WEBVTT - Civic Cipher 010822 A Look at Unfair Prison Sentencing for Black People 0:00:00.320 --> 0:00:00.920 And now. 0:00:03.960 --> 0:00:06.080 Go my my back. You're like that. 0:00:07.960 --> 0:00:11.799 Strike waters from headquarters behind him. 0:00:11.840 --> 0:00:15.800 And if you're just tuning into Civic Cipher, I'm your host, 0:00:15.920 --> 0:00:18.880 Ramsis joh I am your other host, and I go 0:00:18.920 --> 0:00:24.119 by her name q Ward indeed, and we got a 0:00:24.120 --> 0:00:27.080 lot left for you to stick around for, so please do. 0:00:27.160 --> 0:00:31.000 So we're gonna be talking about unfair prison sentence thing 0:00:31.560 --> 0:00:36.239 that's been making some headlines lately, and we need to 0:00:36.240 --> 0:00:39.480 take a moment or two to readdress that. I'm sure 0:00:39.479 --> 0:00:42.080 we've talked about it before on the show, but we're 0:00:42.080 --> 0:00:45.480 gonna peel back a few layers there. And we're also 0:00:45.479 --> 0:00:51.600 going to talk about how Black History Month came about. 0:00:51.640 --> 0:00:55.600 You know, we're staring down Black History Month here and uh, 0:00:55.840 --> 0:01:00.080 you know, it started as Negro History Week, so we 0:01:00.160 --> 0:01:01.760 want to get into the details of that for our 0:01:01.800 --> 0:01:05.000 way Black History fact. So, like I said, a lot 0:01:05.000 --> 0:01:07.560 to stick around for. But first we are going to 0:01:07.600 --> 0:01:14.560 discuss how to become a better ally do it. So 0:01:15.720 --> 0:01:18.640 this week we're gonna talk about Jack Harlow, which is 0:01:18.720 --> 0:01:20.640 someone we should all know. But if you don't know 0:01:20.720 --> 0:01:25.000 Jack Harlow, he's a rapper and he's white, and he's 0:01:25.040 --> 0:01:27.200 a really good rapper, makes really good music. 0:01:27.240 --> 0:01:30.720 He's he's a really good rapper by the way. Yeah, yeah, 0:01:30.840 --> 0:01:33.080 I like him, and I like him even more now. 0:01:33.680 --> 0:01:37.679 So this story comes from TMZ. We don't get to use. 0:01:37.560 --> 0:01:39.880 A lot of TMZ stories on here, so I'm excited 0:01:39.920 --> 0:01:43.800 about this one anyway. It says Jack Harlow is gunning 0:01:43.800 --> 0:01:45.880 for a cop who put his hands on the neck 0:01:45.920 --> 0:01:48.040 of a woman who wanted to see Jack's show. 0:01:48.160 --> 0:01:49.160 And I've seen this video. 0:01:49.600 --> 0:01:50.160 She was out. 0:01:50.320 --> 0:01:52.640 The video is her standing on the corner, and she's like, 0:01:52.680 --> 0:01:54.720 I just wanted to see Jack Harlow, blah blah on 0:01:54.760 --> 0:01:58.360 the officer that grabs her by the neck. So goes 0:01:58.400 --> 0:02:01.560 on to say Jack saw the video and was outraged, saying, quote, 0:02:01.640 --> 0:02:04.360 I was disgusted by that cop, and all I want 0:02:04.400 --> 0:02:07.680 to do is make something good happen for this girl. Immediately, 0:02:07.960 --> 0:02:09.520 I told the world to help me identify her so 0:02:09.520 --> 0:02:10.760 I could find a way to give her a hug 0:02:10.880 --> 0:02:13.320 and give her as many tickets to as many shows 0:02:13.360 --> 0:02:16.840 as she wants. But that's not enough, and it's not 0:02:16.880 --> 0:02:19.239 a solution to a systemic issue that people who don't 0:02:19.280 --> 0:02:21.480 look like me have to face. The next step is 0:02:21.520 --> 0:02:24.119 identifying this police officer and getting him unemployed as fast 0:02:24.160 --> 0:02:27.080 as we can. Assaulting a young woman and putting his 0:02:27.120 --> 0:02:31.560 hands on her neck is sickening. And she didn't do anything. 