Thursday, November 10, 2016

The Cruel Hand of a Broken System in Berrien County, Michigan

by Rev. Edward Pinkney

A heavy and cruel hand has been laid upon me, the Rev. Edward Pinkney, by cruel and evil people. I feel myself to be not only deeply injured, but grossly misunderstood. Our white countrymen do not know us. They are strangers to our character, ignorant of our capacity, oblivious to our history and progress, and they are misinformed as to the principles and ideas that control and guide us, as a people. The great mass of American citizens underestimates us as being a characterless and purposeless people; hence, we must hold up our heads against the withering influence of a nation's scorn and contempt.

The Supreme Court has now closed the courthouse doors to claims of racial bias at every stage of the criminal justice process from "stop and frisk," stops and searches to plea bargaining and sentencing. The system of mass incarceration is now, for all practical purposes, thoroughly immunized from claims of racial bias. The staggering racial disparities continue but never make the news. This system depends primarily on the prison label, not on prison time. What matters most is who gets swept into the system of control and then ushered into an under caste. The legal rules adopted by the Supreme Court guarantee that those who find themselves locked up and permanently locked out due to the war are overwhelmingly black and brown. 

The best example I can give you is my own case. I was convicted by an all-white jury that was motivated by something other than the truth, by a jury with unrevealed, deeply held prejudices, and by a jury with no desire to achieve a just, fair, or moral outcome. The Supreme Court has now closed the courthouse doors to claims of racial bias at every stage of the criminal justice system. 

During my trial, Mark Goff from the Michigan State police testified on the second day of the prosecution's case in chief. His testimony only indicated that he believed dates had been changed on the petitions. He had no opinion whatsoever as to whether Rev. Pinkney or anyone else had made the changes. He did not compare Rev. Pinkney's handwriting to the writing on the petitions. He also could not indicate how much time had lapsed, with respect to each entry, between the point when a date was first entered on the petitions and the point when a change was made, indicating changes could have been made minutes apart at any time or on any day.

Only in America is the judge white, the prosecutor white, the attorneys white, the jury all-white, the bailiff white, and all other law enforcement officers white, and the accused is black. The Supreme Court has now closed the courthouse doors to claims of racial bias at any and every stage of the criminal justice system. This is a cruel hand of a broken and corrupt system. 

In the land of the free and the home of the brave, my question is who is free? What do you do when the scales of justice held by the blindfolded lady no longer exist? This country of America is a fraud; it is corrupt and rigged inside the halls of justice. There is no justice here in America, in the State of Michigan which includes Berrien County. Stop the corruption of the rigged system!