Transcript
EFFICACIOUS SOCIETARY CORRECTIONAL-SEGREGATION: OBLIVIOUS PROSECUTION OR HELOTIC PERSECUTION? By: William A. Larson, MDOC# 046176 There are ingenious abilities that sets humanity apart from other animal species, that could be considered an affliction. To paraphrase several theoretical exegeses: ego-centric self-awareness allows humanity to intrinsically find inferiority in those who are different. Color of skin, family names, places of origin, social status, language, religious beliefs-or lack thereof, sexual designation-or preference, political affiliation- or ideology, athletic ability, education, intelligence, technological prowess, and most confounded of all, failure to abide by the social wisdom and self-imposed laws of the predominant culture. A myriad of pretexts have been used, throughout the history of mankind, to disparage one group, or castigate another. Humanity has the invidious desire to establish an official pecking order, of haves and have-nots, validating what is stated to be self-evident: that their tribal cabal is superior to any other. Numerous protagonists have argued that this self-imposed bane is the driving force behind ethnic and racial hatred, as it blinds the eye of common sense. Afflicted people say and do hateful things to each other, that they would otherwise never say or do. On occasions, the hate-related reactionary intolerance is practiced, and perpetuated, by those who incessantly moralize political-correctness. No-one escapes their self-egotistical presumptuousness: that we are predisposed to be existing in John Lennon's "Imagine" world. The classic exemplar of this endemic social exigency, was exposed during the Ferguson riots, in Ferguson, Missouri. While I was not a direct witness to the evolving events, that started the entire imbroglio, it wasn't that difficult to determine the basic facts, as the affair metamorphized and unraveled. I watched the released video, that allegedly showed MB, on August 9, 2014, entering a store with DJ. He took some "blunts", handed them to DJ, then started to leave the store, without paying for them. A man, identified as the store manager, approached MB and started talking to him. MB grabbed the man and pushed him away, then left the store. In the State of Missouri, MB's actions qualify as 2nd degree robbery, or in common terms, strong-arm robbery. Which is a serious felony in Missouri. When MB leaves the store with DJ, whom allegedly "aided and abetted," the felony, in place of trying to blend in with the other foot traffic, MB and DJ brazenly walked down the center of the street, calling additional attention to themselves. A police officer spots them, then makes a mistake in judgment, and didn't wait for back-up, before he confronted them. This resulted in a scuffle and the discharge of the officer's weapon, slightly wounding MB. These events added the additional felony of an assault on a police authority. [1] The rest of the story is solely based on what you believe, which in Missouri, seems to be depending on which race you represent. Instantly the professional race-baiters appear out of the woodwork, and turned everything into a circus. They alleged that MB was deliberately gunned down by the police officer; solely because he was a black-person. [2] Eventually, the U.S. Department of Justice's (DOJ) investigation proved that theory wrong. The race-baiters continued their contrived diatribe of hatred, even after the mixed-race grand-jury, brought a "no true bill", after hearing weeks of testimony, from alleged eyewitnesses and hired experts. [3] What really perplexes me about the matter, is that even though the U.S. Supreme Court has repetitively found that: "--- officer had the right to use deadly force if that officer harbored an objective and reasonable belief that a suspect presented an immediate threat to his safety...." [4], the City of Ferguson settled MB's family's lawsuit for allegedly $1,800,000. [5] The Court specifically stated there is no liability in a lawful use of deadly force, which places another cloud on the confusing event. In 2017, people in St. Louis, again, rioted when a judge dismissed the charges against another "white" police officer for using deadly force against a black citizen. In the past few years, this has been an epidemic that has plagued this entire nation. In the Federal Bureau of Investigation's 2014 Uniform Crime Report, they communicated that non-blacks compromise 87% of the population and account for 73% of crimes committed (this includes Hispanics); while blacks compromise 13% of the population and commit 27% of the crimes. One in 37 non-blacks are arrested, as compared to one in 15 blacks. 