DC exoneration raises painful questions

December 14, 2012 ·

By Alan Bean

Santae Tribble spent 28 years in prison for killing a Washington DC cab driver. Prosecutors knew they had the right man because FBI forensic experts testified that a hair found in the stocking cap used by the killer matched Tribble’s hair sample “in all microscopic characteristics.”

According to the Washington Post, “In closing arguments, federal prosecutor David Stanley went further, saying ‘There is one chance, perhaps for all we know, in 10 million that it could [be] someone else’s hair.'”

That was long before the feds started running DNA tests in 1996. When Tribble’s hair was finally tested he was ruled out as the killer. By that time, he had already served the entirety of his sentence. (more…)

Catching Stones for Jesus, Bryan Stevenson

December 11, 2012December 11, 2012 · 1 Comment ·

By Alan Bean

Bryan Stevenson dedicated himself to defending death row inmates after the justice-evangelicalism he imbibed at Eastern College collided with the entitled secularism of Harvard Law School. The way he sees it, we are either throwing stones or we’re catching them. Consider this bit from late in the piece:

Stevenson turns frequently to the Bible. He quotes to me from the Gospel of John, where Jesus says of the woman who committed adultery: “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” He tells me an elderly black woman once called him a “stone catcher.”

“There is no such thing as being a Christian and not being a stone catcher,” he says. “But that is exhausting. You’re not going to catch them all. And it hurts. If it doesn’t make you sad to have to do that, then you don’t understand what it means to be engaged in an act of faith . . . But if you have the right relationship to it, it is less of a burden, finally, than a blessing. It makes you feel stronger.

Churches must choose, he says. We can be stone throwers or stone catchers. Or, after the manner of Saul of Tarsus, we can hold the coats for those who throw the stones in the mistaken belief that this absolves us of responsibility.

Stevenson draws parallels between the slave trade and the current blight of mass incarceration. He knows people, particularly white people, won’t want to hear it, but he won’t let that deter him.

Chris Hedges, who wrote this piece for the Smithsonian Magazine, is open to Stevenson’s “mass incarceration is the new slavery” argument, but then Hedges is convinced the world is going to hell before the next decade is out. Likewise, the folks who heard Stevenson’s TED talk were thrilled with his message. So it isn’t as if all white people are resistant–just the 80% of us who have never been forced to wrestle with the full tragedy of America’s racial history.

I’m not sure a full frontal assault can reach these people, but I’m glad folks like Stevenson and Michelle Alexander are giving it a go. Somebody needs to speak the full truth even if people can’t hear it. Stevenson is right, mass incarceration really does define us as a nation, as does our immigration policy.

Why Mass Incarceration Defines Us As a Society

By Chris Hedges

The Smithsonian Magazine

Bryan Stevenson, the winner of the Smithsonian American Ingenuity Award in social justice, has taken his fight all the way to the Supreme Court

It is late in the afternoon in Montgomery. The banks of the Alabama River are largely deserted. Bryan Stevenson and I walk slowly up the cobblestones from the expanse of the river into the city. We pass through a small, gloomy tunnel beneath some railway tracks, climb a slight incline and stand at the head of Commerce Street, which runs into the heart of Alabama’s capital. The walk was one of the most notorious in the antebellum South.

“This street was the most active slave-trading space in America for almost a decade,” Stevenson says. Four slave depots stood nearby. “They would bring people off the boat. They would parade them up the street in chains. White plantation owners and local slave traders would get on the sidewalks. They’d watch them as they went up the street. Then they would follow behind up to the circle. And that is when they would have their slave auctions.

“Anybody they didn’t sell that day they would keep in these slave depots,” he continues. (more…)

Gross Inequality

December 11, 2012 · 3 Comments ·

By Charles Kiker

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness . . .” (from the Declaration of Independence)

All men are created equal? Probably the founding fathers were not using the masculine term “men” in the generic sense of “mankind.” It would seem they meant men. And more specifically white men. At least few if any of them treated females or people of color as their equals.

Is a broadened equality desirable? An equality more comprehensive than that mentioned in the Declaration of Independence, to encompass all humankind, is that kind of equality something we should strive for? (more…)

Ill Fares the Land

December 11, 2012December 11, 2012 ·

By Charles Kiker

Ill fares the land
To hastening ills a prey,
Where wealth accumulates
And men decay.

Oliver Goldsmith, “The Deserted Village” (1730-1774)

Here in the Texas Panhandle, we watched Ken Burns’ documentary on the dust bowl and were reminded of the consequences of the mistreatment of the land leading to that ecological disaster. Ill Fares the Land.

Later we wasted one of the most precious commodities—far more precious than silver, gold, or livestock feed—the non-renewable water from the Ogallala aquifer. A friend who worked in the seed business frequently traveled the dirt roads of Swisher County. He said, only slightly exaggerating, that every bar ditch in Swisher County was a running creek in the ‘60s and ‘70s. Those creeks, along with Tule Creek, run no more! Ill Fares the Land.

