Assault at West Point: The Court-Martial of Johnson Whittaker
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Assault at West Point is a 1994 television production about Johnson Chesnut Whittaker, the first black cadet at the United States Military Academy, and the fiasco trial that followed concerning the assault he suffered.
The film features Samuel L. Jackson, who portrays a lawyer who defends Whittaker.
[edit] Plot
The movie starts with an older Johnson Whittaker who, along with his sons, is protecting his house against KKK members. A reporter arrives and asks Johnson about the attack and also informs him that they have a file on him at the newspaper. Johnson then starts telling his story. He begins by saying that he knew about the difficulty of being the first black cadet in the West Point Academy and that because he was the first one he had to succeed so that others would be inspired by his story.
The assault on him by fellow cadets quickly made its way into the press and gained massive attention. Richard Greener (played by Samuel L. Jackson) is a lawyer who has lived with racism himself, being a black Harvard alumni. He is willing to defend Johnson at the trial. His partner, Daniel Chamberlain, does not share his determination but has a different agenda - acquiring more fame.
The trial begins and Chamberlain seems not to follow any of Greener's ideas. The prosecutor, Major Asa Bird Gardiner, cross-examines Johnson who manages to escape his tactics. On the final day when the decision is to be made one of the judges whose vote they hoped for is missing. The older Johnson remembers that when he saw the judges coming in and there were only three, "It broke my heart since I knew we lost the trial." The judges find Johnson guilty of assaulting himself so as not to participate in the exam, which was two months after the event and one month before graduation.
Greener insists on sending a letter which Chamberlain refuses to sign. Greener goes to the courtroom to deliver it, but he is stopped by the guard who hits him. The film now returns to the reporter who asks the older Johnson what happened next. He tells him that he went on to become a principal at a school while Greener is now a retired citizen. He also informs the reporter that Chamberlain later on went to defend lynching and that it never happened. "People will sometimes do anything to gather fame," states Johnson, to which the reporter replies, "No wonder what hidden agenda he was carrying." The film ends with the reporter telephoning the newspaper and telling them to hold the first page as he has the appropriate story.
