I know that some of my fans on these here blogs will take umbrage with my choice of words for the title of this piece; let me apologize in advance. It is not meant to disrespect anyone. It is simply meant to highlight in plain and unambiguous language (at least on the streets of the hoods I peregrinate), a problem that not too many want to touch; an issue that few seem to care about: the double standard of justice that permeates the courts of this land. It is meant to shock a few more complacent people into reading this and commenting. Bon apetit!
Let me preface this column by saying that I am in no way condoning or exonerating anyone in this article, especially those whose womanizing ways have caused pain to others; worse yet those who were married during their escapades. Their questionable proclivities must be condemned by me and others; and rightly so. The damage(s) caused by the actions of many in this column, have long lasting effects on families, friends, relatives, and also society at large.
About a dozen years ago or so, then president Bill Clinton, made a young White House intern (Monica Lewinsky) practice flute-blowing on his most private part. When he was caught with his pants down (so to speak) he lied to the American public in prime time and on mainstream media. At the point of this revelation, Bill Clinton was also embroiled in a court case, whereby he was being sued for sexual harassment by a government employee of the state of Arkansas (Paula Jones). The event in contention happened while Clinton was governor of that state, many years before becoming the president of the USA.
No one can say that Monica Lewinsky would have been credible against a lying president, if one of her friends hadn’t made her secure a blue dress, on which the former president’s semen stains were extractable -given contemporary technological advances relative to DNA. Ponder this for a moment before you read on.
I heard many who in their defense of the former president trivialize the fact that the relationship was somewhat coercive in nature, given Bill Clinton’s status as compared to Ms. Lewinsky’s. Some have tried to deny that Ms. Lewinsky could have been under duress (of some sort). Anyway; the bottom line was this: Bill Clinton lied under oath, and ostensibly conspired to cover up his deeds by suborning perjury amongst other things. He essentially obstructed justice. Fair enough?
Look; I am a man, and I will tell you in a minute that I am no saint. However, I do keep trying for sainthood; sometimes I feel I am getting closer; other times I am distracted/lol. I am not perfect but I strive for perfection; otherwise I would have nothing to strive towards.
I will also tell you that many many men (political and otherwise) have been taken down from their lofty perches because they had sex with the wrong person(s). Start with Adam (Eve), work your way to Sampson (Delilah), and then leap frog a few thousand years or so and come up to John Profumo (Christine Keeler). Then today we find Kwame Maleek Kilpatrick (his married female chief of staff) caught up in the same quagmire. Look, I could list hundreds of politicians who have been taken down by sexcapades (Gary Hart and John Edwards for example); the list is very very long. It will even grow in the future: there is at least a lil Chihuahua in every man. I will openly include myself in that list; but then I have never gone down some man made aisle, to pledge to vows that I knew deep down in my heart I probably couldn’t keep. Too many people engage in this absurdity; they should pay bigger prices for this.
When you are elected to public office, exemplary behavior is demanded; if only to set high standards for others to follow. As a leader much is demanded of you, much is given to you, and much is expected of you. High on the list is fealty to the laws of the land. If you disagree with a particular law, you agitate and fight to change it: it’s that simple (yet difficult); you don’t just break the law on some whim or fancy.
Kwame Kilpatrick is the black 38 year old mayor of Detroit; Michigan. He is a lawyer. He is also very married and with kids. Over the past few years he was seen as an upcoming star in the regions politics. He had a great following amongst both blacks and whites. He also had a torrid sexual affair with his married female chief of staff. In a semi-related court matter, both he and his chief of staff lied about the affair while under oath. Bad. Bad. Bad. They were charged with perjury and obstruction of justice amongst other things, since records from their city owned cell phones had text messages which corroborated this affair.
Before I move, on let me tell you about a study that was done many years ago in the NYC court system, which I eventually stumbled on while researching something or the other. If memory serves me right, it studied about 600 felons under 18 years of age -who were first time offenders. Blacks, whites and Hispanics were equally weighted. The study found that sentencing for blacks went to the extremes (from lenient to severe); with sentences for Hispanics a little less severe in general; and found that whites got the most leniencies. The study also found that relative to recidivism, blacks were re-arrested from this group at about a 75% clip. It found that the recidivism rate for Hispanics was around 40% and the rate for whites around the high teens.
The findings also concluded that the white communities were best in taking up the challenge of keeping its troubled teenagers in check. Support systems kicked in to prevent recidivism. Someone’s uncle or aunt found a job somewhere; another relative or friend found a school somewhere; someone else found a program somewhere (academic, technical or substance-abuse related); or the environmental changes that were needed, took place almost immediately, in order to prevent white youths from going down the road of a lifetime of crime, troubles, trials and tribulations.
The study also found that with blacks and Hispanics, these preventative-systems didn’t kick in, nearly a quarter as much as they were needed. This brings me to something that is hardly ever talked about on MSM or the political blogs: the fact that roughly five percent of the black male population in this country is imprisoned on any given day.
No matter how many times attorneys (black, white, Hispanic and others) argue that sentencing in criminal matters are racially and ethnically unfair in this country, there is a small but vocal minority in opposition. And yet the evidence is all around us; from state to state.
Kwame Kilpatrick copped a plea today. He pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice (2 counts) and was allowed to have the other charges against him dismissed. He will do about four months in prison; surrender his law license; pay a million dollars in restitution; lose his state/city pension; and spend a further five years on probation. During all this, he will resign from the mayoralty, and not run for office during the tenure of his punishment. Add this to the human costs (suffered by himself, his wife, kids, friends and kin), and you get the picture. He paid a big price for a little piece of pussy. He is a broken man.
So my question is this: why didn’t Bill Clinton suffer a similar and more comparable fate in terms of punishment? We all know what he did. Does anyone care to tackle this?
Stay tuned-in folks.