While we're thinking about the courts and criminal justice (just-us?) in the good ole U.S. of A., I want to offer a few links to things I've come across recently that you might find interesting:dna, whose blog, Too Sense, has become one of my hands-down favorites, does a bang-up job of responding to a George Will column about the new Supreme Court ruling on Brown v. Board of Education.
The Associated Press offers some veeeery interesting information about Georgia's Attorney General, who is almost single-handedly keeping Genarlow Wilson behind bars for having oral sex as a teenager with his teenaged girlfriend. The interesting thing: the AG is Black...?!?
Also in Georgia (why am I not surprised?), Troy Davis -- yet another railroaded African-American man -- remains on death row after fifteen years despite Amnesty International putting out a call to save his life.
In other mainstream news, the New York Times discusses the way the Justice Department is "reshaping" its civil rights mission. The focus is OFF racial issues now and ON the crucial rights of churches that want to benefit from special governmental protections. Be careful to read between the lines on this one and remember that the "civil rights" of African-Americans has always received short shrift from this body.
And finally, Kyle over at Immigration Orange tipped me to this YouTube film that would be hilariously clever if it wasn't so agonizingly true.
That NYT article left me speechless.
ReplyDeleteBelieve me, nothing in Georgia surprises me. I have never witnessed so much backward, convoluted thinking in my life. It's a different planet.
ReplyDeleteGreat round up and many thanks for tipping me off to too sense. I've added that on to the ever growing list of blogs I read.
ReplyDeletedna: I already knew, since I have the figures on how abysmal the Justice Department's record for following up on racial allegations is. According to a study in 2004, federal prosecutors declined to pursue federal civil rights charges in 98.7% of matters referred to them from 1986 to 2003 if they related to race. To give you a point of comparison, they prosecuted 40% of tax evasion cases and 51% of cases related to the sexual exploitation of minors. But let it be about race and it'll virtually never see a judge.
ReplyDeleteMary: It's Louisiana I've got my eye on these days, what with the Jena Six and all.
Kyle: You're welcome. ;^D He's good, huh?