On Thursday, Smollett was guilty on five of six counts of disorderly conduct for making a false report of a hate crime. He tarnished Trump’s supporters by claiming that in January 2019, two men put a noose around his neck, poured bleach on him and hurled racist slurs. and homophobic at him, shouting, “This is MAGA country” during an attack that prosecutors allege he orchestrated.
Cooper, on the other hand, is a white woman who called the police about a Black bird watcher in Central Park in May 2020, falsely reporting that he threaten her life and that he tried to attack himr. The false report stemmed from a dispute over her released dog, and she fell into the racist campaign of a barbaric black man threatening a woman’s virtue. innocent white woman.
The two cases are of course different. In Amy Cooper’s case, she apologized after video showing her 911 call went viral and black bird watcher Christian Cooper (not related) decided not to cooperate with the investigation, speech It doesn’t seem necessary to bring her more suffering. On the other hand, authorities determined Smollett had orchestrated a conspiracy that led to his false reporting. He continued to maintain his innocence and was accused of doing four separate false statements in what eventually led to a Inquiry $130,000, according to the city of Chicago.
But both Smollett and Cooper tap into the worst period of American history, evoking a thrilling era that saw Black men and women hanged from trees or in city squares street in front of a crowd of whites eager to bring home a relic of the event. If Smollett and Cooper didn’t know what they were doing, they certainly had to. The two eventually caused controversies that led to partisan and racist quarrels.
Both have been charged with criminal offenses. However, like today, one of them had to face possible jail time while the other’s misdemeanor for misreporting is reduction after completing a therapy program addressing racial biases.
The criminal justice system should have treated the Smollett case similarly to the Cooper case, as it is unclear who would benefit from the severe punishments Smollett faced. In fact, the Cook County State Attorney’s Office dropped the original charges in exchange for a fine and community service – but the decision was heavily criticized. A special prosecutor has ended open an independent investigation into the matter and a grand jury found Smollett on six counts of disruptive conduct. (Smollett has yet to be convicted, but the charge of disruptive behavior for false reporting is a Level 4 felony, punished by up to three years in prison and a $25,000 fine. The judge will decide whether he sentences simultaneously or consecutively for each of the five counts.)
By appointing a special prosecutor, a judge wasted taxpayer money to further punish a man who was punished for derailing a burgeoning acting career with stupidity. mine. And for what? Because of the bloodlust of the masses? Because the union represents Chicago police officers condemn State Attorney’s decision and call for Smollett’s prosecution? Or maybe because there’s nothing easier – or more predictable – than using shortcoming criminal justice system to put an imperfect Black man in his place even if other options were available and would lead to a more equitable outcome.
And be frank. Although he is a wealthy celebrity and she is unknown to most Americans before she was introduced to the public through viral notoriety, it is not particularly surprising that people Black man can lose his freedom while white woman can say she faked asking for a payday in advance to sue her former owner, declares she Is one victim racial segregation.
We have seen our criminal justice system mature different results that often falls across racial lines in ways that cannot be explained by rich-poor gap. A similar thing happens in court of public opinion. When the crack pandemic took on a Black Side, the public and the criminal justice system went too far to intrude and severely punish those who went the wrong way. Even Black comedians like Dave Chappelle make fun of crack addicts. When the opioid crisis has a White Side, the story has changed to be more empathetic, and much of the resources Congress allocated in 2018 went toward research, treatment, and prevention rather than police and prisons.
In the end, I think it’s a shame that Smollett and Cooper have attracted so much public attention and caused so much controversy that I question whether we would all be better off if the actor’s accusations The officer was ignored and the case was never reopened. That’s why I’m not moved by critics either people like Vice President Kamala Harris for immediately expressing shock and disgust when Smollett announced he was the victim of a violent assault. (Former President Donald Trump also responded to the attack in 2019 by calling it “terrible,” before turning I’m on Smollett.) Harris’s guilt, allegedly, was being too quick to believe that a gay, black man was subjected to a racist and homophobic attack in a major American city, as if it were unthinkable. It was not until much later that it was discovered that the black man in particular was lying.
Turning the initial support for Smollett into a trump card against a host of public figures would remove any nuance. Well, the jury found Smollett guilty. But his lies do not negate the fact that too often, gay black men and others in The LGBTQ community is targeted and harmed because who they are, and Cooper’s lies are by no means unreasonable, for white women alone in the park to be afraid of men, regardless of their race.
Smollett is incredibly selfish and stupid? Sure. Does he deserve to go to jail? No I do not think so. Unfortunately, Smollett and Cooper have caused a lot of outrage and division by citing some of the worst this country has seen.
It would be even more regrettable if we let their lies blind us to the realities of race in America today – including the progress we have made and the long road leading to it. to racial equality is ahead.
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