Media and justice equal? Part 2 - 6.21.2007.2

Continued from Media and justice equal?

“For the last year we have seen anger in white men about the miscarriage of justice they claimed occurred against these kids. In the last year they have had a chance to get a taste of the imbalance that can occur when a prosecutor decides he wants to go after a defendant. They got a glimpse of what Black men get all the time.”

But I am not the only voice in this matter. I have not been the only one to question the ‘innoccence’ of they boys. Has everyone forgotten that this incident started because these ‘upstanding young men’ decided that they needed to call an escort service to have women perform sex acts with a broomstick, while they engaged in under-age drinking?

“… ive decided to have some strippers over to eden 2c. all are welcome.. howerver there will be no nudity. I plan on killing the bitches as soon as the walk in and proceding to cut their skin off while cumming in my duke issue spandex.. “

Innocent of the charges but not innocent individuals, though the media has glanced way past this.

But when was the last time that Black defendants received this same level of positive coverage by the media or the justice system? What case can you name?

In the OJ Simpson case the nation displayed a

reaction to seeing how dismayed whites were when the legal system worked for a Black man in the same way that it had worked for whites all too many times. The intelligence of the mostly Black jury was questioned by the media and became a national punch line on late night television.

The Rodney King case, which prompted the riots, had many

figured the case for police brutality was pretty obvious. Everything you needed to know was right there on video. Instead many white people accepted the LAPD’s defense that King was a threat and the Simi Valley jury’s acquittal of the officers. The juror’s intelligence was never questioned the way the jurors in the O.J. trial was.

Beyond this, how many cases have we heard where an ambiguous African American was the perpetrator only to learn that the actual criminal was the supposed victim. How many times has an African American been arrested based solely on this presumption, and the media demanded their conviction with the harshest penalties only to become completely silent when the truth becomes known?

Injustice is not a Black and White issue, according to the law. Inequality under the law is a fact of life. Now that former D.A. Nifong has been quickly disbarred, the alleged rapists decried innocent of their charges, purported millions paid to their families, and the original victim discredited by the media – who have released her name and image – what happens next?

[I have to mention that I have never heard of a case, no matter the outcome, where an alleged rape victim’s name, image and virtually their address has been released to the public and promoted on several broadcasts. It was an unheard of act, but in this case, for this woman, there was an exception of what was previously a media rule.]

Will the justice system and the media start treating all defendants the same? Will Blacks be defended vigorously when potentially involved in an event? Well just observe the coverage on the missing mother Jessie Davis. Perhaps the father-to-be is guilty, but the media seems sure of it. These kinds of cases often involve someone close to the victim so it could be. But if you compare the questions and amount of coverage being directed to the father-to-be versus the coverage and questions of the man whose entire family was found dead in a car, you see a big difference.

This is what I think, what do you think?