On Black Friday people of faith participated in prayer vigils at Wal-Mart stores across the country, praying for the employees of Wal-Mart, seeking more just wages and health care benefits. Some of my family participated in one of those events at a Metroplex Wal-Mart. We were not picketing Wal-Mart. We were simply praying for their employees, and asking customers entering and leaving the store to pray for them and for other low paid workers in America. Since we were not disruptive, store management ignored us. At the end of our vigil we gave local management a copy of a letter which was sent to corporate management, asking for fair treatment of employees.

Where wealth accumulates—the average full time Wal-Mart associate earns about $15,000 per year. The CEO of Wal-Mart has compensation of over 18 million dollars, over 1,000 times as much as his average associate.

Where wealth accumulates—in 2010 six members of the Walton family had wealth equal to that of the bottom 42% of American families.

Where wealth accumulates and men decay—according to a news item in Amarillo Globe News, November 30, 2012, top executives of Hostess Brands Inc. will receive bonuses totaling up to 1.8 million dollars while they close down the company, putting 18,000 people out of work. The company has not contributed to its employees’ pension funds for the last year.

Where wealth accumulates—according to a Wikipedia article, the CEO of Goldman Sachs had earnings of 16.1 million dollars in 2011. Goldman Sachs was of course too big to fail, and received a massive infusion of low interest federal bailout dollars in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis.

It is a well-documented fact that wealth is concentrating more and more at the top in our country. And some, myself included, see that as unfair.

A Facebook “friend” not concerned about fairness asked the question, “But what is fair?”

A Federal judge, asked to define pornography, said that he could not define it but he knows it when he sees it. I cannot define “fair,” but I know “unfair” when I see it.

Hebrew law provides for a sabbatical year for land:

When you enter the land that I am giving you, the land shall observe a sabbath for the Lord. Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard, and gather in their yield, but in the seventh year there shall be a complete rest for the land, a Sabbath for the Lord: you shall not sow your field or prune your vineyard. You shall not reap the aftergrowth of your harvest or gather the grapes of your unpruned vine: it shall be a year of complete rest. You may eat what the land yields during its Sabbath—you, your male and female slaves, your hired and your bound laborers who live with you; for your livestock also, and for the wild animals in your land all its yield shall be for food (Leviticus 25:2-7, NRSV).

And for people:

Every seventh year you shall grant a remission of debts. And this is the manner of the remission: every creditor shall remit the claim that is held against a neighbor, not exacting it of a neighbor who is a member of the community, because the Lord’s remission has been proclaimed. Of a foreigner you may exact it, but you must remit your claim on whatever any member of your community owes you. There will, however, be no one in need among you, because the Lord is sure to bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you . … (Deuteronomy 15:1-6, NRSV).

And in the year of Jubilee—the fiftieth year—all debts are forgiven, and land is returned to its original owner (see Leviticus 25:8 ff.). It is important to note that in Leviticus 19:33-34 the Mosaic Law commands that the alien residing among the Israelites should be treated as a citizen.

Evidently these provisions helping to guard against gross inequality were not being observed in the time of the prophet Isaiah, circa 700 BC, for Isaiah observes gross inequality, with land and people being abused.

Ah, you who join house to house,
who add field to field
until there is room for no one but you,
and you are left to live alone in the midst of the land.
The Lord of hosts has sworn in my hearing:
Surely many houses shall be desolate,
large and beautiful houses without inhabitant.
For ten acres of vineyard shall yield but one bath,
And a homer of seed shall yield a mere ephah. (Isaiah 5:8-10, NRSV; a homer is approximately 6.33 bushels, and an ephah is .63 bushels.)

These Old Testament texts show that God was concerned with fairness to the people and for proper treatment of the land.

We cannot follow these texts literally, but it is high time and past time that we take their principles seriously!

Is the “fiscal cliff” debate a proxy for a conversation about race?

December 6, 2012 · 6 Comments ·

By Alan Bean

Are we talking about the “fiscal cliff” because we are afraid to talk about race? Imara Jones of Colorlines thinks so.

This is not your standard, “hooray for our side” culture war trope; the argument here is that the blue team is just as responsible for muddying the waters as the red team.

According to this account, Republicans gained power in the late 1970s, and have held power ever since, by arguing that programs designed to help the poor are morally debilitating gifts squandered on lazy black people. The argument proved so successful that Democrats challenged it at their peril. As Jones points out, it was a Democratic president that ended welfare as we know it.

