Detroit judge who threatened sleepy teen with jail sends message to Black community
It’s bad enough that young Black folks nationally are disproportionately jailed. Now Detroit has a judge who threatened a teen with jail time for falling asleep.
And now we wonder why Black teenagers — and their older peers — don’t trust the court system to deliver justice. We wonder why so many don’t believe law enforcement will deal fairly with them, and why they run from police.
The Black Lives Matter movement is not only about abuse during arrests, but extends to justice in courtrooms throughout America, both the punishment of criminal cops and justice for those unfairly imprisoned alike.
And I’m sure that many Black folks, watching this kangaroo court on YouTube, couldn’t have faith in our justice system.
What an asshole.
I’d recommend listening to S3 of the Serial podcast. They spent a year in the Cleveland criminal justice system to really understand the American justice system. It was grim.
I imagine an unhoused teenager might be just a little bit more tired than most.
Big red flag anytime someone says they don’t like someone’s “attitude”. He didn’t feel she gave him enough respect, so he abused his authority to humiliate and punish her. He should be permanently removed from the bench.
“Just work three jobs. Pull yourself up by the bootstraps!”
I had to stop listening to Serial. My mental health is not where it needs to be to hear the realities of life right now, unfortunately.
It’s a really good podcast tho
That season pissed me off so bad. So fucking crazy that shit is happening and nothing is being done about it. I highly advise anyone who hasn’t heard it to go play - i couldn’t stop listening once i started.