0:02:33.120 --> 0:02:35.480 She was upset, of course, but she didn't threaten him. 0:02:35.480 --> 0:02:37.640 It was just two officers and a lady standing on 0:02:37.680 --> 0:02:42.080 the street and then he reached out and he interacted 0:02:42.120 --> 0:02:44.720 with her being she did not do that with him. 0:02:45.520 --> 0:02:47.200 So if you see the video, he's exactly what he's 0:02:47.240 --> 0:02:51.480 talking about. To be fair and to preserve our journalistic integrity, here, 0:02:51.919 --> 0:02:55.519 a spokesperson for the police department says, quote, the Cobb 0:02:55.560 --> 0:02:58.320 County Police Department takes any and all allegations of officer 0:02:58.400 --> 0:03:01.400 misconduct very seriously. We are aware of the video snippet 0:03:01.480 --> 0:03:04.200 posted to Instagram involving our officer and the young woman 0:03:04.240 --> 0:03:07.320 outside the Coca Cola roxy. The incident is going through 0:03:07.320 --> 0:03:09.320 an internal review to get a full understanding of the 0:03:09.440 --> 0:03:15.800 entire incident before any potential action is taken. But to 0:03:15.800 --> 0:03:19.600 be fair, he shared his stage and he shared his voice, 0:03:19.960 --> 0:03:23.320 and we always want to highlight that and you can 0:03:23.360 --> 0:03:27.320 take that lesson into your own life and learn from 0:03:27.400 --> 0:03:30.079 him how to become a better ally. So shout out 0:03:30.080 --> 0:03:34.639 to Jack Harlow. Now shout out to Jack Harlow. Unfair 0:03:34.840 --> 0:03:41.120 prison sentencing. Got a lot to go through here. But 0:03:41.240 --> 0:03:44.680 real quick, I want to share something briefly. Have an 0:03:44.680 --> 0:03:54.040 older brother. He goes by Jay, and I've shared the 0:03:54.040 --> 0:03:55.840 story on the show before. But for those who haven't 0:03:55.840 --> 0:04:00.280 heard it, my brother is a lot like me. Brilliant, mind, 0:04:00.480 --> 0:04:05.880 you know, very He's a man around town or a 0:04:05.880 --> 0:04:07.720 man about town. I'm not sure how the saying goes 0:04:08.760 --> 0:04:13.960 upwardly mobile. He's a good looking person, very charismatic, you know, 0:04:14.040 --> 0:04:17.080 all these things. He's not a criminal, none of these 0:04:17.120 --> 0:04:19.360 sorts of things. It's just not him. That doesn't run 0:04:19.440 --> 0:04:23.240 in my family, right because I have to say that 0:04:23.240 --> 0:04:25.080 because I know a lot of people think when I 0:04:25.080 --> 0:04:28.560 tell this story, like, well, obviously something had to go on, 0:04:28.720 --> 0:04:30.320 but nope. 0:04:30.720 --> 0:04:31.520 My brother. 0:04:32.839 --> 0:04:37.159 Lives and lived at the time in California, and when 0:04:37.200 --> 0:04:41.679 the new escalade truck came out many years ago, probably 0:04:42.720 --> 0:04:45.800 thirteen years ago something like that, a new escalade came 0:04:45.839 --> 0:04:49.920 out and he went and bought a new escalade right now, 0:04:49.960 --> 0:04:54.000 For those who don't know, California is a place where 0:04:54.080 --> 0:05:01.920 carjackings happen, and my brother worked in the entertainment industry, 0:05:03.000 --> 0:05:06.560 and so sometimes that puts you in parts of town 0:05:06.680 --> 0:05:08.080 that you might be. 0:05:08.040 --> 0:05:09.760 Susceptible to those sorts of things. 0:05:10.120 --> 0:05:12.960 So he kept protection in the car with him, right, 0:05:13.200 --> 0:05:14.240 had a handgun in the. 0:05:14.200 --> 0:05:17.600 Car with him. 0:05:17.760 --> 0:05:20.280 Again, I'm not a gun person, but I don't tell 0:05:20.279 --> 0:05:22.200 anyone else how to live their life, right. 0:05:22.120 --> 0:05:28.080 You, yeah? Correct? 0:05:28.560 --> 0:05:34.440 So uh, Anyway, the story goes, my brother was taking 0:05:34.920 --> 0:05:38.120 his girlfriend at the time now his wife, taking her 0:05:38.120 --> 0:05:41.880 home and dropping her off to her apartment. She gets 0:05:41.880 --> 0:05:45.080 out of the car, goes into the apartment, or goes 0:05:46.080 --> 0:05:49.400 toward her apartment, I guess, and she gets approached by 0:05:49.440 --> 0:05:51.640 some guys that were just kind of hanging out there, 0:05:52.040 --> 0:05:55.800 and they started sort of harassing her. Right, So my 0:05:55.880 --> 0:05:59.560 brother responds, because that's his girlfriend, he has to protect her, 0:06:00.080 --> 0:06:03.560 gets out, takes his gun with him, and he shoots 0:06:03.600 --> 0:06:06.640 the gun in the air to scare the guys off. Now, 0:06:06.640 --> 0:06:10.240 the good news is that this was on video, him 0:06:10.240 --> 0:06:12.520 shooting the gun in the air. Guy's running away, right. 