Among Republicans, the idea that black people vote for Democratic candidates because they want welfare is deeply entrenched. But the success of the Republican “welfare is toxic” argument is best reflected in responses to the common opinion poll question about whether welfare does more harm than good. When the question for first asked in a Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll in 1995, 72% of whites, 57% of current or former welfare recipients, and 52% of African Americans agreed. The numbers haven’t changed that much in intervening years.

It is difficult to argue that the government needs to do more to help poor people of color when even the recipients of government assistance think welfare is counterproductive. Barack Obama knows that, given the current state of public opinion, Democrats can’t win this argument. On the other hand, a majority of Republicans support the idea of raising taxes on the rich, so that’s the way the argument is framed.

It might be easier to argue for compassionate budget priorities if “welfare as we know it” was replaced by programs dedicated to providing meaningful work to unemployed individuals who aren’t responsible for raising young children. Unfortunately, the jobs our economy creates for unskilled workers come with poverty wages. Walmart routinely counsels its employees in the art of applying for government-sponsored poverty programs; they know most of the jobs they advertise don’t pay a living wage. (more…)

Senator Durbin highlights the story of Friends of Justice intern, Pierre Berastain

December 4, 2012December 4, 2012 · 1 Comment ·

By Alan Bean

Senator Dick Durbin wanted to dramatize the need for getting serious about the DREAM act, so he used the story of Friends of Justice intern, Pierre Berastain to add some sizzle to his argument. Pierre, a student at Harvard Divinity School, is a wonderful example of what immigrants, documented and otherwise, can give our nation. Please check this out!

Mississippi school system slammed by DOJ report

December 3, 2012December 6, 2012 · 1 Comment ·

By Alan Bean

This article from Colorlines is based on a Department of Justice report on Meridian, Mississippi’s school to prison pipeline released in August. Here’s a brief summary from that report:

The department’s investigation showed that the agencies have helped to operate a school-to-prison pipeline whereby children arrested in local schools become entangled in a cycle of incarceration without substantive and procedural protections required by the U.S. Constitution. The department’s findings show that children in Lauderdale County have been routinely and repeatedly incarcerated for allegedly committing school disciplinary infractions and are punished disproportionately, without constitutionally required procedural safeguards. Children have also been arrested at school for offenses as minor as defiance. Furthermore, children on probation are routinely arrested and incarcerated for allegedly violating their probation by committing minor school infractions, such as dress code violations, which result in suspensions. The department’s investigation showed that students most affected by this system are African-American children and children with disabilities.

The report claims that school officials in Meridian frequently refused to supply the federal investigators with important information (more on that in the article below). (more…)

Despite Evidence From Discredited Medical Examiner, Mississippi Man Nears Execution

December 1, 2012December 6, 2012 · 4 Comments ·

Radley Balko is one of the few independent journalists in America who will cover egregious cases of injustice the mainstream media ignores. His email introduction to the shocking case of Jeffrey Havard appears below, followed by Balko’s recent article for the Huffington Post. Here’s the really scary thing about this story: an innocent man is poised to die and the mainstream press is taking a powder. AGB

Jeffrey Havard is a Mississippi death row inmate who is nearing execution, despite the fact that his conviction was based almost entirely on the testimony of discredited medical examiner Steven Hayne.

There is a particularly nasty twist in this case. Knowing Hayne’s reputation, during the trial Havard’s attorney had asked for funds to hire his own medical examiner to review Hayne’s work. The court turned him down. Now that his case is in post-conviction, the Mississippi Supreme Court won’t consider affidavits from reputable forensic pathologists (who say Havard should never have been convicted) because, the court says, such statements are evidence that should have been introduced at trial.

Radley Balko (more…)

In Memoriam: Lawrence Guyot

November 27, 2012December 6, 2012 · 3 Comments ·

By Alan Bean

I first learned about Lawrence Guyot from reading Taylor Branch’s celebrated Trilogy on the King Years. His name came up again when I researched the background of the Curtis Flowers story. Readers of this blog will know that Guyot, Fannie Lou Hamer and several other civil rights activists were beaten within an inch of their lives by men under the command of Sheriff Earl Wayne Patridge at the Montgomery County Courthouse in Winona, Mississippi in June of 1963. Three decades later, Mr. Flowers was arrested on the basis of fabricated evidence for the 1996 slaying of four people at a Winona furniture store.

A little over a year ago, I had the chance to meet the man in the flesh when he spoke at an event in Cleveland, MS sponsored by the Samuel Procter Oral History Program at the University of Florida. The civil rights icon seemed more interested in telling the students what they needed to do in the present moment than he was in sharing tidbits of civil rights nostalgia. This September, my wife Nancy and I shared our story with the Florida students.

This New York Times story captures the essence of Guyot’s amazing saga. There was nothing unusual about the man. He was not particularly eloquent or brilliant; he just refused to back down in the face of injustice. Without Lawrence Guyot’s brand of anonymous courage, the civil rights movement could not have succeeded. (more…)