also served as a physician, professor, lecturer and inventor and, although he never practiced it, he received formal training in law.
