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The Criminal Punishment System: A Product of Systemic Racism

For people of color there is no “justice” in the criminal justice system, only punishment…unless we begin to speak up en masse!

Khalil A Cumberbatch

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The Criminal Punishment System: A Product of Systemic Racism
Photo Courtesy Equal Justice Initiative

It took me a lot longer than I would like to admit to calm down enough to write this post. My emotions ranged from anger, sadness, anxiety and, ultimately, clairvoyance.

Just to be clear, I was not surprised in the least bit by the grand jury’s decision in Eric Garner’s murder. I was not surprised by the murder of Tamir RiceAkai Gurley…and quite honestly I will not be surprised when the next black or brown man, woman, boy or girl is killed by law enforcement.

What I am angry about is the fact that many people continue to believe if there was an indictment this would in some way validate the criminal justice system, despite its historic lopsided distribution of justice.

The sanctioned death of Eric Garner is a clear sign there are unaddressed systemic racist issues that if left ineffectively and non-extensively unaddressed on an ongoing basis there will continue to be men and women of color who will be brutalized and killed by law enforcement. That is the hard-hitting truth, but nevertheless, it is truth.

The Criminal Punishment System

The U.S.’s history of exploiting and throwing away of persons with colored skin has and continues to haunt us in circumstances like Eric Garner. The viciousness employed by NYPD Officer Daniel Pantaleo comes from sanctioned encouragement of violence towards people of color.

This is not unique to the NYPD, Ferguson, LAPD, Houston, etc. Police brutality and murder is a reflection of this country’s history of genocide of the indigenous people, chattel slavery, segregation, a felonious “War on Drugs”, and an all-out assault on people of color dating back to its forefathers.

For those who say that law enforcement in general is too violent, I present to you, as Malik el-Hajj Shabazz a.k.a. Malcolm X stated, the clean glass of water to examine.

The police capture of suspected white serial killers Jared Loughner, James Holmes, Israel Keyes, and many others, proves that law enforcement has the ability to practice restraint even when dealing with suspected, and in some cases confirmed violent suspects.

However, when it comes to people of color that restraint is ingrained historically, not police departmentally, to be non-existent.

 

The violence perpetrated against people of color stems from the belief that people of color are inherently violent and, therefore, preemptive violence is warranted.

A recent study published by the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, tested and proved, among other disturbing facts, that Black boys are seen as less “childlike” than their White peers, more responsible for their actions and therefore are more appropriate targets for police violence.

A fact manifested in the heavily publicized deaths of Trayvon Martin and Ramarley Graham both of whom were unarmed when engaged in what ultimately led to be their deaths.

 

Therefore, even if Darren Wilson and Daniel Pantaleo were indicted, what does that mean? For sure, it does not mean that the culture in law enforcement has changed. What if NYPD officers start wearing body cameras? That does not mean the culture of discrimination within the NYPD will change. And it does not mean that the criminal justice system is less racist than it was previous to the deaths of Mike Brown and Eric Garner. This is the reality:

 

According to a NAACP Criminal Justice Fact Sheet:

  • African Americans now constitute nearly 1 million of the total 2.3 million incarcerated population
  • African Americans are incarcerated at nearly six times the rate of whites
  • Together, African American and Hispanics comprised 58% of all prisoners in 2008, even though African Americans and Hispanics make up approximately one quarter of the US population
  • 1 in 100 African American women are in prison
  • 5 times as many Whites are using drugs as African Americans, yet African Americans are sent to prison for drug offenses at 10 times the rate of Whites
  • African Americans serve virtually as much time in prison for a drug offense (58.7 months) as whites do for a violent offense (61.7 months). (Sentencing Project)

The criminal justice system and by extension the police department are both existing by their culture and norms. The belief that people of color are dangerous, criminal and bad is what has caused us to have to mourn the deaths of so many young black men and women of color.

Until we all realize that one or one-hundred indictments would not make a difference, that body cameras are not the answer and that there are racist origins that are intertwined with the execution of “justice” from an unjust system, then we still have a mountain to cross.

 


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Crime & Justice

Driver intentionally mowed down couple, killing wife, after calling 911 with ‘threats to shoot a school’

Shaunda Bizzell was killed by a man who drove his car into her and her husband minutes after he called 911 and made threats to bomb a building, police say.

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Shaunda Bizzell
Shaunda Bizzell (PHOTO: SHAUNDA BIZZELL FACEBOOK)

Derek and Shaunda Bizzell were taking an evening stroll in their Chesterfield, Virginia neighborhood Monday night when a crazed man plowed into them.

The unimaginable for Derek and Shaunda Bizzell

“We walked around the curb. We could see a car coming up the middle of the street like cars always do, and then he got closer to us,” Derek Bizzell told WWBT. “I could see him veer. I screamed her name, and all I heard was the thump.”

The husband wound up under the car, while his wife landed on top. When he grabbed his phone to call 911, he was too shocked to be able to speak, but good samaritans who rushed over to help called in the deadly emergency.

Before hitting the couple, police say the man called 911 with “threats to shoot a school, bomb a building and assault police officers.”

Suspect

The driver, identified as Daniel Anderson, 22, purportedly has a history of mental health issues, according to his father. He “intentionally steered” his 2012 Hyundai toward the innocent couple, police said.

Daniel Anderson is charged with murder.

