I have written in a previous post about the cultural and contextual specificity of assigning culpability. That is, in the previous post, our decision to point blame to adolescents is relative to our historical and social contexts of Latino Americans, and middle and high school students. With the release of the verdict in the Oscar Grant trial, I could not help but to situate this verdict of White, civil servant's quasi-culpability within its proper social milieu.
Today in Los Angeles, a jury decided to convict Mehserle, a White officer, for the involuntary manslaughter of Oscar Grant, an unarmed Black male in the first day of 2009 (See SFGate article). Although harsher than an acquittal (c.f., Rodney King's assailants), the verdict falls short of a second degree murder charger, which the prosecution sought. The verdict will likely produce 5-16 years of prison for Mehserle.
No one wins in these cases. There is no way to bring back Oscar, and there is little that can assuage the racial undertones in this case (and in Oakland or America). Without opining, it is my hope to highlight this decision as another one swayed by history and context. American society has typically assigned less fault to civil servants. Further, there is strong evidence that supports a legal and social leniency for the Whites accused of violating Blacks. Given this, is a man-slaughter verdict incremental progress toward equal protection under the law? Without a murder charge, have we again fallen short of vindicating the victim's family? Or have we poorly equiped and placed a well-intentioned man into a hectic, cortisol-driven situation and then cast blame on his shoulders? The issue is highly valenced and complex.
Regardless of your opinion or my own, with today's verdict and the subsequent social and media reaction, we will define and redefine society's stance of individual culpability, especially for White, civil servants. Collectively, we will shape the parameters and definitions of right and wrong (and magnitude of rightness and wrongness). In doing so, we socialize a new generation and provide a history and ecology for the future Americans to reconcile with.
2 comments:
What little I know about this case is from a short news piece aired on NPR, so I can't comment on the justice or lack thereof in this case. My only suggestion to you is to stay out of Oakland for a while; I would hate for you to be an innocent and unfortunate victim of retribution from the inevitable civil unrest that will occur as a result of this case.
I hear in your commentary that we have to consider the time, context, and impact of such events. Tomorrow is the 50th anniversary of the publishing of To Kill a Mockingbird, a book which offered a couple of generations of Americans the opportunity to think differently about those born without "white privilege". An unexamined life is unfortunate. Therefore, it's worth examining the complexities of this case and the learning we can take from it, now and in the future.
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