BROWN/WILSON TRIAL IS UNFAIR

There is reason for all of us to be concerned about what is happening in Ferguson, Missouri; it is not the case but the way it has been handled that has deeper meaning for courts of law. What is happening there that is so wrong has to do with the way the media, the police, the town government, the county, the state government, and even the federal government is reacting. A police officer shooting a young man, ostensibly in the line of duty, was a straightforward event. Or, was it a case of a racially motivated murder of a criminal under the guise of law enforcement. Established law enforcement agencies should easily unraveled the details of the shooting using long tried and accepted investigative techniques. Although, now no one seems to accept the details, there is no reason to suspect that the authorities have not done their job. However, each “special interest” group, and there are many, seems to be looks at the same details differently; each has there own bias. The point of this post is that the result of all of this is that this shooting is challenging our system of jurisprudence at a very fundamental level. Justice, in this case will never be universally accepted; thus, can never be done. There is more than a thumb on the scales of justice; the scales have been broken.

Justice relates to a genuine concern for peace and respect for people. A cursory look at the synonyms for justice is revealing:

Fairness, fair play, fair mindedness

Equity, evenhandedness, impartiality, neutrality

Objectivity, honesty, righteousness, morality

No one will or can deny that each special interest groups wants to twist the meaning of each synonym to their own liking: they do not want fairness, equity, or objectivity unless it agrees with their preconceived notions.

So, what is the problem. The problem is not only the sudden expanse of the special interest group to nation wide scope. This fact reflects the widely held nature of the underlying beliefs as they relate to race relations and our relationship to officially sanctioned authority figures in our society; the young man the officer shot was black and the police officer who shot him, was white; those are the only verified facts. I am not so sure the offending police officer’s gender or race would make a difference but as it now appears, I have to believe it would have lessened the furor. Of course, the police reaction to the initial up cries in that community added to the notoriety of the case.

My biggest fear is that what has happened in Missouri reflects what is also happening across America but is more or less hidden. I thought racism was becoming less and less and was becoming less and less violent, which I still believe. The level of violence is certainly less; however, the expression of violence seems to be going from vicious open expression by a few to a more hidden expression by many. It is moving from the KKK, lynch mobs, and Jessie Helms’s brands of racism to the Thom Tillis brand of racism. In other words, it seems to be creeping from open expression in the streets into hidden expression in our system of jurisprudence. Who among us have heard about Judicial override, a judge can override a jury sentence of life in prison and turn it into a death penalty, in Alabama, for example, is leading to the execution of black people?

A note of caution for all of us; we can find racism wherever you look for it. I overheard a close friend in Belize in a deep discussion with a retired navy man who was complaining about the treatment he received in the navy; both were black and both expatriates from the U.S.. My friend said to his interlocutor, “You can find it (prejudice) where ever you look for it even if it doesn’t exist.” It made me think about my own attitude in respect to how Belizeans were treating me, a white expatriate. That morning a car driven by a Belizean had stopped his car in the middle of the street to chat with a friend thus blocking my passage. My knee jerk reaction was anger at being stopped; “He would not have done that to me if were a Belizean”, I raged. It didn’t take me long to calm down and realize that who I was had nothing to do with some unknown drivers actions; Belizeans stop in the middle of the street or where ever to talk to friend all the time; the words of my friend rang true. Exercise caution in your judgments about race.  

+Thom Tillis cut funding to public schools, instilled severe voter suppression laws, redistricted legislative district to concentrate black voters into a single district thus cutting the power of their individual vote. This list of transgression of this nature seems long but uniform and they are happening in states across the entire nation. The states where it is taking place have one thing in common; these things seem to be happening only in states where +Republicans control the government. This lends credibility to the idea that it is a Republican thing. I look at the various units of government, city, county, and state associated with +Ferguson Missouri and was startled to find that +Governor Nixon of Missouri is a Democrat. Was I committing the same sin I had committed in Belize that is looking for racism where it didn’t exist. My guard went up. However, after cautious consideration, I find that the police force is that city and in the county have a vast majority of white officers over black and Latino officers. In addition, I find that the governor of Missouri, by has actions, proved to be part of the problem. Although actions of this nature are taking place across the nation, one that is peculiar and revealed in this case is that it turned out that the state’s prosecutor handling the case appears to have turned the grand jury, where the jury can manipulate witnesses behind closed doors, into a trial and the indictment would be equivalent to a verdict. In this case it had racial overtones. This detail of the manipulation of jurisprudence was not evident, for example, in the Travon Martin case; however, all evidence suggest there was behind the scenes activity took taken place in respect to the Florida governments handing of that case. A jury found George Zimmerman innocent after a trial proved his guilt. These cases are only a few of the many, many trial manipulations taking place all of which any interested person can find bits and pieces of in court documents, the press, and media.               

The black community and their sympathizers counter these manipulations by taking to the streets. Notable leaders of that community add to the unrest. For example, there is a constant drumbeat for justice for Michael Brown. What is peculiar is that these leaders have instilled their belief that “justice can only be served” if Officer Darren Wilson is indicted for murder of an “innocent” 18 year old “boy”, tried, and convicted. Can anyone believe that a fair trial for either party can take place? Is a “fair” trial even possible in the eyes of the Brown family, the black community, the police forces, and seats of jurisprudence, which are the law schools across the nation, but especially in Ferguson Missouri? I do not think such a trail is possible in “stand your ground” America”. Nevertheless, the good old U.S.A. is still better than in most places around the world.

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