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October 20, 2005
JoAnne, You're Not Doing Them (or Yourself) Any Favors
Now, full disclosure: I have never worked for, and likely will never work for the FBI (even though they've announced some possible, er, changes to their applicant qualifications), but I think I'm close to the scent on this one: criminal investigations are not conducted by starting out with a random sampling of people. At least, I certainly hope not.
Today's Knox News-Sentinel quotes the State Representative from just across the U.S. highway from me in District 29, JoAnne Favors, thusly:
"You can't say you have conducted a random sampling and the majority of them are black," Favors said.
There's really not a whole lot to add to what has been written all over the "Tennessee blogosphere" about this unfortunate story, except to point out that not only is Favors an elected legislator and a member of the Black Caucus, she is Vice-Chair of the Hamilton County Democratic Party (so this hits some friends and neighbors close to home). She has made a serious accusation (and continues blithely on with it despite having had her needless inquiry fully met with an answer from the investigators) of what would be a grave misdeed by law enforcement. Where is her evidence? She blew any chance of having a logical frame to her argument with that "random sampling" nonsense. I've even toyed with the idea that the original corruption complaints to the FBI were of GOP origin — but I would consider that a partisan power play, not a race-oriented thing.
Obviously there are honest officials who are black; but apparently Bowers, Cotton, Dixon, Ford, Hooks, Love, and Myers weren't among them. JoAnne Favors is counter-intuitively aggravating the situation that is likely facing the many black Democrats who aren't corrupt — namely, that they are (however unfairly, let me add) undergoing increased scrutiny and suspicion by virtue of association. Just as obviously, there are honest officials who are white (and Hispanic, and just insert the whole list here); but apparently Crutchfield and Newton weren't among them (and my personal jury's still out on Cooper and Wilder, and there may be more).
Look. Given our nation's (and this region's) history, there is, without question, a sensitive nature to matters involving "race" or "ethnicity" and these factors' intertwinement with socioeconomic paradigms, political empowerment, and so on. While I wish we were past the point of all that, I won't be stupid and just ignore reality. I am capable of putting the shoe on the other foot and imagining a world wherein "my people" had been enslaved and abused for centuries by some Other. However, I will be blunt when things like this happen, and take someone like Rep. Favors to task for making these allegations, because they have the sole effect of weakening the ferocity with which justice is sought against very real race-related atrocities.
And, again, it can't be said enough: anyone (elected official or not; "unregistered lobbyist," as the CTFP keeps mistakenly saying, or not; Democrat or Republican; man or womyn; white, black, or fuschia) — ANYONE who breaks the law is a sitting target for those who enforce the law.
Government | By joe lance | 04:00 PM