Saturday, July 21, 2007
The Genarlow Wilson Case
There are significant developments in the Genarlow Wilson case, a circumstance fraught with racial implications, in which a then-17-year old was sentenced to ten years in prison for having consensual sexual relations with a 15-year-old girl. The Georgia Supreme Court has heard elements of Wilson's appeal dealing with whether the sentence is constitutional and whether or not Wilson can be freed on bond while the appeals process occurs. The tntransigence of the Georgia Attorney general's office in this case has been appalling. Not quite Mike Nifong/Duke lacrosse-case-appalling, but of a similar ilk of legal irresponsibility, personal arrogance, moral inexplicability and general unjustifiability. The racial implications merely add to what would still be an outrageous injustice.
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5 comments:
You're aware that the Chief Justice of the state Supreme Court and the state's Attorney General are both African Americans -- its highest elected black officials -- right?
Yes, I am in fact aware of both of those facts. I'm also aware that the Supreme Court that first heard Wilson's appeal for a writ of certiori the vote was 4-3 denying, with the four votes from the white justices and the three from the black justices. I am also aware that the Douglas County District Attorney's Office has proven utterly intransigent, which I should have pointed out. I am alo aware that whatever the racial makeup of the state's AG's office, by not helping expedite Wilson's release they are engaged in a travesty.
But I was unaware that black public officials are incapable of making mistakes and that we are not allowed to call them on it.
dcat
Ah, I don't think I said that last part. One of the benefits of having highly placed African American officials, however, is that it complicates the call of "racism." What happens may be unjust and a travesty, but it isn't simply a racist one.
Ralph --
I agree fundamentally -- it is not only racism at work. There is careerism. There is a sense of a legal process that reigns above all so that the black AG values process over justice. There is the overzealous local leadership. There is the bizarre situation where what was once a felony is not a misdemeanor.
I think the racial implications start at the local level -- I cannot help but wonder why this case? I'm willing to assert that in every high school in the country 17 year old guys are having consensual sex with 15 year old girls.
But surely race plays a role. And also class. And just bad luck. It's an awful situation. In any case, I hope the court allows him out on bond during the appeals process.
dc
What does it matter that two of the state officials are black? Racism and bigotry can take place within one’s own ethnicity. “Oh they are black, then it’s ok for the teenager who received a blowjob from another teenager to serve hard time.” Yes, that is good judgment because young black men never serve time for acts that their white peers get away with. This same reasoning is driving the failed War on Drugs in the United States where many poor and minority Americans are jailed because they cannot afford a lawyer. Of course President Bush can simply refuse to answer questions about accusations regarding cocaine use in his past, before he discovered his favorite philosopher, Christ Almighty-give me a break.
Yes, the teenage high school kid must be guilty because if a Black official is working for the system, then all racism is checked at the door. Black cops do not feel any pressure to be harder and meaner in order to gain acceptance from their white peers. That is brilliant. By the way I am guilty of the same crime. And to prove it, find a Mexican American cop to arrest me and a Cuban American judge to convict me.
Jaime
http://cyberhacienda.blogspot.com/
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