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Indybay Feature

Racism and Injustice in Alabama's Courts

by CounterPunch (reposted)
"Poor, Young, Black and Victimized" By J.L. CHESTNUT, Jr.
All the self-serving, racist noise purporting to justify ridiculously high bail bonds primarily for black people together with all the surreal political nonsense about "locking people up and throwing away the key" gave me reason to take another look at Alabama's criminal justice system. Here is just some of the sickening, racist crap I fully expected and quickly found. Lord, please help us!

In 2006, Alabama has 19 appeal court judges, all white, not a single one is black. This state is 28% black, but white voters routinely refused to elect even one African-American to a statewide office. One wonders about some of our black callers who worry that we don't only want blacks in public offices. On the contrary, whites only elect blacks when they can't elect a white. Alabama has 42 prosecutors or District Attorneys elected from districts and only one is black. He is Michael Jackson, just elected and headquartered here in Selma. Michael must feel mighty welcome among his white prosecuting colleagues as the only elected black prosecutor in a state whose prison population is 63% black. Lord, please help us!

Now listen to this.

80% of all the people sentenced to death in Alabama were convicted of killing a white person, although 65% of the murder victims in Alabama are black. (Repeat) How racist can one state get? Well, maybe the answer can be found in the fact that in November of 2005, more than a century after Brown v. Board of Education, 51% of Alabama's white voters refused to remove outrageous language from the state constitution requiring unenforceable racial segregation in the public schools. That is about as low as a state can sink!

Read More
http://counterpunch.org/chestnut01072006.html
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