>Doug posted:
>
><http://www.blackcommentator.com/71/71_wise_sex.html>
>
>"Sex across the Color Line"
>by Tim Wise
>
><snip>
>
>They [the adoptive parents of a rail-roaded Black kid) seemed to
>honestly believe that people were more decent and the society in
>which they lived more decent than they, or it, really were and are.
>That kind of preciousness is bad enough when parents allow it to
>blind them to the problems of their white children, but at least
>then it isn't likely to end in those children's destruction.
>However, for a black child to be raised amidst that kind of cheery
>naivete is to play fast and loose with his or her life. At the very
>least it teeters on the brink of neglect.
>
><snip>
>
>===================================
>
>wow.
>
>This article splits my thoughts in two.
<snip>
>Wrong way -
>*Get your hands off me! You're violating my rights! Fuck you! ...
>All the sorts of things the White dudes I knew at the
>time would have said.
>
>Right Way -
>A simple, wordless nod, a total eating of crow, a raising of the
>white flag, a standing down of forces....
>
>Sgt. Buzzcut, satisfied that his authoRI-tay was now respected,
>released me from his grip and the promise of a split skull. My
>friends, witnessing this with rage, were ready to throw down but we
>all remembered our training.
>
>I suppose this is the sort of knowledge the adoptive parents Mr.
>Wise discusses did not (and could not, without re-thinking their
>world) give to their Black child.
>
>DRM
The case of Marcus Dixon, however, is not one of a young black man, deprived of black parental counsel, unwittingly defying the survival code of performing silent deference to white authorities in the hope of deescalating confrontation. Tim Wise suggests that "white privilege" of his adoptive parents Ken and Peri Jones prevented them from teaching Dixon "the ways of white folks." But what could they have taught him? "Some say that Dixon's fate was sealed when he, an African American living in the South, ignored an age-old truth: that White women are off-limits" (Alicia Johnson, "Choose A Side: Did Marcus Dixon's Punishment Fit the Crime?" <http://www.bet.com/articles/0,,c1gb7953-8798,00.html>). Dare he recommend that white adoptive parents tell their black sons not to mess around with white girls in the South, as sex across the color line may offend racists and put them into danger??? I don't think that it makes sense to make much of the "white privilege" of the Joneses, loving and grieving parents by all counts, as Wise does, since it is not at all clear that anything that they could have told Dixon would have helped him in this particular case.
Instead, we might take a closer look at the trends in criminal justice than Wise does:
***** The Atlanta Journal and Constitution August 8, 1999, Sunday, Home Edition SECTION: Perspective; Pg. 1F LENGTH: 2022 words HEADLINE: Punishing choices: How to try teens charged with major crimes? BYLINE: R. Robin McDonald, Staff SOURCE: AJC
. . . ARREST TRENDS AMONG JUVENILES, 1994-1998 By offense* Aggravated sodomy: 8% Aggravated child molestation: 17% Aggravated sexual battery: 2% Armed robbery: 56% Murder: 9% Rape: 15% By age* 13: 6% 14: 8% 15: 36% 16: 51% * Percentage of juveniles arrested Source: Georgia Indigent Defense Council / ELIZABETH LANDT / Staff *****
"Aggravated child molestation," one of the crimes of which Dixon has been convicted in addition to statutory rape, constituted 17% of the offenses that juveniles arrested between 1994 and 1998, a whopping 20% of the juveniles arrested for SB440 offenses between 1994 and 2001 (Juvenile Advocacy Division of the Georgia Indigent Defense Council, "Juveniles Arrested as Adults Under SB440: Fiscal Year 2001 3rd Quarter Update," <http://www.gidc.com/june2001.pdf>. p.3).
Keep in mind the vague definition of "child molestation" in Georgia law:
***** SEX CRIMES
Child Molestation - O.C.G.A. 16-6-4
In order to prove child molestation, the state must prove that the accused performed an immoral or indecent act to or in presence of any child under 16 with intent to arouse the sexual desires of either the child or the person.
Punishment: Felony; 5 to 20 years in prison for first conviction, life or 10 to 20 years in prison for second conviction. On a first conviction, the offender may get probation and counseling instead of prison sentence.
Aggravated Child Molestation - When and act of child molestation physically injures the child or involves sodomy, it is considered to be aggravated child molestation.
Punishment: Felony, 10 to 30 years in prison.
