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FORUM A Kobe legal slam dunk Earl Ofari Hutchinson Guest Columnist The instant Laker superstar Kobe Bryant was charged with rape, the debate raged whether he could get a fair trial in Eagle County, Colo. Blacks make up less that 1 percent of the popula tion there, and in 19% a federal judge ordered the county's Sher iff's Department to stop racially profiling black motorists. Bryant's attorneys forcefully rammed race into the case when they demand ed that prospective Jurors be probed about their attitudes toward interracial dating. C But the outcome of the trial that will probably lake place in the fall won't hinge on racial bias, law enforcement attitudes, or vindic tive prosecutor. It will hinge on his money and superstar allure. These are the aces that well heeled. high profile defendants such as Bryant that wind up on the legal hot seat play to buy, finagle, and massage the criminal justice system. ( ^ With a rape charge hanging over his head, Bryant would have little chance without them in. Rape, murder and child molesta tion are the charges that fuel the greatest public fury, and passion. District attorneys know these cases are politically and emotion ally volatile. DA's also have juror bias on their side. Much of the public equates an individual's arrest with guilt, and even when race is not an issue in a criminal case, the major ity of those that serve on juries, mostly middle-class whites, trust KRT Pboio Kobe Bryant will stand trial for rape later this year in Col orado. in the fairness of the criminal jus tice system. Efu* even when race is an issue and the defendant is black and the alleged victim is white, as in Bryant's case, a large number of black and non-white jurors often harbor the same biases, prej udices, and negative preconcep tions about defendants, while placing great stock on police tes timony and the prosecution's evi dence. The myth that black defen dants routinely waltz out of court when blacks make up the majority of a jury was blown wildly out of proportion in the aftermath of the O.J. Simpson acquittal. Legions of black defendants are tried and convicted daily in felony cases in courts throughout the nation by predominantly bladk juries, or juries with more than a token number of blacks. Bryant has used his wealth to sweep, or some would say. man gle the legal minefield. His pricey, top gun attorneys have filed 46 court motions since late March alone (the prosecution filed 41). They have aggressively chal lenged Colorado's tough rape shield law, tarnished the alleged victim's character, assailed sher iff's officers handling of the crime scene, demanded the alleged vic tim's medical records, combed through every line in the jury instructions, and have bombarded the court with any and every issue no matter how trivial to stretch the case out through one maybe even two basketball seasons. The idea is to create enough "reasonable doubt" in the minds of jurors to get Bryant off, and failing that, to get his conviction reversed on appeal. The point is also to paint Bryant as a good guy who got a bum rap. That's where Bryant's star power allure comes in. His prod uct endorsements evaporated faster than a Hooding disappear ing act, and an occasional crudely made sign was waved at him dur ing a game. English philosopher econo mist Thomas Carlyle believed that societies exist on hero worship. They create the all-powerful "Great Man." This Olympian like figure profoundly impacts the public: "like lightning out of heav en, the rest of men waited for him like fuel, then they would flame." The Kobes are Carlyle's "Great ^tan." Bryant rudely dumped the issue of rape, money and hero worship on the basketball court in the court of public opinion, and in an Eagle County court: While his acquittal is far from a slam-dunk, his money and demi God appeal make that possibility seem more than likely. Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. Visit his news and opinion Web site: thehutchinsonreport.com. He "is the author of "The Crisis in Black and Black ( Middle Passage Press). Clinton shows no leadership on Iraq Ron Walters Guest Columnist Bill Clinton's memoirs have come out and I will have more to say about them later. Right now, his most vexing point to me is his position that, because this admin istration has blundered into Iraq, everyone should now hunker down and support that fact and try to make the best of it. I know that there is an eti quette among ex-presidents that says that they should not criticize another administration in the midst of a war and that the patriot ic thing to do is to support the effort. But the hard and dirty poli tics of how the country was tricked into Iraq must move the criticism beyond etiquette. In that respect, if we follow Clinton's dic tum. I hear the faint echo of Viet nam in the background where Richard Nixon's policy of getting out "with honor" cost this coun try 60,000 casualties and hundreds of millions of dollars in a wasted attempt to retrieve America's honor. How can you retrieve your honor once you have made a deal with the devil? That is the prob lem that now faces this country, and I think that the best route to an honorable conclusion of the war is to admit your mistake, turn