I just have to wonder. The legal system in America is skewed. If you are rich, you are set. You can get away with almost any crime. From Ted Kennedy to Robert Blake, it’s happened time after time. But that is not the only problem.
If you happen to not be a White American you can expect even more problems. As I noted in a recent post
“But young White males are dangerous. High school shootings? White males. Most petty crimes, the same. Nooses hung from trees and various other places? White males. ‘Redneck row’ and other whites’ only places enforced by White males. Bensonhurst, and so on and so on.”
But that danger is only a start. Because if you are non-White and on trial for a crime, the chances are you will be convicted (most assuredly if the victim was White) and the penalty will be more severe than a White person under the same circumstances.
Take Mr. Genarlow Wilson, a teen that had sex with another, though younger, teen on a consensual basis. In fact the female was the aggressor. Yet due to her age Mr. Wilson was convicted of rape, and sentenced to 10 years in prison. After 2 years, the courts finally overturned the sentence as extreme cruelty versus the crime, and the underlying law has been changed.
In the Jena 6 case, the boys involved were charged with attempted murder. The White male involved had previously provoked the altercation in a fight the day prior (allegedly hitting one of the Black males with a bottle), was knocked unconscious in the case in question, and went to a dance the day of the incident. That does not sound like attempted murder. That’s a lopsided fight and the White teen lost. Bails in this case were set so high as to guarantee the incarcerations of the Black teens. There are more issues with the case but I think the point is made.
And of course there is the case of Ms. Megan Williams. She is the woman from West Virginia that was raped, tortured, stabbed, hair pulled out, boiling water poured on, choked with a noose and more by 6 Whites (3 men, 3 women of various ages). That entire story, and the subsequent arrest, the denial of Hate crime status, and a recent march to draw attention to the injustice have received 2 minutes of attention and have been buried by the major media.
My point is that there is a fascination, and a need for the legal system to prove, that non-Whites are dangerous. It’s a troubling fact that most of the roughly 200 million White Americans never have to question as it never applies to them. But the media feeds this fear daily.
The Jena case was ignored for months. The Wilson case was unheard of by major media for years. But the OJ Simpson case has never stopped being discussed since the trial started. For 2 days now, the leading story (at least at Fox News) virtually every hour has been some aspect of the OJ Simpson case. Virtually every reporter I’ve heard has referred to the prior trial and has tactfully alleged (though not crossing the legal line of making a direct statement) that OJ was guilty of the original murder trial. They forget to state that he was found innocent, and thus IS innocent. Under the same nature of coverage, Senator Ted Kennedy should be referred to as the ‘the alleged murderer Senator Kennedy.’ That of course does not happen. Every time there is a murder of a married woman, references to Robert Blake are not drawn.
Right now OJ is in pre-trial. There is no question he will go to trial. There is a small chance he will win the trial. Small because though he has a very high priced defense (which is uncommon for an African American to start with) which should allow him to win under the skewed nature of the legal system, the media has been trying him for over a decade.
If this were a White man, and he was arguably set up by a less than credible Black male (who illegally taped entrapping conversations prior to the event) in an event organized by the Black male – most would say he would walk. If every other person involved was given immunity from prosecution or deals on their crimes, most would say this was prosecutorial bias, and an attempt to railroad the White male. If it were stated that the intended crime was told to the FBI with plenty of time before hand, and they did nothing, many would demand the White male be released from this set-up.
But OJ is Black, and he got his lucky win against the legal system already.
I want criminals prosecuted for their crimes, regardless of skin color or income level. I want justice for victims without thought of race or where they live. But more than that, I want a legal system that is balanced. If that means that the rich have an advantage, then all rich people have that advantage without race being a factor. I’m no idealist. If the system is flawed, as all systems are, I at least want it flawed equally. If violent crimes get overly-harsh penalties all convicted should get that.
But we cannot trumpet how wonderful our system is, and I do think it is the greatest in the world, when we enact inequality on a daily basis. We are the greatest, but we can be greater. Don’t you think so?
1 comment:
As a business ethics speaker, I often find people who feel that the rich and famous can avoid the consequences of their choices. They site O. J. Simpson as evidence.
I tell them that they are wrong. At least that’s my opinion. Just because we don’t see the consequences of our choices in the time frame we feel we should - doesn’t mean that we will avoid the consequences. We won’t and can’t.
Before I had to face the outcome and consequences of my unethical choices, I, too, thought I could avoid the consequences. In fact, I began to believe that there weren’t any. I rationalized that my behavior was no, in fact, illegal. I was wrong!
I entered Federal prison and emerged a stronger person. But make no mistake…there were consequences to my actions. I speak about them regularily to corporations and associations around the country. Every choice has a consequence and certainly I am living proof.
O. J. will get his day in court and I trust that justice will prevail - regardless the outcome - guilt or innocence. Let us not forget, however, every choice has a consequence.
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