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Jennifer Thompson and Darryl Hunt, another North
Carolina man who benefitted from DNA testing, at a com
munity forum in 2005.
DNA tests
should be
a right!
Marc
Xlorial
Guest
Columnist
Imagine being convicted
of a crime you didn't commit
and languishing in prison for
11. years until new DNA evi
dence proved your innocence.
That's just what happened
to Ronald Cotton whose story
was told on CBS' 60 Minutes
recently. Cotton's accuser
Jennifer Thompson, was
absolutely certain she correct
ly identified the man who
broke into her Burlington ,
North Carolina apartment and
raped her on the night of July
28. 1984.
But she was wrong. And
her mistake produced more
than one other victim of that
brutal crime - Ronald Cotton,
an innocent man who was sen
tenced to life in prison, and
several other women who
were raped by the real crimi
nal who remained free.
What finally turned the
tide in Cotton's case was the
science of DNA testing which
Cotton's lawyer was allowed
to use to ptpve his client's
innocence The real crime is
that hundreds of wrongly con
victed people are now behind
bars, not only because of eye
witness flaws, but also
because of the refusal by a
small number of states to
allow DNA evidence to be
used to prove their innocence.
According to the 60 Minutes
report, there have been 233
people exonerated by DNA
evidence across the country.
More than 75 percent of them
were convicted because of
mistaken identity.
Ronald Cotton was one of
the lucky ones. Timothy Cole
of Lubbock . Texas was not so
fortunate. He was sentenced to
25 years in 1985 after being
wrongly identified by a rape
victim. In 1999. Cole died in
prison betore DNA testing and
the jailhouse confession of
another inmate later cleared
his name. According to the
Innocence Project, a national
non-profit legal clinic dedicat
ed to exonerating innocent
people through DNA testing,
there are thousands of prison
ers desperate to have their
cases evaluated.
Some of them are on death
row. Most of them are ''poor,
forgotten and have used up all
legal avenues for relief. The
hope they have is that biologi
cal evidence from their cases
still exists and can be subject
ed to DNA testing."
Dallas County District
Attorney, Craig Watson, the
first African American District
Attorney in Texas , has made
this issue a centerpiece of his
work. He believes the DA's
job is not only about prosecut
ing the guilty, it is also about
protecting the innocent. That's
why. in 2007 he established
the Conviction Integrity Unit,
the first division of its kind in
the country dedicated to over
turning wrongful convictions
and securing the release of
men and women who have
been wrongfully imprisoned in
Texas.
His efforts have helped
secure the release of more than
19 wrongfully convicted pris
oners thus far. Unfortunately,
six states still deny prisoners
access to DNA testing: Alaska,
Alabama . Massachusetts .
Oklahoma, Mississippi and
South Dakota.
The Supreme Court is now
deliberating an Alaska case
that could grant all prisoners
that right. We believe that's
what the Court should do.
In a nation that prides itself
on the rule of law, there is no
good reason to deny prisoners
the right to DNA testing if it
can prove their innocence,
identify the guilty and prevent
a tragic miscarriage of justice.
{
Marc H. Mortal is presi
dent and CEO of the National
Urban League.
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Women hold up half the sky
Julianne
Malveaux
Guest
Columnist
There is a Chinese proverb
that expresses the sentiment
that we women do more than
our share in the social, political,
economic and cultural develop
ment of our nation.
"Women hold up half the
sky" is a statement that is
reflected in statistics.
Increasingly, women are the
majority of those, who seek
undergraduate education, even
as women still earn just three
quarters of what men earn.
Women hold up half the sky
- in the African American com
munity. women head nearly
half of our households and raise
most of our children. We do our
share and then some, and we
are too frequently unrecog
nized for our work.
We have done more than
our share for much of our time
on the planet, and it is egre
gious that our contributions are
only recognized during
Women's History Month.
International Women's day
takes place on March 8. but the
entire month of March, just one
month of twelve, is set aside to
lift up women's contributions.
In the African-American
community we can call the roll
that lifts up names like
Sojourner Truth, Harriet
Tubman. Ida B. Wells, Shirley
Chisholm, Barbara Jordan,
Sadie Tanner Mosell
Alexander, and many more.
When we call the roll we
are reminded of women's
strength. tenacity, and
resilience Then it rankles that
the drum roll of African
American history too often lifts
up the men. gives short shrift to
the women, and ignores the sky
that sags when women do not
do our share.
The Chinese proverb
reminds us that we still live in a
patriarchy where women's
work is undervalued. We see it
in the pay rates and the num
bers, but we cannot see it more
clearly than when we look at
our public representation of
reality.
Even when women com
ment on women, it is clear that
patriarchy takes hold of some
of our minds. No matter what
happened between Chris
Brown and Rihanna Fenty, it is
disturbing to hear women opine
that perhaps she had it coming.
It reflects conversations we
have had before, conversations
about the ways Mike Tyson
might have been justified in his
alleged rape of. a young college
student, about the ways that O.
J. Simpson was to have been
justified if he were involved in
the murder of his wife. Nicole
Brown Simpson.
The fact is that, in a patri
archy, we make excuses for
men ' and condemnations for
women. The former
Washington Post columnist
Dorothy Gilliam nailed the
phenomenon when she wrote
that Black folks "raise our
daughters and love our sons."
