Another comment from our anonymous friend in Paris.   I am willing to post any responsible commentary; so if you have something to add please contact me.

Alan Bean

More happy news from Paris

 Because of my profession and circumstance, I probably know a few things I shouldn’t know and, because it is hard after a time to remember what’s in the public domain and what is private, I should keep my mouth shut. That’s hard because this is a sad problem and I really don’t know how it’s going to end. Everyone on this email distribution list is a “white” progressive Democrat–shame that I felt compelled to add “white”. Everyone of them worked hard to elect members of congress and other representatives with 80% plus NAACP ratings in place of members who scored in single digits. All of them believe in and promote civil rights and civil liberties. All of them supported Obama for President. And all of them are angry, frustrated and saddened over the current state of affairs. If Witt’s goal was to polarize the community he could not have done a better job.
Chuck Superville is not some hillbilly county judge. He’s a skilled attorney with an Ivy League education and a CPA on the side. He was not looking for an opportunity to send a young person to jail. Had he (or pretty much anyone else) known what was going on at TYC, he would not have sent either child. As you well know sometimes a judge has to play the hand he’s dealt and that’s what he did.

Witt’s argument about proportionality doesn’t hold water because the fact situations, circumstances and case studies were not similar–but it does hold emotional power. I cannot overstate that from the start these were legal matters with everyone involved–lawyers, judges and case workers–trying to do their jobs and reach the right results. In that regard, local constituencies, both black and white, generally believed that the conclusions were just. To that extent this is a manufactured controversy driven primarily by the Trib.

And what of Shaquanda? She has gone from being a very troubled child to a cause.

We have all had the experience of dealing with people–both adults and children–who have either been consistently told or come to believe nothing is their fault or their responsibility. It usually doesn’t work out very well. There is a quite limited market for that sort of person and, as the job of being George W. Bush is already taken, I’m not sure how it will work out for Shaquanda.

I can’t type fast enough to save the world–a function of age–but I’m more than willing to maintain this communication because I care and am very concerned about the outcome. Polarization tends to drown out the voices of reason on both sides so people like Witt become “Jesus killers” and those like me are part of a conspiracy of “town leaders” full of “falsehoods” and the teams are set. Nobody really wins. Progress loses. We’ll see how this game plays out.