Indianapolis Recorder, Indianapolis, Marion County, 19 April 1997 — Page 2
PAGE A2
THE INDIANAPOLIS RECORDER
SATURDAY, APRIL 19,1997
EDITORIALS
Juvenile courts are at times arbitrary and unfair We are told that the juvenile male prison population has increased nearly 30 percent in the last five years. The popular perception is that most of those incarcerated are more violent and murderous than previous generations of youthful offenders. Overcrowding seems to be a chronic problem in both the adult and the juvenile systems, at least that is what we are being told. When we consider this information, we can then assume that the Indiana Boys School must be full of hardened young criminals. The truth is that the Indiana Boys School has always been used to do a variety of things. In some cases it is used to punish youngsters who have committed serious crimes. In other instances it has been used to punish unruly boys who a local judge thought needed to be taught a lesson, even though the act that bought the boy before the court was not serious. Things like trespassing or getting into a minor fight at school. Unlike the adult system, where incarceration is most often reserved for the most serious offenses, the juvenile system has been used in a variety of what most would consider to be unjust ways. The incarceration of Lawrence North High School student Tony Wong is an example of the inconsistencies of the juvenile system. At the discretion of the juvenile court Wong has been sentenced to the Plainfield Juvenile Correctional Facility for two months for an offense that an adult would barely have to spend a night in jail for. This response falls into the “let’s teach him a lesson” type of sentence that only the juvenile system can consistently enact, because there is little of no oversight of juvenile judges in Indiana. Most judges do the right thing most of the time even though they have much broader power over juvenile offenders than most people realize. In the Wong case, in our opinion, the judge did the wrong thing. It makes us wonder how many juveniles are incarcerated only because they ticked off a judge. And'since it can cost $15,000 to $30,000 to lock up a juvenile for a year this is no bargain for the public. Tony Wong was arrested twice for trespassing. This was in connection with anti-fiir protests that were staged at a shopping mall. Such activity is certainly a nuisance, but it is hardly worth sending a juvenile to jail for two months under the guise of a probation violation. This is just too convenient, he must have really ticked off the judge. In addition, Wong has staged a hunger strike and as a result has been force fed by Department if Correction officials. This is an extreme reaction to a crime which is hardly extreme. In fact there are many Americans who believe that the staging of protests are a legitimate expression of citizens rights. Certainly under similar circumstances adults are not treated in this way and to us, this raises questions about the integrity of the juvenile justice system. How often is the sweeping discretion of the juvenile court abused? How often do juveniles spend time in jails for trivial offenses that would hardly merit fines in adult courts? As in the Wong, case is it the purpose of the juvenile court to teach juveniles that they should not protest things that they think are unjust? It would have made more sense to sentence young Tony Wong to community service. Every day convicted adult thieves are given community service or fmes while Wong has lost 20 pounds and is being force fed. They need to let this young man go home today before he becomes seriously ill. There is absolutely nothing right about this situation. The judge who sentenced Wong appears to have acted like a juvenile.
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Riding on the wave of Tiger
It isn ’t everyday that one gets to see a major moment in AfricanAmerican history. It isn’t everyday when one can experience the end to another symbol of racism. But, it happened last Sunday, just before 6 p.m. Indianapolis time, when Tiger Woods put on that Masters green jacket aschampion!. Like many African Americans, I don't usually watch TV golf. But you and I and millions of others watched and witnessed a virtuoso display of grit, guts, golfing skill, athletic prowess and determination, the likes of which hasn’t been seen in years. Ever since he was a child, Eldrick Tiger Woods dreamed of the day he’d triumph on the historic greens of the Augusta National Golf Course. Tiger’s determination, and the determination of his African-American father Earl and his Asian-American mother Katilda that their son achieve his dreams, is the personification of the American Dream. I wasn’t around when Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier 50 years ago this April. I wasn’t around when Joe Louis smoked his opponents. I wasn’t around when the NFL and the NBA desegregated. In watching Tiger Woods humble the Masters, setting records that only Woods may break; I experienced the pride and
joy African Americans felt when Joe Louis won his fust title or defeated German Max Schmeling. I enjoyed the happiness and exhilaration African Americans felt when Jackie Robinson took the field for the first time with the Brooklyn Dodgers. I felt all those emotions and more watching Tiger tame Augusta! Woods’ victory came in the world of golf — America’s last bastion of WASPish superiority. Golf revolves around the country club, an institution where the rich and powerful play golf, form relationships and cut deals. Even into the 1980s, country clubs continued to exclude Catholics, Jews, Asians, Hispanics and Blacks. Until 1990, the Augusta National Golf Course, home of the Masters, was an all white establishment. The Professional Golfers Tour, embarrassed that the host of golf’s most prestigious tourney couldn’t find a Black member, put intense pressure on Augusta to in-
tegrate. Augusta begrudgingly did, admitting Ron Townsend, head of Gannett’s Television Station Division. And, though occasionally a Black PGA professional like Lee Elder competed in the Masters, no African American (or Asian American) had ever seriously competed for the Masters title. Until Tiger Woods. A young man I first read about, several years ago, in a New York Times article, about a Black golf prodigy. Never, in my wildest imagination did I think Woods would achieve what he’s achieved. Tiger Woods setting new records at golfs most important tourney, is like a team winning the Super Bowl by 70 points; or scoring 200 points in an NBA Final. And his accompl ishments are even more significant when you consider the nature of golf. It’s not a team sport like basketball or football, where an individual can be a superstar, but still needs help from teammates to win. Golf requires individual skill, intelligence, drive and guts; qualities Tiger Wopds exhibited time and again. He’s the superstar golf s needed. Golfs a sport dominated by player§ who’ve been around for 30 years; a sport that hadn’t developed stars for the 21st century. Until Tiger. In his victory, through his de-