over real sovereignty to an Iraqi gov ernment chosen by the people, put the country on the American pay roll for a while to enable it re build the material infrastructure and broken bones caused by our military invasion and bring the boys and girls home this year. The problem with this, as with Vietnam, is that American politi cal leaders have always had a problem with admitting mistakes once they have committed them. They believe, often wrongly, as history shows, that they can cover over their mistakes by the application of preponderant power. Such power is the seduction in all of this, like they say drugs make you feel - you can do whatever you want. Power is also a drug, enabling leaders to distort the val ues that people care about. It even allows them to violate the most supreme value of all - preserv ing human life - in pursuit of a wrong-headed agenda. This is why power must be used very, very carefully. In these times, you almost wish that the civilians were not in charge of power, because many top military leaders are not drugged, but made a hard-headed assessment of the Iraq enterprise and warned against intervention as unwarranted since Saddam Hussein did not directly threaten American security. Moreover, they warned that the two cam paigns at once (Afghanistan and Iraq) have stretched American military capabilities too thin. Bush has ignored their advice and plowed ahead, promising that whatever number of troops are required will be provided. He is wrecking the military reserve in the process, to achieve their mis sion "with honor." By taking the position of stay ing in Iraq and "completing the job" Clinton is also giving cover to John Kerry. This means that the Democrats and Republicans have virtually the same position now on the war, which is the problem with Kerry's cam paign right now. At a time when the vast majority of the American people are telling their political leaders they want them to go another way, Kerry is not giving them a distinctively dif ferent policy. Instead, he is follow ing Bush. It makes you wish for a Howard Dean, someone who would stand up and say that the war is wrong and that the path to redeeming America's honor is to admit a mistake and get out. With Bush falling in the polls because the public is souring on the war in Iraq, Kerry may well ride this momentum into the White House. If so, he will become the new Nixon, inheriting a warTind having to end it "with honor." But if he does not move quickly enough, like Nixon, he will also face the certain wrath of American people and become the Bill Clinton brunt of an anti-war movement to force him to get out - this time, mounted by those who are nor mally a sympathetic part of the Democratic Party constituency. In this respect, history is a guide to the current moment and one wonders that with the greatest intellectual establishment in the world to analyze history, why the lessons of histdry are ignored. It is because the function of the intel lectual establishment, especially the media, is not to critique the actions of political leaders, but to rationalize and profit from them. The media did not get America out of Vietnam; they were more concerned with a break-in at the Watergate Hotel - and since they are now "embedded." they will not get America out of Iraq. Right now it is the big story, all Iraq, all the time, and they are using the war and its many manifestations of books, hearings, budget battles, leaked reports, latest killings, and etc., to sell some more papers and TV spots. So, let us be clear. This is not about America's honor. It is about how politicians duck the judgment of history and how those who feed off of their mistakes can profit by keeping it center stage. In this sense, Clinton is not a sage, but a pigeon. Ron Wallers is the Distin guished Leadership Scholar, director of the African American Leadership Institute in the Acade my of Leadership and professor of government and politics at the University of Maryland-College Park. His latest hook is "White Nationalism, Black Interests" ( Wayne State University Press). STEEL BUILDINGS BUY NOW! SAVE Thousands PRICI MAY BE HIGHER IN NEAR ' FREE BUILDING SYSTEM GUIDE AND VIDEO1 Hundreds ol Sizes Available! WtUGCOR STFll BUILDINGS ?local Dealer Turnkey! Jfififi AMI Senator Linda Garrou North Carolina State Senate Serving You is My Business 32nd District P.O. Box 11843 Winston-Salem, NC 271 16 Tel: (336) 922-6142 Igarroii (s> li ndagarrou.com Paid for by The Committee to Elect Linda Garrou zi i cEL7ilS5TcR for FREE brochure 800-341 -70C Ava H. Blount Broker (336) 462-6086 DIRECT (336) 748-5318 BUSINESS (336) 748-5363 PAX rt-ala > a 1? aol.com COLOUieUL BANKeRU TRIAD, REALTORS 285 South Stratford Road. Winston-Salem. NC 27103 O Rep. Larry Womble NC House of Representatives 7 hit District Tel (336) 784-9373 Fax (336) 784-1626 E-Mail: LWistm@aol.com Home Address 1294 Salem Lake Road Wiriston-Salem. NC 27107 % Whiting Filets 4-10 Pound Slabs $62.00 That's only 15.50 a slab! (sold only by the case) Holly Poultry (336) 725-9858 CORNER OP rAYETTEVILLE STREET AND WAUGH ITJWN Winston-Salem, NC Louise E. Harris Attorney at Law ? Bankruptcy ? Consumer Problems ? Traffic Tickets & DWI ? Divorce ? 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