By Ed Gray, NDG Columnist
The trial of the century is over, and Justice has prevailed! Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price has been proven not guilty! The personal nightmare for Commissioner Price is over. However, how many in the community are still living in a perpetual purgatory of Injustice.
Justice is often in the eyes of the beholder. In many cases due to circumstances of jury selection, justice is denied. When Commissioner John Wiley Price was found not guilty of corruption charges, locally the Black community rejoiced. The previous week, Officer Bryan Burgess of the Dallas Police Department was found not guilty of criminally negligent homicide in running over bicyclist Fred Bradford. In this case, the Black community was enraged.
We had one man, Commissioner Price in the battle for his life against the United States government. We had another man Fred Bradford, deceased whose reputation and life were embattled. Both men stood in front of the juries. One man literally on trial, the other man symbolically on trial. In America, all Black men are on trial either symbolically or otherwise. In the American justice system, most black men face and are judged by juries with an implicit bias of guilt.
The judicial system is based on the theory you are innocent until proven guilty, unless of course you are Black. If you are Black the burden of proof is about as heavy as grandma’s black cast iron skillet. We must level the playing field of justice, to the point that justice truly is Equal for All!
Many people do not realize, how critical jury composition is the key to justice! In both of the aforementioned cases, the juries making the final decision were predominately White. We as a people must get beyond running away from serving on juries. When the jury summons arrives in the mailbox, answer the call. Many people have been convicted because of jury composition. Enlarge the jury pool, so people like Commissioner Price will not have to say, “I’m the luckiest Black man alive.”
Fred Bradford was not lucky when Officer Burgess ran him over twice. Officer Bryan Burgess was lucky when the jury said “Not Guilty.” Then again perhaps Burgess was not lucky, because after all Officer Burgess is White.
Jury composition and justice is more than just blind luck.
Editor’s Note: Following a nine-week trial Commissioner Price was found not guilty on April 28 on seven of the 11 charges he faced. The jury was hung on four income tax related charges. The judge put the government on a four-week timetable to determine if they plan to retry Price on those four charges.
Ed Gray, the host of The Commish Radio Show airing Saturdays 3 p.m. – 5 p.m. on FBRN.net, can be reached at eegray62@att.net.