14.74 non-blacks are shot by police for every 100,000 arrests. 13.05 blacks are shot by police for every 100,000 arrests. The report does not state how many of the police shootings were fatal, and was subject to the accuracy of the State's reporting such figures. Missouri does not provide the information based on racial division. In place of the DOJ limiting its investigation to what actually caused the death of MB, they went on a "racial bias" investigation of the entire City of Ferguson police and court system. It took the MB case to expose the transpicuous racially biased custom, in which the Ferguson police and courts treated their black citizens. [6] Quite a few of the surrounding cities were also found to be guilty of the same racially biased practices. In the confusion, no-one ever questioned why DJ was never charged with "felony murder", RSMo §565.021.1(2)? He had participated in several felonies. As a direct result, a life was lost. Under Missouri law, that is the classic example of "felony murder". Not even considering the other criminal acts he participated (aided and abetted) in. The question has always lingered in my mind, as it doesn't pass the smell test. When President Obama was elected, I, and a lot of other people, hoped he would bring racial lucidity to this country, ending this racial disharmony that has turned Dr. Martin Luther King's "DREAM" into an everlasting nightmare. Rather than screaming racism every time a black citizen is shot by a "white" police officer, the race-baiters should be trying to have the law changed. No-one should have the right to use deadly force, simply because they might feel threatened. To allow a person, with a gun-slinger disposition, to have the proverbial "license to kill", is ludicrous. There needs to be a universal vetting process for all law enforcement authorities. A police officer's job is to protect the community, which includes suspected criminals. Judges-juries, not police officers, are supposed to determine the guilt or innocence, of the suspect; then sentence the guilty. Since when has it been a Capitol offense to attempt to evade arrest? The Bonnie and Clyde days of law enforcement are supposed to be over. When someone is stopped, for a minor offense, and ends up dead; supports there is something seriously tainted within this Country's system of justice. In place of the race-baiters, on the lame-stream media, pushing to change the established laws. They just push their personal agendas of racial-division. I have yet to see the National lame-stream media focus on any "white" suspects, who are gunned down after being stopped for a minor offense. Are they intentionally keeping the racial-hatred pot boiling? The political climate, in Missouri, is a confusing dichotomy, at best, especially where it comes to race relations. President Trump was overwhelmingly elected, along with a new Republican Governor, who had never served in office before, replacing a Democratic Governor. Some pundits allege this was due to the evolving "white" fear of what happened in Ferguson. President Obama was resoundingly defeated, in both elections, although the same voters elected a “white” Democratic Governor, replacing a Republican. A few years earlier, a well-respected Republican U.S. Senator, was defeated for re-election, by a deceased Democratic ex-Governor. At the same time, a Republican Governor was elected. In 1954, when I was starting the 8th Grade, President Eisenhower ordered all schools desegregated. Brentwood had just built a new school, under the previous "separate but equal" standard of the era, in the Rosehill neighborhood. Rosehill is where all of Brentwood's "citizens of color" were diabolically cloistered. The new school was never used as a school. This was the ignominious Jim Crow era of the "invisible" people, which was soon to end, with school desegregation. I was astonished when the bus arrived, and the "Rosehill" students got off. They were scared, but like the rest of US, pretended not to be. They were all dressed like US. THEY were US, on our first day of school. Much to everyone's relief, everything went well. I later learned that the School Board had decided to bus the “Rosehill" students to school, in order to appease "certain" individuals who objected to them walking through their neighborhoods. Up to this point in time, a "person of color", was just someone I watched in the movies, working some menial job, or tap dancing. I was extremely racially naive. I actually believed Amos and Andy were "people of color" and all "people of color" spoke and acted like them. The "Rosehill" students showed me how racially uninformed I was. Unlike today, we didn't refer to each other as black/white. We totally integrated, into one student body. There were no "black" areas, or "white" areas. Everyone seemed to be more interested in getting to know about each other. Albeit, this could be what my Aspie-controlled mind prefers to remember. Recently, the St. Louis Branch of the NAACP, came out with a scathing report documenting that youth of color, are 4+ times more likely, than other youths, to be suspended from school. [7] The Missouri penal system today, is a microcosm of the racial contumacy that plagues Missouri schools, and the rest of "free-world" Amerika. This is perpetuated by the antipathetic defiance and disrespect "black" prisoners have for "white" authority. In prison, most prisoners form their self-defensive tribal cabals. You enter any dining room, and you will observe black prisoners sitting in one area, whites in another. Hispanic prisoners are usually grouped between the two racial factions. Major Williams, when he was SCCC's Chief of Security, took notice how black prisoners grouped on one side of the small concrete exercise area, in front of the Honor House (H.U.3), and white prisoners grouped on the other side. He stated, that he was going to do something about this self-segregation; as if he had never noticed this anomaly before. Segregation prohibitives do not mean anything, as long as prisoners, or any group, deliberately segregate themselves. Some do this purely out of racial hatred, or distrust. Most do this because they feel more comfortable with those who share similar interests. [8] A dichotomic phenomenon that I find rather perplexing, in 1963, when I first entered the Missouri penal system, the over-all racial make-up was approximately 60% white and 40% black. When I was reaccepted back into the loving care of the MDOC, in 1981, through some mysterious circumstances, the racial balance had reversed, in the institutions I was held in. The MDOC officially alleged that the system is approximately 47% black. They fail to clarify that, this includes all convictees, including those on probation/parole. Prisoners who are civilly committed as sexual predators and those who are held in the protective custody units, are overwhelmingly white (90-95%). This perplexing racial dichotomy is fully illuminated when you compare Missouri to Mississippi, a state half the size of Missouri. According to our library encyclopedia, Mississippi has the same 60% black prisoners, and 40% white prisoners, within its penal system. The problematic difference lies in the fact, Mississippi has a 37% state-wide black citizen population, according to the last census. While Missouri's 60% black prison population (in level 5's), comes from only a 13% state-wide black citizen population. Simple math shows the glaring issue. Mississippi's 60% black prison population, is approximately 1 2/3's times the state's 37% black citizen population. While Missouri's, alleged, 47% black prison population, is approximately 3 2/3's times Missouri's 13% black citizen population. In Missouri, if these figures are right, a black citizen is approximately 3 times more likely to end up in prison; than a black citizen of Mississippi. This is not even considering the 60% black prisoner population in Missouri's level 5 institutions. Which would make a black Missouri citizen approximately 5 times more likely to be convicted of a violent crime, than a black citizen of Mississippi. I have lived most of my life as an oblivious racist. I incognizantly had never thought much about the subject. When you are born an Aspie, living in a world of Mundanes, you learn instinctually how to survive and deal with discriminatory isolation. When you are different society tends to exclude you, especially if they do not need you. I can understand how some people of color feel, living in an albescent world, with Plutocratic-Absolutists controlling everything, that directly affects their lives. The U.S. Supreme Court, in 1968, found that racially-segregated housing units, for black/white prisoners, was unconstitutional. [9] The Missouri penal system was then forced to desegregate its institution's housing units. The Missouri State Penitentiary (MSP) was dragged kicking and screaming out of its Jim Crow world, when riots broke out, as they started to desegregate the housing units. [10] Missouri continued to use segregated race-based cell assignments [11] until 2005, when they started double-celling prisoners of different races, in level 5 institutions, after they opened SCCC. Prior to that, the only prisoners