Judge admits mistake in kicking whites out of court
It was a mistake, but my hats off to him for trying to make a positive difference in these kids lives:
An Atlanta, Georgia, judge who ordered white lawyers out of his courtroom so he could lecture African-American defendants called that decision a “mistake” Tuesday night.
“In retrospect, it was a mistake,” Judge Marvin Arrington told CNN. “Because my sheriff said to me, ‘Judge, that message should be given to everybody’ — ‘Don’t violate the law, make something out of yourself, go to school, find a role model, somebody that will help you advance your life.’”
Arrington, who is African-American, is a judge in Fulton County, Georgia, which includes the city of Atlanta.
He said he got fed up seeing a parade of young black defendants shuffle into his courtroom and decided to address them one day last week — out of the earshot of white lawyers.
“I came out and saw the defendants, and it was about 99.9 percent Afro-Americans,” Arrington told CNN affiliate WSB-TV of Atlanta, “and at some point in time, I excused some lawyers — most of them white — and said to the young people in here, ‘What in the world are you doing with your lives?’”
The judge thought his message would make a greater impact if he delivered it to a black-only audience, he said. Watch judge talk about decision to lecture black defendants »
“I didn’t want them to think I was talking down to them; trying to embarrass them or insult them; be derogatory toward them, and I was just saying, ‘Please get yourself together,’” Arrington said.
In his Tuesday night appearance on CNN, Arrington told Anderson Cooper that that seeing the same faces walk in and out of his courtroom year after year takes its toll.
“I ask them all the the time, ‘What progress are we making with you?’ And sometime they cannot answer,” he said.
He said he would open his court doors to everyone on Thursday and “I am going to give the same identical speech: ‘You’ve got to do better.’”
What are your thoughts on this?
April 3, 2008 - 09:59 PM on April 3rd, 2008
Good for him. I’ve been the plaintiff in a case in front of a black judge against a black defendent. He had NO compassion for someone trying to use her race as an excuse. I had to sit there through multiple hearings until my case came up. He wasn’t accepting any excuses from anyone. One young man had gotten involved with a bunch of the black activists in college and literally blown a very promising future. How can anyone with a scholarship to MIT complain that they’re being discriminated against?
The most effective facility for dealing with juvenile offenders in the US is outside of Philly. It’s called Glen Mills. I knew a few instructors there. They were tough on the kids because that was what it took to get through. They had an incredibly low recidivism rate, their athletic teams had been featured on ESPN, kids who had finished their sentences but hadn’t graduated High school would often voluntarily stay on until getting their diploma, and more than a few would go on to college. All in all, not a bad thing.
April 5, 2008 - 09:58 AM on April 5th, 2008
[...] It was a mistake, but my hats off to him for trying to make a positive difference in these kids lives: An Atlanta, Georgia, judge who ordered white lawyers out of his courtroom so he could lecture African-American defendants called that decision a “mistake”Tuesday night. “In retrospect, it was a mistake,”Judge Marvin Arrington told CNN. “Because my sheriff said to me, ‘Judge, that message should be given to everybody’ ” ‘Don’t violate the law, make something out of yourself, go to school, f Source: Judge admits mistake in kicking whites out of court [...]
April 5, 2008 - 09:55 PM on April 5th, 2008
Then the judge should be kicked off the bench he has proven his incompetence