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The Michigan Socialist | News |
Michigan News
A 'democratic' outburst in a sea of
repression
THE DISENFRANCHISING of African Americans
happens not only at the ballot box in Detroit.
A recent ruling by Judge Deborah Thomas blasted
the Wayne County Circuit Court for systematically excluding Black
jurors.
Thomas, a judge in the Circuit Court, issued her
ruling in response to a complaint by two African American men facing
trial.
The two petitioners argued that they were not
being tried by a jury of their peers, because most of those jurors
were white.
In an angry five-page opinion, Judge Thomas wrote:
“the failure of the Wayne County Jury Services Department to collect
information from individuals ... as to their race and ethnic
background works as a direct infringement” of their rights.
While Thomas’ order does not change the jury
selection process, it does mandate that the Jury Services Dept.
begin recording the race and ethnicity of jurors, thus making it
possible to track instances of exclusion.
As well, it is uncertain that her order will even
be implemented.
Wayne Circuit Chief Judge Mary Beth Kelly, who
oversees the Jury Services Dept., says she will respond to Thomas’
opinion after the trial of the two petitioners concludes.
According to a report in one of the Detroit
dailies, “about 41 percent of the eligible Wayne Circuit Court jury
pool is from Detroit, yet only 28 percent of the actual pool is from
Detroit.”
“Since 80 percent of Detroit residents are black,
there are a disproportionate number of whites on juries.”
This systematic disenfranchisement of African
Americans in the court system should not come as a surprise to those
who are familiar with what has happened to Detroit over the last
decade.
When the Republican-led state government moved to
abolish the Detroit Recorder’s Court in 1997, many in Detroit raised
the issue that this would lead to white juries trying Black
defendants.
But then, that was exactly what the Michigan
Republicans, partially owned by the prison industry, wanted.
With all the money that the Michigan GOP gets from
prison industry suppliers, as well as from corporations that use and
contract prison labor, it should not be a surprise to anyone that
they would want a larger prison population.
Cheap labor is cheap labor, after all.
But now, with the state close to $1 billion in
debt and not so much money to fund their pet prisons, there is a
move to thin out the prison population.
The recent talk about the death penalty and “early
releases” for low-level offenders are two different tactics to
achieve the same end — the shifting of segments of prison labor over
to the “reserve army” of unemployed “surplus population.
In this sense, the move toward trying to restore a
little judicial equality can be seen as a “liberal” alternative to
the recent proposals of their “conservative” allies.
Martin Schreader
See related articles:
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Why is there no death penalty in
Michigan?
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