that were moved into dual-race cells, were done at the request of the "booty-bandits". The young-white prisoners, were referred to as "coal-haulers". Double-celling of blacks/whites was also done, by staff, as a punishment, or a way to get even with a "trouble-maker”. Occasionally, such celling was done in compliance with special programs, such as ITC and the honor houses. I was assigned my first black cell-mate, in 2008; which did not end well. After we both got out of Sad.Seg., we were both placed into the same housing unit wing (4B). This was a common SCCC practice, in order to keep the gladiator-like scenario going. This time it ended even worse. I spent the next year in Super-Max.Sad.Seg., for a #2 assault. My ex-celly, went to the hospital. Since then, I have had several black cellies, without any unusual disputes, that wasn't handled peacefully. A major problem within the MDOC, is that white staff are timorously suspicious of black staff. They do not really know where black staff will stand, or which side they will come down on, where it comes to disputes between white staff, and black prisoners. A classic example of this occurred at Crossroads CC.. A black prisoner assaulted a COII, while coming back from the after-noon meal. Allegedly, the COII had sadistically maced him when he was in Sad.Seg.. The black prisoner straddled the COII, after he had knocked him to the ground. He then took the COII's can of mace, and emptied it out into the COII's face. When other staff rushed to the COII's assistance, another black prisoner attempted, to block their way. Both black prisoners were eventually subdued and taken to Sad.Seg., in full restraints. When they arrived in Sad.Seg., the COII, who was assaulted, and other COII, whose father had been assaulted and seriously injured by black prisoners, previously, took each of the black prisoners into the shower stalls, and beat them down, while they were still in restraints. A black, female, CO was present with the usual video camera. She was told to turn the camera off, when the beat-downs started. She only pretended to turn off the camera, while recording the beat-downs. She then turned the two COII's in, for prisoner-abuse. Both COII's were allowed to resign, neither of them were charged with assault. The COII who assisted the assaulted COII, later became an Air Marshall, after the MDOC cleared his record. The black, female, CO, was eventually promoted to COII. She was then transferred from CRCC. CRCC staff refused to work with or around her. I do not know what happened to her after that. There are very few black staff, within the MDOC. South-Eastern CC, has the most. The institution is next to a large black community (ex-Mississippi River slave port). Most MDOC institutions have less than 1 to 2% black staff. SCCC has a black COII, two black Captains, and two mental health observers (who are not MDOC employees). I believe there is one black staff-member working in the administrative building. When black CO's are hired, they rarely last long. SCCC, as with most of the MDOC institutions, have a difficult time hiring black staff. Most of the institutions are built in predominantly rural areas. When they built Potosi CC, in 1989, the MDOC planned to hire black staff, out of St. Louis. They attempted to build a trailer park to provide housing for them. When someone set fire to the house trailers, the MDOC canceled the ideation. When the MDOC was building SCCC, the surrounding community, of Licking, fought it tooth and nail. They held up the construction for more than 5 years. They then passed city ordinances, placing strict limitations on any motels, built in the area. They passed another ordinance that requires the MDOC to escort released prisoners, to the local bus station, and stay with them until they leave on the bus. The Houston-Licking area is well-known for being a home to racially radical groups, such as the KKK/AKA, and the Aryan Nation. Our only black Director, Dr. Leroy Black, was replaced in the Mid-SO's, after a dispute with MSP Warden D. Wyrick. I do not know of any other black directors, within the Department of Adult Institutions. I believe there has been one black Superintendent. Major A. Williams, SCCC's Chief of Security, was transferred from South-Eastern CC. He was the highest ranking security staff, that I know of, who is black. A couple years ago, they found a stash of drugs near his office, in the area known as the Major's Hallway. Numerous prisoners, who worked in the area, were fired and locked in Sad.Seg., under investigation. Within 6 months, Major Williams was arrested in a joint federal-state drug