Paterson: White and Eady Need Help: By Alton Maddox

[Ɔkyeame Kwame]

Paterson: White and Eady Need Help
By Alton Maddox

Religious and cultural differences should not militate against unity. People should be able to suppress religious or cultural differences, for example, to embrace a lofty principle. One of those principles was espoused by Dr. Martin L. King, Jr. Who said, “an injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
Social injustices have been running amuck in New York. There seem to be no relief in sight. This predicament has arisen because most leaders are attached, in some manner, to the Establishment. An effective advocate in the Black community is usually a good Samaritan. In the Black community, this is a job for an unpaid volunteer.
Voting is also not the answer. A political representative must be a member of a political party which was formed to protect a particular group. For example, the Right to Life Party was established to protect unborn children. The Conservative Party was established to advance conservative ideas.
Neither the Democratic Party nor the Republican Party was established to combat slavery or promote Black rights. President Abraham Lincoln favored slavery. In addition to Black militants and white abolitionists, it also took third parties like the Liberty Party and the Free Soil Party to put slavery on the national agenda.
Thus, Blacks would be naive to believe that Gov. David Paterson intends to disrupt the status quo or to correct racial injustices over which he enjoys jurisdiction like pardoning John White for exercising rights of self-defense and rights under the Second Amendment.
White was successfully prosecuted for committing a homicide. The perpetrator was a trespasser, an assailant and a white male. No criminal charges should have ever been lodged against White. The surviving marauders were never charged with any crime. This was an abuse of prosecutorial discretion and the trial judge permitted a kangaroo trial.
The mere fact that White is out on bail pending appeal is no substitute for an executive pardon. White will have to sustain the burden of an appeal. Even if the appeal is successful, the intermediate appellate court would probably only order a new trial. In Suffolk County, this would mean another conviction.
Interestingly, the advocates for White are unaware that Gov. Paterson enjoys the executive power to pardon him. Moreover, some Black preachers made a cameo appearance in Suffolk County without calling on Gov. Paterson to pardon him. With friends like those who needs enemies?
For the two months since Gov. Paterson has succeeded Gov. Eliot Spitzer, I had wondered if Gov. Paterson was aware that he enjoyed the power to pardon. He answered the question this past Friday, May 23, when he pardoned hip-hop artist Rickey “Slick Rick” Walters for attempted murder and weapon charges. He spent more than five years in prison.
No one believed that Walters’ shooting of his relative and a bystander were justifiable. Similarly, I am not arguing that Walters is undeserving of a pardon but I am arguing that Walters’ pardon should have followed a pardon of White for defending his family and his property. White’s conviction is a miscarriage of justice.
Kermit Eady successfully challenged white charitable institutions. Black employees should finance their own charities through their wages. This would ensure that Blacks get a fairer percentage of their contributions going back into the Black community. This sounded too much like Black self-determination and Eliot Spitzer, as state attorney general, sicced New York on Black United Fund of New York.
This was an unprecedented seizure. It had never happened before to similarly-situated white charities. “Might makes right” was the basis for the seizure. While whites are fighting daily for more turf, Blacks insist on continuing to finance their own oppression. Our behavior is abnormal.
Politics has been of marginal value to us because we have only focused on voter education. We go to the polls and vote and we return to the slave quarters. This is like an elementary school student attempting to design and build a skyscraper. Any advancement in politics requires a political education. This type of education has even escaped Black selected officials.
Our first step in assisting John White and Kermit Eady should be to let our voices be heard. All struggles are protracted. Gov. Paterson cannot only help White and Eady but he can also change the operations and mechanics of the NYPD. We only need to do our homework and avoid full-scale pacification programs. Our views can be expressed on postcards and mailed to him as follows:
Gov. David A. Paterson
State Capitol
Albany, NY 12224
518-474-8390