0:06:14.320 --> 0:06:16.760 The bad news is that when he was pulled over, arrested, 0:06:16.800 --> 0:06:19.960 blah blah blah. The way the story ended up getting 0:06:20.000 --> 0:06:23.080 back to whoever it was that he attempted to murder 0:06:23.120 --> 0:06:26.760 these people. Therefore, he was charged with attempted murder even 0:06:26.800 --> 0:06:30.640 though it's on video, and the way the court worked 0:06:30.680 --> 0:06:33.600 is they weren't allowed to submit the video as evidence. Now, 0:06:33.600 --> 0:06:35.880 I'm not as familiar with the trial. This was many 0:06:35.960 --> 0:06:38.760 years ago, and you know, I didn't. 0:06:38.839 --> 0:06:39.080 I don't. 0:06:39.160 --> 0:06:41.520 I'll be honest, I don't know much about court stuff 0:06:41.520 --> 0:06:43.720 and police stuff because I don't really interact with those guys, 0:06:43.760 --> 0:06:47.960 at least not on purpose. But I do know that 0:06:48.080 --> 0:06:50.599 the one thing that could have showed that he was 0:06:51.520 --> 0:06:55.600 protecting this woman, they weren't able to submit that as 0:06:55.640 --> 0:07:00.119 evidence to the court, and so he was just basically testimony, 0:07:00.640 --> 0:07:04.680 you know, And attempted murder is a very difficult thing 0:07:05.440 --> 0:07:10.600 to not to prove innocence from when you literally have 0:07:10.680 --> 0:07:11.120 to say something. 0:07:11.320 --> 0:07:14.120 It's hard to disprove something that's what I'm trying to say, 0:07:14.480 --> 0:07:16.080 or prove something that didn't happen. 0:07:16.560 --> 0:07:19.800 Sure, but when you literally have the smoking gun, you know, 0:07:19.880 --> 0:07:21.960 it's kind of tough to you know, it's registered to you, 0:07:22.040 --> 0:07:23.480 it's in your car, you know, like that whole thing. 0:07:24.280 --> 0:07:30.600 And so, long story short, he ended up taking a 0:07:30.640 --> 0:07:34.400 plea deal for I believe it was twelve years or 0:07:34.600 --> 0:07:38.400 twelve to fourteen years something like that, instead of taking 0:07:38.640 --> 0:07:46.440 a deal that did No, it was longer than fourteen years. Sorry, 0:07:46.440 --> 0:07:48.080 I think it was sixteen years. So he took a 0:07:48.120 --> 0:07:50.840 plea deal instead of doing twenty two years, which was 0:07:51.320 --> 0:07:53.200 the maximum sentence they were going to seek for this. 0:07:53.440 --> 0:07:53.640 Right. 0:07:55.600 --> 0:07:58.160 Anyway, my brother had to go to prison like a 0:07:58.200 --> 0:08:02.760 bad person because and my sister said, this is because 0:08:02.760 --> 0:08:06.680 he's a black man, and they were able to do this, 0:08:06.960 --> 0:08:09.000 and so they just took him off the street even 0:08:09.040 --> 0:08:12.400 though he's not a you know, a nuisance, never been 0:08:12.400 --> 0:08:14.840 in trouble with the police before, never is not in 0:08:14.880 --> 0:08:19.200 a gang, nothing crazy like that. But they took that 0:08:19.320 --> 0:08:22.240 huge part of my brother's life. So we're going to 0:08:22.320 --> 0:08:24.240 talk about unfair prison sentencing here. 0:08:25.760 --> 0:08:26.360 First story. 0:08:26.840 --> 0:08:29.880 Uh, I got this from CNN. Now, I don't know 0:08:29.880 --> 0:08:31.920 if you heard about this, que but there's a judge 0:08:31.920 --> 0:08:36.600 in Lafayette, Louisiana who had to resign recently over a 0:08:36.679 --> 0:08:40.560 video of that surfaced of her talking about I believe 0:08:40.600 --> 0:08:43.920 it was a black man that attempted to burglarize her house, right, 0:08:44.600 --> 0:08:48.480 so what happened? Absolutely No I heard about this, Okay, cool, 0:08:49.280 --> 0:08:50.920 So well, yeah, of course because we shared in the 0:08:50.920 --> 0:08:55.199 group chat. But so basically what happens is this judge 0:08:55.280 --> 0:09:01.079 is watching the playback of the video of her housemates. 