African Americans and Hispanics/Latinos are very familiar with the skewed judicial system in America. It starts from interactions with police officers [not all officers but more than a handful are more than willing to use excessive force and assume guilt without provocation] and it just gets worse from there. The Rodney King beating, the Sean Bell murder, the Amidu Diallo incident are all just a few examples of what happens far too frequently on a daily basis throughout the nation.
Then the court system takes its turn. Routinely Black Americans, and many other minorities and the poor to a somewhat similar degree, receive guilty verdicts far in excess of the average for any other group. The comparison of similar charges have shown for decades in multiple studies that Black Americans are convicted far more readily than other racial groups. Statistically this is beyond just chance, the bias is acknowledged on a governmental level. The sentencing of African Americans exceeds those convicted of similar crimes by a decade on average, to my knowledge. [If there is a lawyer or researcher that can provide a more definitive answer, please contact me with that information.]
This is bad enough, but then we often see celebrities and entertainers that get to have the same charges as the average American, but they receive a slap on the wrist. R. Kelly has delayed his trial for sex with a minor for 5 years, Snoop Dogg was not allowed to travel to England because of the fight he had in an airport, multiple rappers, musicians, and actors get to avoid jail, repeatedly, for drug convictions by going to rehab facilities. Various celebrities and entertainers of all types in the entertainment industry have been given the least harsh treatment by the law that we could not. Just think of what happened to R. Kelly, Mr. Sean Penn, Mr. Christian Slater, Mr. Tom Sizemore, Snoop Dogg, DMX, Mr. Bobby Brown and his estranged wife Whitney Houston, Mr. Mel Gibson, Mr. Charlie Sheen, Sir Paul McCartney, Ms. Michelle Rodriguez, and so many others it would be a post of its own.
But then there is Paris Hilton. Given that this silver-spoon trust-fund inept woman only qualifies for this list as she is famous for being clueless and exceedingly rich. Even so, she was convicted and sentenced to 45 days in jail. Maybe the jail sentence wasn’t fair, but I know if I were sentenced to go to jail for 45 days, my family couldn’t get an opportunity to meet the governor to get me pardoned. Political pressure could not be applied in my benefit. Hell would sooner freeze over than I would be released to home confinement. Especially if I only served roughly 3 days of the full sentence.
Continued in part 2 ...
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