The Fuss Over Judge Marvin Arrington's Action

Cable Television has again gone wild over Judge Arrington’s asking whites to leave his court while he lectured black defendants. On the surface this is understandable because we look to our courts to provide equal justice under the law. As a lawyer who have practiced criminal law and subsequently specialized in employment law, I can testify under oath that there is not equal justice under the law. As we used to say jokingly in criminal court, there is no justice—it’s all about “just us.” As in most jokes, this phrase contains a great deal of truth.

The exclusion of whites from the courtroom to lecture blacks, ostensibly because the Judge did not want whites to feel embarrassed and to feel as if he was talking down to them, is indefensible and Judge Arrington has apologized profusely for this blunder.
As a lawyer who practiced criminal law, I fully understand and appreciate Judge Arrington’s disgust at seeing blacks, particularly black men, go in and out of the courthouse’s revolving door. I used to be ashamed every time the calendar was called to see nineteen black men and one white man led into the courtroom, chained, by young white deputies who appeared to be no older than 21 years old. Many of these defendants shackled on the chain were broken, old, gray men. At first I wondered if these black men were embarrassed to be ordered around by men young enough to be their grandchildren. I soon realized those broken souls had long ago abandoned—spiritually, mentally, and physically any concepts of dignity, embarrassment, and humiliation….

However, what Judge Arrington said (and there are plenty news reports of that) should be music to the black and white community’s ears. He basically scolded black leadership and the black middle class for not doing more to help the lost people in their ghettoes.

As in the case of Reverend Wright, his action—but not his words—made whites uncomfortable. Whites have had their absolute way so long in this country that they take it for granted that they are not to be made uncomfortable. So, any black or white person—and particularly a black man—who says or does something that makes white people uncomfortable can expect to be excoriated by the white press. This is a fact that is not in dispute.

It is also an indication that the vast majority of whites in our country want to comfortably pass their entire life without hearing the raw and bitter truth.

I say, “get over it.”

Lenton Aikins, Ph.D., J.D.
Dr. Aikins has traveled widely, lived abroad in Europe and Latin America, recently spending three years in Costa Rica as Director of a Spanish Language school. He holds a Ph. D. in Political Science from University of Southern California, a Juris Doctor in Law from Western State University, College of Law. He is the author of many articles and of While African Americans Slept: Leadership by Parasites, now available at: http://lentonaikins.com, and available in all bookstores July 1, 2008. You can read his daily blog at: http://lentonaikins.com