Barry Bonds, Jack Johnson; Same Story, 100 Years Later...

Did anyone see the NY Times piece on why Barry Bonds is being prosecuted? Repeatedly I have heard reports that he is being prosecuted because he is Barry, because he is arrogant, cocky or aloof. FINALLY someone called it what it is. He is being prosecuted because he is all of that AND Black! Here is the link to the article, written by William C. Rhoden, a Morgan University graduate I might add. Following is my letter of gratitude sent to him for having the audacity to call a spade, a spade...

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/10/sports/baseball/10rhoden.html?_r=1&ref=williamcrhoden

Mr. Rhoden,

I appreciate the candor and otherwise denied truthfulness expressed in your article about Barry Bonds. I am sure the comments to follow [posted by readers] will be interesting... It is the usual elephant in the room that no one wants to acknowledge. So, GOOD FOR YOU!!! RACE and abuse of judicial authority is the issue, with Barry, with the relentless pursuit of "justice" for "post Nicole" OJ, with the unjust incarceration of Wesley Snipes and a whole host of other Black men. How dare they have confidence, stand straight and look their accusers in the eye and presume to think their resources or positions in life, should protect them, protect their rights... How dare they believe the system is fair and just and that it should work for them as it does for their white counterparts, who often have committed the same or much worse offenses but are guaranteed a very different, less cruel, less demeaning, less damning and certainly less public kind of "justice", if any "justice" at all.

You are correct, 100 years later, our "colorblind and racially tolerant" system continues to work against the Black man, works to remind him/us to stay in his/our place. No matter his stature in life, he should somehow expect that a prison number and doing time are somehow rites of passage and expected for Black men. Somehow he should be immune, understand, ACCEPT that he is pre-destined to do time and wear a bright orange jumpsuit with a number across his back. REALLY? Michelle Alexander, The New Jim Crow, got it right. Mass incarceration of our men has revitalized the ways of jim crow and has created for us a new caste system determined solely by race.

We are drowning in a sea of racial hostility where "justice" is now dispensed with a nod and a smile instead of a noose and a billy club. And sadly, still some of us think we have arrived! Forgive me, I digress... It is indifference, not necessarily racism, that prevents others from seeing the enclosure of bars on the cages around us, in and out of prison. Bars that affect, that impede Blacks and other minorities in all segments of our society. It is status quo, business as usual. They don't get it. They don't want to get it. They don't have to get it. We don't demand that they get it...

So thank you Mr. Rhoden for writing this piece. There are so few who will speak our truth. I was so sick of reading the headlines that Barry was being tried for "being Barry". I kept waiting to hear that more importantly, Barry, pompous, arrogant, aloof, rich, whatever, is being tried because he is Barry AND because he is Black. Plain and Simple... It is our silence [the Black community] on matters such as this that makes us complicit and therefore guarantees that the beat will go on. Sadly we don't become outraged until the drummer is beating at our door...

As an attorney and a community activist, I am more than aware and mostly disgusted by what we call "justice" in America. Richard Pryor got it right so many years ago. There is a certain brand of "justice" in America and it is intended for JUST US! JUST US crowding the prisons and JUST US keeping lots of folks gainfully employed from arrest to detention through release. I'm Just Sayin'... Your comparison to Jack Johnson perfectly made the point that the more things change... Good Job!

I fully expect that Barry Bonds will be convicted and sent to prison for perjury. Seemingly only those who have taken an oath to uphold justice are immune from lying, lying by omission or misrepresentation in our courts. All others, when it is convenient, will be held accountable and charged with perjury and any other convenient charges that come to mind. Didn't you know? But let's keep hope alive that Barry will be spared the orange. His legacy and standing as a superior Black athlete in baseball history, America's "apple pie" and favorite sport, has been tainted. Their job is done. Prison is icing on the cake! Thanks for writing the piece.

With MUCH Respect,

Helen L. Higginbotham