With Liberty and Justice for Some...

Posted by Kevin Lockett | Labels: , , , | Posted On Jan 29, 2010 at 12:52 PM


I just so happened to click onto philly.com (Philadelphia Inquirer/Philadelphia Daily News) and see this story about a complete travesty of justice committed against a high school student. I encourage you read the entire story beginning to end. Here, I'll provide just a few highlights so that you can get the idea (but you really should read the whole thing to get all the details).

The principles in the story are two Archbishop Carroll High School students, Tiana Drummond-Phiri  and Steven Farley. Seniors at the time, the two got into an argument over an incident that actually started with other students:
"What's your friend's problem?" she asked Farley, who told her to get away from him and to "shut the f- up," according to the police report.
Their angry exchange marked the beginning of a high school beef that would have an unfathomable result.
Though the two were not even the original combatants, they sniped at each other the rest of the day and into the next.
Tiana, who took the train back to Overbrook every day, called her ex-boyfriend to meet her at the station and ride home with her.
A fight broke out, and Farley was injured, not by Phiri's ex, but by another, unidentified black male.

So, take a wild guess: who gets charged with a crime? 
Authorities sucker-punched Tiana, though she stood 40 yards away and never threw a punch herself.
They didn't just throw the book at her - they pummeled her with the entire Criminal Code, nine charges in all: simple assault, aggravated assault, terroristic threats, three different counts of harassment, two counts of conspiracy, and reckless endangerment.
And in case you're wondering, no, we didn't go through a wormhole and into an alternate universe in which Pennsylvania becomes Jena, Louisiana.

The circumstances here are not all that different. The punishment sought be the district attorney was excessive, the application of punishment was unequal (no punishment for any of the people actually involved in the fight?), and the justice system was revealed to be anything but just.

If we are to assume that Phiri called her ex with the intent that he would come and fight Farley, then yes, she was in the wrong and deserves some form of punishment. Nine criminal counts? Suspension from school for the rest of the year? I think those are excessive punishments. I went to high school in suburban Philadelphia. There were plenty of fights. I don't remember any bystanders getting suspended for the rest of the year and having to finish their degrees by mail.

Of course, even that analysis is based off an assumption that Phiri shares some of the responsibility for the fight. However, because the case was so poorly handled (Phiri had a public defender - what a surprise) we didn't even get to hear the whole story: 
Farley is allowed to testify without repercussions. But Cann, Tiana's primary witness, is pulled from the stand after the prosecutor asks for a conference, according to Tiana's lawyer. A public defender called by the court then tells him he could be criminally charged if he testifies. He doesn't.
By the way, Farley testified to underage drinking the same day, which in case you forgot, is illegal. There's more: 
Common Pleas Court Judge Charles C. Keeler was clearly aggravated by Tiana's lawyer. "My client's an honor student, waiting for the train to go home," William J. Ciancaglini said. "If this were a white honor student and a big black kid was yelling in her face, guess who's getting arrested. It's the black kid, guaranteed. . . . I'm sorry if I've offended the court."
"You have," said the judge, who admonished him with "you be quiet" and "you shut up" later in the proceedings.
Wow, what a fair and impartial judge.

Still, this was not the most disturbing part of the article. That actually came in the comments section, as I read the reactions to the article. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the racist, vitriolic remarks. I thought this was Philadelphia, a progressive, intelligent Northeaster city. What I read sounded more like it was from a conservative Tea-Party rally: 
Hall, You are the true bigot. She should have been in class instead of walking the halls. AS soon as blacks stop crying about race every time they are held accountabble, the better off society will be.
or: 
racist article written by a racist writer...should we be surprised? welcome to blackadelphia...where the inmates do run the asylum. badly i might add lol 
 or: 
stay in the city
or: 
Even if she wasn't guilty of all these crimes in this incident, she would have inevitably committed all these crimes and then some.
or: 
why is it always violence that surrounds african americans? I grew up in delco and the few african americans we had in our school, were involved in about 90% of all the fights? Why is that? Genetics? Intelligence? Just asking.
or: 
All I know is that in the past 4 years my neighborhood has had a huge influx of black people and a huge influx of crime...stop blaming racism for your own actions...oh and thanks for dropping the value of my house even more than the economy did, to the point where I cant sell it without a loss
or: 
So she calls the homies to defend her honor and the homies promptly do what they do best-assault people-and it's the school's fault? Ususally the homies are cuttin' and shootin' each other, except when they form a mob and assault Asians, but apparently there's a lower level of tolerance for this type of thing in Delaware County
or: 
American Africans will be crying and moaning until the end of time. Pains in the a**. I curse the forefathers who are responsible for bringing them over here. Hope their coffins are leaking.
Why bring up topics that don't appear in the article (like property values)? Why refer to "homies"? Why wish that black would stay in the city or had been left in Africa. Whether Phiri is guilty or innocent is not the issue here. The issue is whether justice was applied and applied equally. When two people get in a fight and the non-fighter gets punished, even thought the fighters have been identified, that's not an equal application of justice. Whether this is a case of racism or sexism or just plain stupidity is debatable, but the racist nature of the response is quite obvious. I don't know whether to be embarrassed by these comments or to be glad that this racist venom that always lurks beneath the surface has been brought to the light.

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