Alton Maddox Jr.: The criminal justice system in Black and white

It has been very frustrating for me to watch any legal proceeding from the sidelines over the past fifteen years. This is especially true of the Kobe Bryant and Michael Jackson cases. For televising criminal prosecutions, California v. O.J. Simpson is the seminal case. Unlike Kobe and Michael, O.J. had the intelligence to retain a real lawyer and to change the venue from a military tribunal to relatively free soil territory. Within the past quarter of a century, no person has contributed more to the coffers of the legal profession and the media than O.J. He gave lawyers the “Lawyers Relief Act.” Court-TV got its legs from O.J. Scores of lawyers have been hired as analysts for media outlets. The criminal justice system has engulfed more than 7 million defendants, most of whom are Black. Blacks are in greater need of legal education and assistance than any other ethnic group. Kobe and Michael are in the best position to challenge the criminal justice system, but they refuse to raise the critical questions. Of all the defenses that were available to Kobe and Michael, they have limited their arguments by saying, in effect, “I did something but I didn’t do that.” This is akin to looking at the ground and scratching your head while talking to a white person. Kobe and Michael refuse to turn on the heat. Neither Kobe nor Michael is seeking to expose the racism in the criminal justice system.  [more]

• Pictured above: Who Watches this 'ish? No that's not Michael Jackson - it is actor Edward Moss dressed up like Michael Jackson. With cameras banned from the Santa Maria, Calif., courtroom where Jackson is being tried on molestation charges, the E! Entertainment Television re-enacts the case for you with actors. Periodically, "legal experts" chime in and provide "analysis" on the case - this is for real yall.  So who is the freak yall? Mike or the people watching this stuff? [more]