0:09:01.120 --> 0:09:03.240 I don't know if it's her husband or kids or whatever, 0:09:03.280 --> 0:09:09.560 but these guys jumped on the burglar right And as 0:09:09.720 --> 0:09:12.520 she's watching the video, you hear the commentary, you hear 0:09:12.559 --> 0:09:15.160 what she's saying, and she's like, actually, I have it 0:09:15.320 --> 0:09:20.559 right here. As the unseen spectators watch the video, they 0:09:20.600 --> 0:09:23.760 comment on the footage while repeatedly using the N word, 0:09:23.920 --> 0:09:27.880 CNN has reported in the video from her name is 0:09:29.400 --> 0:09:34.440 Michelle Odinett. In the video from Odinette's home, which circulated online, 0:09:34.600 --> 0:09:37.040 people appear to be watching the footage of the incident 0:09:37.080 --> 0:09:39.840 on a TV. A male voice is heard saying, mom's 0:09:39.880 --> 0:09:45.400 yelling in word. A female voice then says, while laughing, 0:09:45.920 --> 0:09:50.080 it's an in word, like a roach. And what she 0:09:50.200 --> 0:09:53.160 says is I take full responsibility for the hurtful words 0:09:53.400 --> 0:09:56.319 I use to describe the individual who burglarized the vehicles 0:09:56.360 --> 0:10:00.040 at my home, Odinett wrote in her resignation letter to 0:10:00.040 --> 0:10:03.440 to Louisiana Supreme Court Chief Justice John Weimer. 0:10:06.400 --> 0:10:06.679 Now. 0:10:07.480 --> 0:10:11.000 She said she had taken a sedative and that's why 0:10:11.040 --> 0:10:15.760 she was racist. I don't know. 0:10:16.000 --> 0:10:18.000 Yeah, if you watch the commercial for it, that's one 0:10:18.000 --> 0:10:22.319 of the side effects. Yeah, you become drowsy and extreme 0:10:22.440 --> 0:10:25.480 and extremely racist. That's that's it's on there, if it's 0:10:25.480 --> 0:10:28.200 on the bottle, on the back and a very very 0:10:28.240 --> 0:10:30.559 small print. Now you know what. 0:10:30.720 --> 0:10:31.320 Here's the thing. 0:10:32.960 --> 0:10:35.160 The N word, as we all know, is a word 0:10:35.240 --> 0:10:38.920 that is meant or that it is used to put 0:10:38.960 --> 0:10:42.960 down specifically black people. Had this been a white burglar 0:10:43.000 --> 0:10:44.840 at her how she would not have used that word. 0:10:45.679 --> 0:10:48.840 The point I'm illustrating here is that when that word 0:10:48.880 --> 0:10:52.199 comes into question, not whether or not she should have 0:10:52.240 --> 0:10:54.120 been angry, not whether or not this guy was right 0:10:54.200 --> 0:10:56.360 or wrong, because obviously he was wrong. He was stealing 0:10:56.360 --> 0:10:58.360 from them. You have a right to protect your family. 0:10:58.640 --> 0:11:00.600 You have a right to be angry about someone breaking 0:11:00.600 --> 0:11:05.680 into your car, absolutely, but be angry once you include race, 0:11:06.240 --> 0:11:10.000 and she was talking about roaches. There's no way around that. 0:11:10.640 --> 0:11:12.320 This is not anger. This is racism. 0:11:12.360 --> 0:11:18.240 I need to say that before I say the next thing. Fortunately, 0:11:18.960 --> 0:11:22.600 the New Orleans District Attorney is going back and re 0:11:22.720 --> 0:11:28.640 examining her cases where people have been sentenced to prison 0:11:28.720 --> 0:11:32.680 time because of her judgment right, and we're talking about 0:11:32.800 --> 0:11:38.120 unfair sentencing. Here another story, this one comes from the 0:11:38.240 --> 0:11:43.200 Atlanta Black Star. Lawrence Stevens, aged thirty eight, thought he 0:11:43.280 --> 0:11:44.679 was going to spend the rest of his life in 0:11:44.679 --> 0:11:49.479 prison after a Virginia judge sentenced him to one thousand, 0:11:50.440 --> 0:11:54.040 eight hundred and twenty three years in prison for a 0:11:54.080 --> 0:11:57.880 two thousand and one home invasion in robbery. Stevens received 0:11:58.040 --> 0:12:01.920 the lifeline of a lifetime when Hampton Virginia civil rights 0:12:01.960 --> 0:12:05.400 activists caught wind of his case on November thirteenth, two 0:12:05.440 --> 0:12:08.000 thousand and one. A then eighteen year old Stevens was homeless, 0:12:08.080 --> 0:12:11.400 working two jobs with a baby on the way. According 0:12:11.400 --> 0:12:15.360 to Rebecca when the Hampton Virginia NAACP Legal Redress and 0:12:15.400 --> 0:12:21.079 Criminal Justice chairperson, She says, while working at his restaurant 0:12:21.160 --> 0:12:23.760 job at the time, Stevens and another black employee were 0:12:23.760 --> 0:12:26.720 talked into breaking into a house and committing a robbery. 