<http://www.georgiacriminaldefense.com/crimes/sexcrimes.htm> *****
The interlocking system of race and class is complex here:
***** Demographic Trends - Race Profile, 1994-2001
Race by Offense
Black, 1994-2001 (2,540)
Aggravated Sodomy 6% Aggravated Child Molestation 14% Aggravated Sexual Battery 3% Armed Robbery 59% Murder 9% Rape 16% Voluntary Manslaughter 0.3%
Percent of Offenses
White, 1994- 2001 (763)
Aggravated Sodomy 14% Aggravated Child Molestation 37% Aggravated Sexual Battery 4% Armed Robbery 33% Murder 7% Rape 13% Voluntary Manslaughter 0.7%
Percent of Offenses
(Juvenile Advocacy Division of the Georgia Indigent Defense Council, "Juveniles Arrested as Adults Under SB440: Fiscal Year 2001 3rd Quarter Update," <http://www.gidc.com/june2001.pdf>, p. 5) *****
The criminal justice system, as is well known, arrests blacks disproportionately: 77.4% of the juveniles arrested for SB440 offenses in urban counties in Georgia are black, 67.6%, in rural counties, between 1994 and 2001 (Juvenile Advocacy Division of the Georgia Indigent Defense Council, "Juveniles Arrested as Adults Under SB440: Fiscal Year 2001 3rd Quarter Update," <http://www.gidc.com/june2001.pdf>, p. 11). The breakdown by offense complicates the picture. Among the arrested, the proportion of blacks arrested for aggravated child molestation (14% of the black juveniles arrested for SB440 offenses) is much lower than the proportion of whites arrested for the same crime (37% of the white juveniles arrested for SB440 offenses).
Dixon was 18, but the racial breakdown of offenses probably holds for older populations as well. Dixon was convicted of a "stereotypically white" crime. Racism made consensual sex between teenagers across the color line a crime; "white privilege" of Dixon's parents probably helped to reduce the charge from rape to aggravated child molestation but could not protect Dixon from racism.
We can't help Dixon, young men like him, and parents who have less resources than Dixon's by harping on "white privilege" of loving adoptive white parents of black sons.
Postscript:
***** Trial and error? By Anthony Lane, tlane at nashvillecitypaper.com November 19, 2003
. . . In May, a jury acquitted Dixon of all charges but statutory rape and aggravated child molestation. Since the age difference between Dixon and the girl was less than three years, statutory rape is a misdemeanor punishable by a maximum one-year sentence. However, aggravated child molestation, based on testimony that injury ensued from the intercourse, is a felony, one of Georgia's "seven deadly sins" and carries a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison without parole.
Dixon's parents, Ken and Peri Jones, were stunned. Members of the jury, who are not allowed by state law to be informed of sentencing guidelines while in deliberation, were stunned. David Balser, a complex business litigation attorney for the Atlanta law firm of McKenna Long and Aldridge (MLA), was stunned.
"I read a very brief report about the case, and when I read the story, I actually thought the newspaper had gotten it wrong," said Balser. "It seemed the sentence was so disproportionate to the conduct the jury found had occurred."
Balser contacted Dixon's trial lawyer, Fred Simpson, and pledged pro bono assistance from MLA for the appeal, an unusual step for an international law firm specializing in transactional, litigation and government/regulatory services.
"It is unique for our lawyers to take on a case like this," said Balser. "We typically don't handle criminal matters."
Three arguments lie at the heart of the 42-page brief of appellant filed by Balser et al.: (1) Since Dixon and the girl were less than three years apart in age, sexual intercourse between them is governed by a statutory rape law separate from the child molestation statute; (2) The child molestation statute enforced in Dixon's case was misapplied based on the intent of the law; (3) Dixon's 10-year sentence is cruel and unusual punishment as defined by the U.S. Constitution.
"I think we have very strong legal arguments," said Balser. "I think our legal positions are correct. I think we have a very strong, very able group of Supreme Court justices in Georgia, and I believe they'll carefully review the issues, which are novel."
If Balser can win just one of those three arguments when the appeal goes before the Georgia Supreme Court Jan. 21, Dixon's sentence will be overturned and the case remanded to the trial court for resentencing.
By that time - Balser said a decision could come down anytime from three to six months after the January court date - Dixon will have already served more than the one-year maximum for misdemeanor statutory rape and therefore could be set free.
If the appeal fails, Dixon, who turned 19 in September, must serve out the remainder of the sentence (another appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court could be made). A felony charge will follow him the rest of his life. A future career as a teacher or lawyer? Impossible.
Balser has been courting national media attention since an HBO Real Sports segment focused a spotlight on Dixon's plight (more details can be found at www.helpmarcus.com). He will appear on MSNBC's The Abrams Report as part of a feature about the case. For Balser, this appeal represents much more than the aspirations of one Vandy football recruit.
"Every teenager who engages in consensual sex in Georgia is at risk for prosecutors to exercise their discretion on an ad hoc basis, to determine which of those teenagers they don't like and try to put them away for 10 years," he said. "That's why this case is so important."
<http://www.nashvillecitypaper.com/index.cfm?section_id=7&screen=news&news_id=28459> ***** -- Yoshie
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