As we commemorate
Women's History Month, it
makes sense Jo raise and love
them both, embracing both
daughters and sons as they step
out into the world. It makes
sense to lift up the possibilities
that men and women offer to
our world and to celebrate us
all.
It is especially important, in
a compensatory way, to let
young women know that they
are, indeed, enough. They are
complete whether or not they
have men in their lives. This is
an important message to deliv
er in a patriarchy, in the context
with which we raise up men
first and women second.
Women can never be second in
a society where we do more
than our share, where we hold
up more than half of the sky.
Women's History Month
should celebrate the many
ways that women operate in the
center of our world. Our
nation's recession reminds us
of the many ways that women
provide our nation with, an
extreme dependability factor
We make ends meet when
there are no ends, provide
shoulders when there is
nowhere to lean, are cheerlead
ers when there are few cheers,
defenders when there are
attacks.
In the African American
community, we have been the
followers, but not the leaders in
our churches and schools
bridges across those turbulent
times that our nation calls the
troubled waters.
We are the backbone of our
community, the silent sheroes
whose contributions are consis
tent, if not consistently recog
nized.
We women hold up hajf the
sky. The Chinese proverb is an
African American reality.
Julianne Malveaux is presi
dent of Bennett College for
Women. She can be reached at
presofficle @ bennett .edu .
Morality and AIDS don't mix
Mario
Scott
Guest
Columnist
There's an old adage that
says, "Although we've come a
long way, we have oh so far to
go " Last week's news that an
exorbitant number of
Washington. DC residents
have HIV or AIDS is utterly
staggering and. in my mind,
totally unacceptable.
As I sat in my office and
pondered the complexity of the
current situation. I couldn't
help but wonder how we could,
as a community of world citi
zens, allow this disease to get
such a stronghold on our socie
ty Undoubtedly, we have made
tremendous advancements in
HIV/ AIDS awareness, educa
tion , testing and treatment . We
have many programs and serv
ices that are specifically
focused on combating different
aspects of the disease; however,
in light of the recent report, 1
couldn't help but wonder why
it seems like the disease is still
winning.
At that very moment, I
caught a glance of the news
flash that Pope Benedict XVI,
who was in the middle of an
African tour, had rejected the
use of condoms - telling bish
ops in South Africa. Botswana,
Swaziland, Namibia and
Lesotho that contraception was
one of a host of trends con
tributing to a "breakdown in
sexual morality." While I
respect the Pope and his posi
tion, his statement revealed to
me that even with all the strides
that we have made regarding
HIV/AIDS, the ignorance of
trying to make the virus a moral
issue is tearing at the very fab
Dancers perform for Pope Benedict XVI last week during
his swing through Africa.
ric of our society. ?
Saying that contraception is
a reason for a breakdown of
sexual morality is like saying
seat belts cause accidents, but I
digress. I am not trying to
debate church doctrine, or any
of the other stigmas associated
with this disease such as
promiscuity, both in hetero and
homosexual terms, rampant
intravenous drug use. etc. Most
of us have the freedom to
choose our faith, partner or
lifestyle. In my opinion, while
they make topics for great
debates, those issues in large
part are a distraction from the
undeniable facts.
Facts such as these: In
South Africa alone. NK) - 1 .(XX)
people die everyday from
AIDS As a matter of fact - no
pun intended - the United
Nations estimates more than 80
million Africans may die from
AIDS by 2025 and HIV infec
tions could reach 90 million, or
10 percent of the continent's
population. These numbers
alone should be alarming to all
of us living in an age of global
ization.
I know that some people
reading this may be of the
mindset that the United States
of America has little to learn
from Africa, but the recent
Washington. D.C. report sug
gests that this country and that
continent have more in com
mon than many people knew.
The study suggest^ that 3 per
cent of all District of Columbia
residents are currently known
to be living with HIV/AIDS. To
put that into context, the United
Nations Joint Program on
HIV/AIDS (UN AIDS) and the
Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC) have
historically defined an HIV epi
demic when the overall infec
tion rate is more than 1 percent
Not only are the DC. rates
three times higher, but new tar
geted studies suggest that 33 to
50 percent of the residents may
be unaware of their HIV infec
tions. So for those people who
think that this is not Africa, 1
say you're absolutely correct
because the rates of infection in
DC are actually higher than in
West Africa.
The point of this was not to
overwhelm you with facts, but
to highlight that as a global
community, we need to make
significantly more progress in
fighting this public health epi
demic. It is your right to take
any position you want on the
issues of morality, but while we
are debating these issues, peo
pie are becoming infected with
HIV/AIDS in epidemic and
sometimes pandemic propor
tions.
If we could just put down
our politics, preferences, and
sometimes prejudices for a
brief moment and focus not on
our ideal situations, but on the
reality of this horrible reality,
we could start to get a handle
on the complex problem of
HIV/AIDS. Although we may
have many miles to go in the
battle against HIV/AIDS,
focusing on our communities in
a practical way can serve as a
light to guide us to the end of
the tunnel .
Mario L. Scott is a current
Pfizer Globed Health Fellow
assigned to Winston-Salem's
AIDS Care Sen ice. He is also a
hip hop artist and minister
Scott can he reached at
Mario Scott? ghf pfizer ?om.
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