0:12:27.360 --> 0:12:31.760 An older white co worker masterminded the robbery but never 0:12:31.800 --> 0:12:35.360 went inside the home. There were five co defendants in all, 0:12:35.480 --> 0:12:38.880 but the white participants in the robbery received standard sentences 0:12:38.920 --> 0:12:42.960 averaging ten to thirteen years, as the black code defendants 0:12:43.040 --> 0:12:47.640 received harsher sentences. Darnelle Nolan, who was seventeen years old 0:12:47.720 --> 0:12:50.360 at the time, received a thirty five year prison sentence 0:12:50.800 --> 0:12:54.960 and Stevens received one eight hund twenty three years. The 0:12:55.000 --> 0:12:59.160 two black teenagers, their sentencing greatly exceeds that of the 0:12:59.200 --> 0:13:02.280 sentencing guy lines and that of their white code defendants. 0:13:02.280 --> 0:13:06.160 When said of the lopsided prison sentences, when says sentencing 0:13:06.200 --> 0:13:10.040 guidelines are put in place to reduce bias, but Judge 0:13:10.280 --> 0:13:14.040 Prentice Smiley Junior had a long track record of delivering 0:13:14.040 --> 0:13:17.360 harsher sentences to black men. When would not go as 0:13:17.440 --> 0:13:21.160 far as to say Judge Smiley was racist, but she said, 0:13:21.200 --> 0:13:22.880 the history speaks for itself. 0:13:23.920 --> 0:13:26.520 Man, we are always trying to make sure we don't 0:13:26.600 --> 0:13:29.960 hurt the feelings of racist people. It makes me sick. 0:13:30.720 --> 0:13:33.400 Hang on, young, I got another one. I got another. 0:13:33.240 --> 0:13:37.640 One thousand, eight hundred and thirty two years, and its 0:13:37.760 --> 0:13:42.400 white co defendant got ten ten to thirteen. Yeah, but 0:13:42.440 --> 0:13:44.400 we want to tread softly in made hat. I don't 0:13:44.440 --> 0:13:48.600 want to say he's racist. Well, let me contend one man. 0:13:49.400 --> 0:13:54.400 So I got another story from Democracynow dot Org. This 0:13:54.440 --> 0:13:55.680 is one we've talked about on the show. 0:13:55.720 --> 0:14:02.280 But In Colorado, Governor Jared Polus reduced a one and 0:14:02.320 --> 0:14:08.480 ten year sentence of truck driver Rohel Aguilera Mideeros to 0:14:08.600 --> 0:14:12.160 ten years, calling the initial lengthy sentence unjust. The case 0:14:12.200 --> 0:14:15.520 of Aguilera meant Mederos, a twenty six year old truck 0:14:15.600 --> 0:14:20.640 driver from Guba, triggered widespread condemnation, including a boycott of 0:14:20.800 --> 0:14:25.280 Colorado led by other truck drivers in protest. Aguilera Mederos 0:14:25.600 --> 0:14:28.360 has said the breaks on his semi trailer failed when 0:14:28.440 --> 0:14:30.960 driving downhill, leading to a multi vehicle pile up that 0:14:31.040 --> 0:14:35.120 killed four people in twenty nineteen, and many are calling 0:14:35.160 --> 0:14:38.320 on the trucking company to be held liable for the crash. 0:14:38.560 --> 0:14:41.920 So had it not been for the outcry and the 0:14:41.920 --> 0:14:46.800 support of his fellow truck drivers and you know, the public. 0:14:46.880 --> 0:14:49.200 You know, there's lots of cases, lots of cases that 0:14:49.320 --> 0:14:56.080 don't make the news, and we have data, but these 0:14:56.160 --> 0:14:59.000 data is actually human beings, lives. These are families that 0:14:59.040 --> 0:15:01.000 are losing people. We're going to get to the data 0:15:01.000 --> 0:15:03.960 in just a second, but this one made its way 0:15:03.960 --> 0:15:06.120 to the news. One hundred and ten year sentence for 0:15:06.200 --> 0:15:08.560 an accident, you know, even. 0:15:09.080 --> 0:15:12.640 The tenure sentence is harsh. Sure, I think I considered. 