bust, at the house he shared with his parolee girl-friend. His girlfriend's parole was violated. He simply disappeared. A black CO, at Crossroads CC, was chased down by a Kansas State Trooper. When he was finally stopped, they discovered a large amount of drugs in his automobile's trunk. Over-all, black staff seem to be held to a different standard than white staff. When the MDOC wants to get rid of them, they can find all kinds of excuses. [12] Black staff are also treated differently when it comes to promotions. Most promotions are done on the buddy-system; eliminating most black staff. [13] Sometime, in 2011, two black prisoners requested that I write a missive to, then Governor Nixon, concerning the racial disparity in the "All-White" Honor House (H.U.3), and M.V.E. (factory that makes and refinished state furniture). At the time, H.U.3 was 95% white, as was M.V.E.. I personally believe this was caused more out of oblivious-indifference, rather than flagrant racism. Within a few weeks of sending the missive, SCCC staff started moving white prisoners out of H.U.3, to the newly declared semi-honor H.U.4. Black prisoners, who qualified for H.U.3, were then moved in. M.V.E. started giving hiring preferences to black prisoners. Within 6 months, they started a chapter of the NAACP, here at SCCC. H.U.3 today, is still 60% white. Both prisoners, who requested that I write the missive, were moved to H.U.3, and eventually hired at M.V.E.; as was the prisoner who I had the dispute with, in 2008. A few months after I sent the missive, I received a gratuitous response from the MDOC. The respondent disobligingly informed me that I was not eligible for H.U.3, due to my #2 assault violation, in 2008. There had not been a single word, in the missive, that referred to me wanting to go to H.U.3. The respondent also referred to me as being an African-American. The respondent did not address a single racial issue that was raised in the missive. Which is normal MDOC obscurant ambivalence. He, obviously, had not even taken the time to read my institutional file, except to look up my conduct violations. The two prisoners, who asked, me to write the missive, did so because they knew SCCC staff, had the custom/practice of retaliating against those who file grievances/complaints. Especially ones that exposes staff corruption, or racial bias. They knew if they had sent the missive personally, they would have been labeled "trouble-makers", and SCCC staff would have created a reason to keep them out of H.U.3 and M.V.E.. I finally did make it over to H.U.3, in June of 2013. I didn't last long. I was issued a blatantly false conduct violation, by security staff, at the SCCC infirmary, for following the specific written instructions of Warden Bowersox. The very night before, Captain Clark, Lt. Bee, and several other infirmary staff, after reading the IOC, had verbally instructed me to follow the written instructions. Never-the-less, I was found guilty, at the pretend due process hearing. The hearing caseworker/executioner (who was the husband of the SCCC Investigator-who had also instructed me to follow the written instructions), adamantly refused, to look at, much less consider, the written instructions, or the verbal instructions of Captain Clark, who was the complaining/writing staff's superior. I was then arbitrarily removed from H.U.3, even though this was my first minor violation. H.U.3 policy, requires two minor violations, before you are moved out. As most Aspies, I am a natural-born contrarian. I take such retaliation in stride. It is just an intrinsic part of prison existence. If you can't take it, you can always turn yourself into a Quisling-Sheople, smile, bend over, and never complain again. Or! I could just sit back and watch humanity's self-annihilation. SOURCES OF, AND ADDITIONAL INFORMATION [1] Johnson v City of Ferguson 864 F3d 366 (8th Cir 2017) [2] Molette v Wilson 478 SW3d 428 (Mo App ED 2015) [3] Doe v McCulloch 106 F.Supp.3d 1007 (USDC ED 2015) [4] Tolen v Cotton 134 SCt 1861, 1865 (2014) [5] Brown v City of Ferguson 2017 US Dist Lexis 94539 [6] Powers v City of Ferguson 229 F.Supp.3d 894 (USDC ED 2017) [7] University of Missouri 2014 J. Disp. Resol. 395 BWA v Farmington R-7 Sch. Dist. 554 F3d 734 (8th Cir 2009) [8] Habeebullah v Crawford 2011 US Dist Lexis 134192 [9] Lee v Washington 390 US 333; 88 SCt 994 (1968) [10] Beisher v Swenson 331 F.Supp. 1227 (USDC WD 1971) [11] Mason v Schriro 45 F.Supp.2d 709 (USDC WD 1999) [12] St. Mary's Honor Cfcr. v Hicks 509 US 502; 113 SCt. 2742 (1993) Singletary v MDOC 423 F3d 886 (8th Cir 2005) [13] Miller-Thomas v MDOC 2009 US Dist Lexis 29179
