Newspaper Page Text
4A
MARCH 7, 2002
{)pinion
Marion Williams,
work with others
. In recent weeks, these
;pages have been rather
.critical of commissioner
.Marion Williams. While
we do not take back those
‘criticisms, we do want to
‘encourage Mr. Williams to
. keep voting his convictions
:and to keep trying to help
‘our city the way he sees fit.
‘We know that Mr. Will
_iams has the best interests
of the city in his heart with
<each and every action that
-he makes, and if some of
-those actions are mistakes,
.they are not malicious by
any means.
* We would advise you to
try and work with — and
[ at times, reach a compro
' mise with — your fellow
;commission members.
' We would advise you not
| to try and micromanage
' the city government. Re
' member: your role is not
' to govern the day-to-day
Is Burke County’s
loss a gain for
Richmond County?
There is nothing to. lose,
by encouraging folks out
at Bush Field to meet with
U.S. Navy officials and dis
cuss the logistics of bring
ing the F/A-18 Super Hor
nets to Bush Field. We’re
already in the process of
expanding our airport and
Bush Field officials say
they want to create jobs
and increase the airport’s
impact on economic devel
opment. There is plenty of
land and it would seem to
be a logical match for
Garrett Aviation’s new
test cell.
Even if, ultimately, it is
not feasible to bring the
. Subscribe to
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AumlSta Charles W. Walker
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Focus Frederick Benjamin
Managing Editor
Since 1981
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Sales/Admin. ' News/Features
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4§D \l Pano Brooks Shun Norris -
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e it Dennis Williams Lillian Wan
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William Lucas
AUGUSTAFOCUS
operations of the city. On
the contrary, it is to help
set the long-term goals
of each department and
set a vision for the city to
attain.
Most of all, we would
advise you not to lose the
fire in your belly that
makes you a successful
politician.
'Having said that, we
applaud Mr. Williams for
standing by his princi
pals, for showing strong
leadership skills, and,
most important, for hav
ing the courage to fight
for what you believe is
correct and just.
Keep at it. Be willing
to work with your col
leagues. Be willing to
listen to what’s best for
the city as a whole and
continue to fight for your
constituents.
Navy to our airport, be
ginning a dialogue with
Navy officials could only
benefit the future. Per
haps a year or two down
the road, the Navy will
be looking for a refuel
ing base or something
else and Navy officials
will remember the will
ingness of Augusta Re
gional Airport to expand.
Remember, when talk
ing about economic de
velopment and Augusta
Regional Airport, dia
logue with anyone is bet
ter than dialogue with
Nno one.
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e R e MBIV PR e
TO BE EQUAL By Hugh B. Price
The Louima case: End the denial of justice
he recent decision by a
federal Court of Appeals
in New York to dismiss
the convictions of three
white former police officersin
the notorious 1997 police
sexual assault of Abner
Louima has re-opened a dis
graceful chapterin the history
of the New York Police De
partment.
Andithasreignited the ques
tion of what is the police
department’s—and theentire
criminal justice system’s —
attitude toward citizens of
color.
Isit “to protect and serve,”
asthegood-government rheto
ric of the NYPD puts it? Or,
when it comes to law abiding
black and Hispanic people, does
that commitment stop at the
threshold of the precinct?
These, and other questions,
must be posed even as two
things appear clear.
One is that the New York
police department’s behavior
toward citizens of color has
noticeablyimproved in recent
years — thanks to the work of
police brass and frontline of
ficers and, most important,
THE ACT TO LEAVE NO CHILD BEHIND By Marian Wright Edelman
Fairer juvenile justice
or James Marks, who
served time in group
homes and detention
hall for convictions on
drug and weapons possession
charges asateenager, life first
took a sudden downward spi
ral one night when he was
seven: the night James and
hissiblings were unexpectedly
taken away from their mother
in theback of a police car. His
mother was caring and never
abusive but she had to work
twojobs to support the family.
She left James and his nine
year-old brother in their 13-
year-old sister’s care after
school and in the evenings—
until she was charged with
negligence for those arrange
ments, and the children were
placed in the state’s care and
separated. From that point
onJames became a rebellious
and disruptivechild who grew
intoateenager angry with the
world. As he said much later,
“when you’re taken away from
someone you love, you get
vengeful.”
Tamara Young, on theother
hand, had been exposed to vio
lentbehavior all her life as her
father beat her, her older
brother, and especially their
mother. He broke her
mother’s ribs and fractured
local community leaders and
residents.
Also, one must acknowledge
that the court appears to have
been correct in ruling that
during the conduct of the tri
als important legal principles
were violated which resulted
in the accused officers not re
ceiving a fair trial. .
The Court of Appeals dis
missed the conviction of one of
the officers for helping to hold
down Louima during the as
sault, and overturned verdicts
that the officers had indeed
engaged in obstruction of jus
tice.