0:15:13.000 --> 0:15:15.080 I understand that people died here, but. 0:15:15.520 --> 0:15:18.120 Yeah, someone needs to be held accountable. But as they said, 0:15:18.520 --> 0:15:20.760 there are people calling on the trucking company to be 0:15:20.800 --> 0:15:24.440 held liable, and you know, punishing this man doesn't bring 0:15:24.480 --> 0:15:28.440 those people any comfort. Maybe suing the trucking company and 0:15:28.480 --> 0:15:32.200 holding them civilly liable for it might bring some something. 0:15:32.800 --> 0:15:35.680 But you remember to point out Rams, this was not 0:15:36.720 --> 0:15:40.119 alcohol or drug. He wasn't drunk, he wasn't under the influence. 0:15:40.520 --> 0:15:46.320 This was purely an accident. Okay, So what do we 0:15:46.400 --> 0:15:52.360 do now? We go to the government statistics, right, because 0:15:52.880 --> 0:15:57.840 unfair prison sentencing exists, right, and we see that it's 0:15:57.960 --> 0:16:00.480 there are judge judges who are racists. 0:16:01.080 --> 0:16:03.960 There's a whole criminal justice system that's really set up 0:16:04.000 --> 0:16:07.320 to put black people in cages and exploit them for 0:16:07.400 --> 0:16:11.360 their labor. For those that know about the thirteenth Amendment, 0:16:11.360 --> 0:16:13.480 who've seen the documentary, that know that sorts of thing. 0:16:13.680 --> 0:16:15.000 This is big business. 0:16:15.560 --> 0:16:20.600 It's small enough to where most people aren't overtly outraged 0:16:20.640 --> 0:16:22.680 by it. It's not like one hundred percent of black 0:16:22.720 --> 0:16:27.080 people are in the criminal justice system like what it 0:16:27.240 --> 0:16:30.680 was when they're slavery. But there's enough people for it 0:16:30.720 --> 0:16:33.640 to make sense, but not enough for large public outcry. 0:16:33.640 --> 0:16:36.520 You want to say something, talk to me, I just don't. 0:16:36.560 --> 0:16:39.600 I don't think that's number spaced. I don't think it's not. 0:16:39.800 --> 0:16:41.960 I don't think the lack of outrage is because there's 0:16:42.040 --> 0:16:44.720 a small number. I think it's just been going on 0:16:44.840 --> 0:16:47.720 for so long that we're used to it, not just 0:16:47.880 --> 0:16:52.680 used to it, but completely unaware. Right, it's like slavery, Okay, 0:16:52.680 --> 0:16:55.160 no more slavery, except if you do something wrong, we 0:16:55.200 --> 0:16:57.760 can make your slave cool, and then we abolish slavery. 0:16:57.800 --> 0:16:59.400 And then we start doing this and then there was 0:16:59.520 --> 0:17:01.920 there was kind of like there was no break in 0:17:01.960 --> 0:17:05.040 there where they just introduced this new thing. Yeah, so 0:17:05.040 --> 0:17:06.920 it's like it's not like they came out okay one day. 0:17:07.400 --> 0:17:09.800 I know slavery ended forty years ago, but we got 0:17:09.800 --> 0:17:11.480 this new thing. You guys are gonna love it. Like 0:17:11.520 --> 0:17:12.360 it wasn't like that. 0:17:12.480 --> 0:17:15.240 It happened so kind of coverten over it at the 0:17:15.280 --> 0:17:18.240 same time and has been going on every since. I 0:17:18.240 --> 0:17:21.280 think that lack of outrage comes from some a lack 0:17:21.320 --> 0:17:25.760 of knowledge, but others not really having a chance to 0:17:25.760 --> 0:17:27.960 be outraged by something that has been going on long 0:17:28.040 --> 0:17:28.960 before they were born. 0:17:29.480 --> 0:17:32.679 You know Michael Stevenson, who's someone that I look up to. 0:17:32.800 --> 0:17:35.639 He's the founder of the Equal Justice Initiative, basically a 0:17:35.720 --> 0:17:40.159 lawyer that seeks to overturn wrongful convictions. He said something 0:17:40.200 --> 0:17:43.119 that really stayed with me. He said, you know, if 0:17:43.119 --> 0:17:49.720 the nation state of Germany was disproportionately was executing people 0:17:50.359 --> 0:17:54.320 and they were disproportionately Jewish, I couldn't bear it. It 