meanor, Woods showed a maturity far beyond his 21 years; a sense of character, grounding and history • something rich young Black football, baseball and basketball stars lack! The pressure of playing in the Masters, the mdst prestigious golf tourney in the world is awesome. Yet, Woods remained cool, calm, collected and unruffled. When shots went awry, he turned his frustration into a positive on the next shot. Tiger may only be 21, but he plays golf with a knowledge of the science and geometry of the game befitting someone who has studied and played the sport since a toddler! I’m proud that Tiger publicly paid tribute to those African Americans who paved the way. In interviews before and after his win, he thanked and acknowledged Charlie Sifford the first Black to play professional golf and Lee Elder the first Black to play in the Masters. How many of today’s rich, pampered Black athletes don't acknowledge African Americans who sacrificed to make possible their current success? Tiger Woods breaking the Masters barrier came during the week America remembered the accomplishments of Jackie Robinson, another Black man who broke racial sports barriers and set sports records with determination, class, intelligence and professional demeanor. As the TV commercial says. We are all Tiger Woods, just as We are all Jackie Robinson. Heard in the street The racial glass ceiling in Indianapolis TV has developed another crack, this time at WTTIR-TV 13. For the first time in a decade, an African American holds a major news decision-making position at the station. Ralph Robinson is now Channel 13’s Executive News Producer. Robinson comes to Indianapolis from WDIV in Detroit, a quality news station. I only wish I’d heard about Robinson’s appointment from top Channel 13 officials, not just from Blacks in their newsroom. Next week, a group of Black and white city leaders gather together to discuss race relations in Indianapolis. Whether we like it or not, race relations in this city are getting worse, not better. It’s high time, way past time, for Indianapolis community leadership, Black and white, to publicly step up to the plate and create concrete steps on improving race relations in Indianapolis. In this space next week. I’ll put my ideas for some concrete steps on the table — publicly! See ya next week.
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There*s no justice in racist exclusion
“African Americans face a paradox when it comes to crime and justice. As a group, African Americans suffer severely from crime in their communities. Yet, they have learned, justifiably, to mistrust the governmental institutions charged with fighting crime.” So wrote Christopher E. Stone, executive director of the nonprofit Vera Institute of Criminal Justice, at the beginning of his incisive essay on African Americans and the criminal justice system for our publication The State of Black America 1996. Nothing more sharply illustrates Stone’s point than the release last week of a 10-year-old training film showing Jack McMahon, a candidate for district attorney of Philadelphia who was then an assistant prosecutor, advising young prosecutors how to lie to judges and exclude Blacks from juries. On the film, McMahon, who is now a defense attorney declares that prosecutors should exclude Blacks from poor neighborhoods because they’re “less likely to convict. There’s a resentment for law enforcement. There’s a resentment for authority.” Later, he also said that prosecutors should automatically exclude young Black women from juries. While, McMahon also said on the tape that the prosecutors should also exclude teachers, social workers, doctors and “smart people” — categories which, of course, include sizeable numbers of African Americans likely to get called for jury duty—African Americans were the only group singled out by their ethnicity for automatic exclusion. The tape was made shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Blacks could not be excluded from juries on account of their race. So, the training session was, in effect, a primer
on how to subvert the Supreme Court decision. The case is complicated for a host of reasons. One is that the film was released by McMahon’s opponent, the incumbent district attorney, Lynne M. Abraham. Abraham said the tapes only recently came to her attention and she released them because she was “ethnically, morally, and legally” bound to do so. McMahon called the release a campaign trick. Further complicating matters is the fact that Abraham herself in the past has made comments about Blacks some considered to be racist. Legal experts say that McMahon’s comments on the tape may force the retrial of nearly a score of cases McMahon successfully prosecuted and dozens of cases prosecuted by his colleagues during the 1980s. And the tape’s release comes against the backdrop of the huge Philadelphia police drug corruption scandal, in which nearly 300 jail sentences had to be overturned because police were found to have planted evidence against innocent people, extorted money from dragdealers, and stolen drags for both resale and personal use. McMahon, for his part has vigorously defended his comments on the training tape, contending that he was just being “realistic.” “I don’t apologize for it Jury selection... is a strategy between two sides. And demographics are always used by DAs, by defense attorneys, by professional consultants. It’s done today. It’s going to be done tomorrow."
Some lawyers and law professors have said much the same thing. It almost sounds rational — until you come back to the recommendation that Blacks be excluded because they are Black. The astonishing element in this controversy is not the revelation of the ingrained, widespread systemic bias In jury election — or other parts of the criminal justice system. Blacks have known of and protested against that for decades. No, the astonishing part of this has been the widespread acknowledgment that it exists — followed by a figurative shrugging it off as just “the reality.” But this must not be shrugged off. This is an abuse of power. This is a denial of the rights of law-abiding African Americans to play a proper role in the safe-guarding of the community. And it is a denial of the rights of the accused— who are assumed to be innocent until proven guilty to a properly-constituted jury. This further evidence that African Americans and others are right to distrust the criminal justice system has to be remedied, not only in Philadelphia, but everywhere else. It can start with prosecutors and others realizing that — yes, obviously we do have to say it — African Americans, just like other Americans, are more than just a reflection of their economic class or the neighborhood in which they live. Perhaps a good training exercise for fledgling prosecutors and defense lawyers alike would be a mock trial in which they’re subjected to the same kind of exclusionary practices they now so readily practice. Perhaps then, they’d be better equipped to resist the lure of old-fashioned racist practices and concentrate on seeking justice.