RHDefense: The Law Office of Rick Horowitz
Home of Probable Cause: The Legal Blog with the Really Low Standard of Review
Today’s Fresno Bee carries the story that Coalinga — a foothill town on the west side of the Valley, more than an hour or so from Fresno — is praying for prisoners. Scrambling to keep its doors open.
It’s important that Coalinga finds more prisoners. And fast.
This is the kind of story that should make ordinary human beings sick to their stomachs.
Last week, I sat in a courtroom – so far as I can tell, the only courtroom – in Corcoran, California, waiting for my case to be called.
Corcoran is apparently a small, scared, little hick town full of frightened citizens. I came to this conclusion because of the little man who sat near the front of the courtroom, next to his court-appointed attorney who was, with loud, booming voice, questioning a woman who looked like a deer caught in the headlights. I realized later she held this look because, like so many officers of the state – she was apparently a guard at the local prison – she was trying to make sure the answers she gave to the defense attorney’s probing questions did not help his client, or hurt (what turned out to be) her case.
The worst thing you can have is power and lack of knowledge. — psychologist Habsi Kaba.
Last Friday, I was privileged to attend the (Juvenile) Behavioral Health Court Quarterly Meeting in my county. I was a little surprised to learn that I was the only private practice criminal defense lawyer to take advantage of this opportunity, but that’s a story for another blog article, another time. Believing this to be a better alternative for some of my juvenile clients than repeated episodes of pointless incarceration which merely exacerbates their conditions, I wanted to learn more about how the behavioral court worked.
One of the first, saddest, and most difficult things I learned of concerns the struggle the Behavioral Health Court has just to survive.
Listen to this CNN report and you’ll understand the reason for the title of my post. The only real problem is that while the mentality expressed in the report is typical of what bigoted white people often express, I think the actual reporters were black themselves. Maybe I need to do a post on Stockholm Syndrome.
News reporters interviewing black students express surprise that the students believe there is racism in America. After stating that blacks have more rights than ever before — “they don’t have to sit in the back of the bus; they get to go to school” — the interviewer can’t believe what he’s being told. “You believe…today? 2008? The United States of America is a racist country?”
The report goes on to explain that blacks don’t base their beliefs on “personal experience,” but on news stories. In other words, the story implies, even though the black students who were interviewed haven’t experienced racism, they believe that America is a racist country. The report implies that this is just wrong; it implies the most black people do not experience racism. There’s even another interview with a black man stating that this is “just an excuse.” (I’m fairly sure the short clip is taken out of context.)
What these white (at least on the inside) interviewers need to do is some research.
The Law Office of Rick Horowitz provides criminal defense services
in Fresno, Tulare, Kings, Kern, Madera and Merced Counties.