0:17:54.320 --> 0:17:57.840 would be unconscionable. But yet in this country there's a 0:17:57.880 --> 0:18:01.119 stunning silence. And he quotes the numbers I'm about to 0:18:01.640 --> 0:18:05.840 read to you right now. Now, remember these stats come. 0:18:06.000 --> 0:18:09.879 This actual text comes from USSC dot gov. That's the 0:18:09.960 --> 0:18:12.879 United States Sentencing Commission, and that's a dot gov. 0:18:13.480 --> 0:18:16.960 You can look it up yourself. I've just copied and pasted. Okay. 0:18:18.240 --> 0:18:22.760 The first point, black mail offenders continued to receive longer 0:18:22.800 --> 0:18:27.960 sentences than similarly situated white male offenders. Blackmail offenders receive 0:18:28.040 --> 0:18:32.080 sentences on average nineteen point one percent longer than similarly 0:18:32.119 --> 0:18:37.159 situated white mail offenders during the post report period fiscal 0:18:37.200 --> 0:18:40.000 years of twenty twelve to twenty sixteen, as they had 0:18:40.040 --> 0:18:44.280 for the prior four period studied. The differences in sentence 0:18:44.359 --> 0:18:48.280 length remain relatively unchanged compared to the post gall period. 0:18:49.160 --> 0:18:53.400 Two non government sponsored departures and variances appear to contribute 0:18:53.440 --> 0:18:57.119 significantly to the difference in sentence length between black mail 0:18:57.200 --> 0:19:01.520 and white mail offenders. Black Mail offenders were twenty one 0:19:01.560 --> 0:19:04.320 point two percent less likely than white male offenders to 0:19:04.400 --> 0:19:08.440 receive a non government sponsored downward departure or variance during 0:19:08.440 --> 0:19:12.480 the post report period. Furthermore, when blackmail offenders did receive 0:19:12.600 --> 0:19:16.600 a non government sponsor departure of variance, they received sentences 0:19:16.840 --> 0:19:20.560 sixteen point eight percent longer than white male offenders who 0:19:20.600 --> 0:19:25.080 received a non government sponsor departure or variance. In contrast, 0:19:25.240 --> 0:19:27.359 it was a seven point nine percent difference in the 0:19:27.400 --> 0:19:31.000 sentence length between a blackmail and white male offenders who 0:19:31.040 --> 0:19:35.479 received sentences within the applicable sentencing guidelines range, and there 0:19:35.560 --> 0:19:39.800 was no statistically significant difference in sentence link between blackmail 0:19:39.840 --> 0:19:43.119 and white mal offenders who received a substantial assistance departure. 0:19:45.040 --> 0:19:46.159 And the third. 0:19:45.880 --> 0:19:50.560 Point, violence in an offender's criminal history does not appear 0:19:50.680 --> 0:19:55.120 to account for any of the Democrat demographic differences in sentencing. 0:19:56.119 --> 0:20:00.159 Blackmail offenders received sentences on average twenty point four percent 0:20:00.280 --> 0:20:04.600 longer than similarly situated white male offenders. Accounting for violence 0:20:04.920 --> 0:20:08.080 in an offender's past in fiscal year twenty sixteen, the 0:20:08.160 --> 0:20:08.840 only year. 0:20:08.640 --> 0:20:11.440 For which such data is available, this figure. 0:20:11.160 --> 0:20:13.439 Is almost the same as a twenty point seven percent 0:20:13.480 --> 0:20:16.919 difference without accounting for past violence. Thus, violence and an 0:20:16.960 --> 0:20:19.800 offender's criminal history does not appear to contribute to the 0:20:19.840 --> 0:20:24.040 sentence imposed to any extent beyond its contribution to the 0:20:24.040 --> 0:20:29.199 offender's criminal history score determined under the sentencing guidelines. Now, 0:20:29.560 --> 0:20:33.920 let's talk about Kyle Rittenhouse. Now, let's talk about everything. 