For the time being, the rul
ing means that, five years af
ter Abner Louima, an inno
cent man, endured a sexual
assault of almost unspeakable
depravity, only Justin Volpe,
theex-officer whoactually com
mitted the assault, isin prison.
(Volpe, who pled guilty, isserv
ing a 30 year sentence.)
This is the case despite the
fact that the assault was com
mitted in the midst of a busy
police precinct.
That it was committed by
the sadist Volpe and at least
her skull before her mother
found the strength to leave,
and by then a cycle of violence
had already begun. Tamara
was known as a troublemaker
throughout elementary and
middle school, and in high
school she joined a gang and
began usingdrugsand getting
into increasingly violent con
frontations. At 16 she was
arrested for armed robbery af
ter she ripped several neck
laces off another girl’s neck,
beat the girl with a pipe, and
ran over her with her bicycle.
Tamara had been kicked out of
six different high schools be
fore her arrest and graduated
from high school in
detention.
James and Tamara are just
two of the hundreds of thou
sands of young people in the
careof thejuvenilejustice sys
tem every year. Many of them,
like James and Tamara, end
up there after yearsof troubled
childhoods during which warn
ingsigns wereclear. Although
Jjuvenilecrimerates havebeen
declining since 1994, states
have increasingly been treat
ing youthful offenders as
adults and giving them adult
sentences and sendingthemto
adult prisonsalthough the vast
majority of the children in
oneother police office who held
Louima down.
That it was witnessed by
several other police officersin
the station house.
That its details were soon
known to numerous other po
lice officers who were in the
station house that night.
Unfortunately, whenitcame
to fighting crime in their own
ranks, a dozen or more police
officers with knowledge of de
tailsofthecrimeretreated that
night behind the “blue wall of
silence,” disgracingthemselves
and their uniforms and the
city they had sworn to protect
and serve.
Federal prosecutors have
said they will retry the former
officer previously convicted of
holding down Louima during
the assault. The prosecutors
almost must decide whether
new obstruction of justice
chargescanbebrought against
the other ex-officers. We
strongly urge that they decide
to do so.
Further, as the New York
Times noted editorially, if fed
eral prosecutorsdonot pursue
new obstruction of justice
volved commit nonviolent of
fenses. James and Tamara
wereboth fortunate enough to
remain under the jurisdiction
of the juvenile court, and to
receivethesupporttheyneeded
to turn their lives around and
become productive, law-abid
ing adults. Many of our
youths do not have this op
portunity.
Most young people in our
child welfare and juvenile jus
tice systems are struggling
with social, educational, or eco
nomic hardships. The current
juvenile justice system often
places children with mental
health needs and children of
color unfairly at risk. Between
50 and 75 percent of incarcer
ated youths are estimated to
have a diagnosable mental
health disorder. Minority
youths receive tougher sen
tences and are more likely to
be put in jail than non-minor
ity youths for the same of
fenses. Black youths are dis
proportionately represented at
every stage of our juvenile jus
tice systems across the coun
try and account for 60 percent
of all young people newly ad
mitted to a state prison.
Title X of the Act to Leave
No Child Behind (S. 940/ H.R.
1990), the comprehensive
charges, the local district at
torney can — and should. .
All decent people should ap
plaud continued efforts to pur
sue a full measure of justice in
thiscase, and the U.S. Depart
ment of Justice should sup
port those efforts with what
ever investigative and
prosecutorial resources are
needed to bring all of the re
maining offenders to justice.
The Louima case cries out
for top priority treatment be
cause nothing less than the
integrity of America’s crimi
nal justice system is at stake,
astheanguished comments of
New Yorker Dariel James
makes clear. :
“I think we were all hoping
that these policeofficers would
become the example of what
happens to police who display
that kind of outrageous vio
lence,” James told the Times
reporter after theappeals court
decision. “An now to see them
just gofree, it makes our whole
legal system look even scarier.
What are intelligent people
supposed to think?”
See LOUIMA CASE, 5A
children’s bill introduced into
Congress on May 23, 2001 by
Senator Christopher Dodd (D-
Conn.) and Representative
George Miller (D-7th Calif.)
seeks toreducejuvenile delin
quency and give youths in the
criminal justice system the
support they need to get back
ontherighttrack. Itincreases
prevention efforts to help chil
dren before they get imto
trouble and to keep children
out of the juvenile justice sys
tem; and would prohibit youth
ful offenders frombeinglocked
up with adult offenders -the
last thing troubled children
need is adult criminal men
tors; and eliminates discrimi
nation against minority youths
in the system; and supports
youthful offenders as they re
turn to the community.
Instead of simply locking up
children and throwing away
the key, we asadults should be
willing to take the time to try
to identify children who de
serveasecondchanceand give
them one. Better yet, we
should provide the kinds of
youth development programs
and community supports that
can keep at-risk young people
frombecominginvolvedinthe
See JUVENILE, page §A