Daniel Anderson (Photo Credit: Chesterfield VA police)

Shaunda Bizzell, 42, a married mom of two adult children, was taken to a nearby hospital but died from her injuries. Her husband was also hurt in the collision but has since been released from the hospital.

“I’m a little banged up, but if I could trade places with my wife, I would,” the heartbroken man said.

It was Shaunda’s first time she’d joined her husband Derek on his regular evening stroll around their neighborhood in Chesterfield, according to WWBT.

Derek Bizzell and Shaunda Bizzell

Derek Bizzell and Shaunda Bizzell

Derek on losing his wife Shaunda Bizzell

Bizzell said he has not been sleeping or eating, and feeling “just numbness” since losing his beloved wife.

He added that while he has not forgiven the driver, “I do pray for his family because I’m pretty sure they are hurting the same way we are hurting right now,” he said.

Anderson has been charged with murder, malicious wounding, making threats of death or bodily injury and making threats to bomb or damage buildings.

He is being held without bond.


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Crime & Justice

Jam Master Jay’s godson and childhood friend found guilty of murder in 2002 killing of Run-DMC pioneering DJ

Ronald Washington, Jay’s childhood friend, and Karl Jordan Jr., Jay’s godson, were convicted of murder in what prosecutors say was motivated by greed.

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Jam Master Jay murder
Jam Master Jay in 1985 (Photo Credit: Jeff Pinilla • CC BY 3.0)

Two men were found guilty of murder Tuesday in the 2002 killing of Jam Master Jay, the pioneering DJ of the groundbreaking hip hop trio Run-DMC.

2 found guilty of Jam Master Jay’s murder

Ronald Washington, Jay’s childhood friend, and Karl Jordan Jr., Jay’s godson, were convicted of murder in what prosecutors say was motivated by greed and a drug deal gone awry.

Pioneer murdered in 2002

Jam Master Jay, born Jason Mizell, was shot and killed at a recording studio in Jamaica, Queens, on October 30, 2002.

Jam Master Jay RUN-DMC

Run-DMC

For years, no one was arrested for the slaying, leaving one of the most shocking shootings in music history unsolved.

In August 2020, authorities would finally get a break in the case, unsealing a criminal indictment alleging Washington and Jordan conspired to kill Jam Master Jay in retaliation for a drug dispute.

A third defendant, Jay Bryant, was charged in May 2023 with murder while engaged in narcotics trafficking and firearm-related murder. He has pleaded not guilty and is set to go on trial separately in January 2026.

Witness testimony in Jam Master Jay murder trial

The verdict followed a four-week trial in which jurors heard from several witnesses who recounted the moment the pair killed the legendary DJ inside his 24/7 Studio in Hollis.

A witness, who was at the recording studio that night, testified Washington and Jordan came in armed, and he alleged Jordan shot Jay in the head.

Uriel Rincon was playing the “Madden” football video game with Mizell at the studio when the two were ambushed. He suffered a gunshot wound to his left leg from Jordan, also known as “Little D”.

Rincon, said he had kept the attackers’ identities secret because he was “confused and scared,” reports ABC.

Defense attorneys for the men convicted of murder say Jay Bryant is the real killer

A hat found next to Jam Master Jay’s body contained only Bryant’s DNA, and Bryant was the only defendant seen on a security camera, according to the attorneys.

Washington and Jordan each face between 20 years-to-life behind bars at their sentencing.


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Crime & Justice

Detroit man awarded $10 million after wrongful conviction

Alexandre Ansari was wrongfully serving a life sentence over claims that in 2012 he shot and killed Ileana Cuevas, a 15-year-old girl.

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$10 million wrongfully convicted Alexandre Ansari
Alexandre Ansari (Photo Source: Wolf Mueller Law)

A Detroit man who was wrongfully convicted and incarcerated for over six years was awarded $10 million in damages by a jury.

$10 million for man wrongfully convicted

Alexandre Ansari was wrongfully serving a life sentence over claims that in 2012 he shot and killed Ileana Cuevas, a 15-year-old girl, and wounded two others in Detroit, according to a lawsuit filed by Ansari in the United States District Court, Eastern District of Michigan Southern Division.

$10 million wrongfully convicted Alexandre Ansari

Alexandre Ansari (Photo Source: Wolf Mueller Law)

“Once I got the verdict back, my heart dropped. And I’m like, ‘Dang, I got to spend the rest of my life in here for something I didn’t do.’ And you know, I tried to kill myself,” Ansari told Linsey Davis on “ABC News Live Prime.”

“It felt like nobody didn’t put all the evidence together to see that I wasn’t the person in the first place. So things started getting overwhelming for me.”

Exonerated

Ansari, 39, was exonerated in 2019 by the Wayne County Circuit Court after it determined that Moises Jimenez, a former Detroit police detective withheld evidence for Ansari’s trial that would have implicated someone else as the shooter, according to the County of Wayne Office of the Prosecuting Attorney.

Jimenez received an anonymous tip that linked the shooter to the Mexican Drug Cartel, according to the complaint that released Ansari.

The officer withheld the evidence from Ansari’s 2013 trial, according to the lawsuit.

Jimenez’s attorneys told ABC News that the former detective claims that he provided all evidence he uncovered during his investigation and plans to appeal the $10 million lawsuit verdict.

There have been no reported arrests connected to the shooting since Ansari’s exoneration. Ansari was wrongfully arrested for the crime when he was 27 years old.


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