0:20:34.119 --> 0:20:36.679 Let's talk about privilege. Let's talk because you know, we 0:20:36.720 --> 0:20:42.120 talked about this before. Privilege is not a gift. It's 0:20:42.119 --> 0:20:45.000 not a three million dollars when you're born. Privilege is 0:20:45.040 --> 0:20:49.600 not having to overcome the same hurdles. And when we're 0:20:49.600 --> 0:20:52.720 talking about a criminal justice system, imagine being born in 0:20:52.800 --> 0:20:57.679 a society where there are no real opportunities outside of 0:20:57.680 --> 0:21:01.879 playing basketball and rapping. You know, everyone around you is poor, 0:21:02.560 --> 0:21:05.120 there's no upward mobility. You know, you can study hard, 0:21:05.160 --> 0:21:06.840 and you can you know, all that sort of stuff. 0:21:07.000 --> 0:21:09.399 But a lot of people know that studying hard is 0:21:09.480 --> 0:21:11.879 not the answer for everyone. Studying hard only gets you 0:21:11.920 --> 0:21:14.520 a good job. It doesn't get you wealthy, It doesn't 0:21:14.520 --> 0:21:17.160 even improve your immediate circumstances. Who wants to study when 0:21:17.160 --> 0:21:19.960 you're hungry. I'm not saying everyone's hungry. 0:21:20.000 --> 0:21:22.520 I'm not saying that just gets you a job, not 0:21:22.560 --> 0:21:27.720 necessarily a good job, sure, depending on what. But listen, 0:21:27.800 --> 0:21:29.680 I do want to say this because a lot of folks, 0:21:30.840 --> 0:21:32.560 you know, they have their arguments. I've been kind of 0:21:33.280 --> 0:21:39.000 reading what a lot of right wing people believe. I 0:21:39.040 --> 0:21:42.159 will admit that some people are just bad people. You know, 0:21:42.280 --> 0:21:48.000 societies are complex, right, and you get lots of good people, 0:21:48.160 --> 0:21:51.479 some bad people, right, But we have a system that 0:21:51.560 --> 0:21:55.719 treats everyone like they're bad. Now, the story I started 0:21:55.720 --> 0:21:57.600 this off with, I have an older brother who's black. 0:21:57.760 --> 0:21:59.760 It doesn't matter how good looking is that, what smart 0:21:59.760 --> 0:22:00.000 he is. 0:22:00.040 --> 0:22:04.080 He's black, you know, and he has a gun in 0:22:04.119 --> 0:22:09.760 a black suv in Los Angeles, California. In everyone's mind, 0:22:09.800 --> 0:22:11.400 you know what I mean. You can be the least 0:22:11.440 --> 0:22:13.840 racist person with the least amount of prejudices and the 0:22:13.920 --> 0:22:17.119 least you know, indoctrination. But you know, if you've grown 0:22:17.200 --> 0:22:21.000 up in America, that recipe has to trigger something in 0:22:21.040 --> 0:22:25.919 your mind. Otherwise you haven't been paying attention, and the 0:22:26.000 --> 0:22:28.960 fact that it triggers something in your mind. Listening to 0:22:29.000 --> 0:22:35.639 my voice right now illustrates what privilege is because there's 0:22:35.680 --> 0:22:39.280 if you take away black, this is a guy with 0:22:39.400 --> 0:22:42.080 who believes in the Second Amendment. You know, it's it's 0:22:42.080 --> 0:22:43.800 a you know, you can carry it, you know if 0:22:43.800 --> 0:22:47.879 you need whatever, you know, But black and gun is 0:22:47.920 --> 0:22:51.520 automatically criminal, especially in a nice Cadillac. Okay, obviously he's 0:22:51.520 --> 0:22:53.440 a drug. You know, there's so many things that come 0:22:53.480 --> 0:22:56.879 to people's minds when you put this thing together. My 0:22:56.960 --> 0:23:01.160 brother has always been able to do well for himself. 0:23:01.200 --> 0:23:04.840 He's brilliant. I wish you could meet him, but we 0:23:04.920 --> 0:23:06.960 have about a minute left. I'm sorry I talked to 0:23:06.960 --> 0:23:08.360 this stuff, but we had a lot of notes to cover. 0:23:08.440 --> 0:23:09.919 I do want to get your thoughts on this too. Q. 0:23:11.720 --> 0:23:14.040 No, those notes were those notes were important, and these 0:23:14.080 --> 0:23:19.200 are things that these are things that unfortunately we already knew. Sure, 0:23:19.320 --> 0:23:23.879 you know, So having this conversation with our audience is 0:23:23.920 --> 0:23:25.880 what we have to remember that we're doing. Because having 0:23:25.880 --> 0:23:30.360 this conversation with each other, it's like, yeah, duh, well. 0:23:30.160 --> 0:23:32.520 We call it a we call it a black show 0:23:32.560 --> 0:23:34.960