MANSFIELD: Sowell won

By sitting with his eyes tight shut (was he sleeping or only pretending?) during the sentencing phase of his murder trial, refusing to acknowledge the pain and emotions of the families of his victims as they — one-by-one — castigated him for being the monster that he is, Anthony Sowell won the tug of war over his humanity. Family member after family member stepped to the podium and attempted to say something that would elicit some bit of remorse or contrition from this piece of walking, talking garbage. When they failed to do so the monster actually won, and he won because he’s not really human, at least not in the sense we usually ascribe to the word.

Throughout history, monsters, knowing they can’t be compassionate, sane and humane like the majority of other members of society, always seek to turn said members into monsters like themselves. While there have been others, Hitler, of course, was far and away the master of this by convincing an entire nation that the wholesale slaughter of millions of Jews, gays, Roma, and other “undesirables” was acceptable… when state-sanctioned killing can never, under any circumstances, be acceptable.

But Sowell not only killed 11 women (in all probability there are more victims as yet undiscovered), he additionally turned some of their family members into something not even 245 years of slavery, nor 147 years of Jim Crow segregation and discrimination in America could create: He — along with some skillful, if reprehensible, assistance from prosecutors — transformed normally compassionate, forgiving and understanding Black folk into bloodthirsty, revenge-seeking monsters… monsters not too much unlike himself. He drug them down to his level, and in doing so he wins. He turned them into haters… and hate always hurts the hater more than it hurts the hated.

Indeed, Sowell took something from all Black Americans. When our urban youth act out by engaging in seemingly senseless violence, roving flash mobs and dangerous gunplay that embarrasses the race, we formerly could take solace in the fact — we could tell ourselves — our race doesn’t produce twisted mass murderers… we could pretend that only White folks committed such heinous crimes. We were wrong, just as those White folks who say all violent youth happen to be Black are also wrong.

Early on in the legal proceedings, 10 of the 11 families petitioned the prosecutor to accept a guilty plea which would have sentenced Sowell to life in prison without the possibility of parole, but no, Bill Mason would not hear of it. Would he have ignored the wishes of 10 White families? We’ll never know, will we?

This charade, posing as some sort of justice, had to be played out. Legal legacies and careers were at stake here, damn commonsense or financial consequences. And these Black families were brainwashed over the period of the trial until, at the end, they dutifully played their roles as aggrieved family members crying out state-sanctioned murder… some of them in almost Jerry Springer-like style. But Sowell wasn’t even listening… or at least wasn’t looking.

Prosecutors take cases of obvious guilt, like the one at hand, and use the public sentiment and blood lust engendered by it to maintain approval ratings for capitol punishment. They use stronger cases to push weaker ones with less clear and compelling evidence through the system… and here’s a question for the family members: What color are the majority of the folks who (oftentimes on specious witness testimony and flawed evidence) get convicted and sentenced to death? Black of course, and these Black folks were skillfully manipulated to validate a system of cruel punishment that perhaps one day down the line will be used against other members of their own families. How ironic.

One woman, when her turn came at the podium, thankfully shouted “dead man walking,” as if the judge’s sentence actually accomplished something. It didn’t. Anthony Sowell has already been “dead” for years, how else could he have lived with the stench? And the family members should have known that — similar to their daughters who’d been turned into walking skeletons by that Devil crack — and you really can’t kill someone who is already dead.

 

From Cool Cleveland correspondent Mansfield B. Frazier mansfieldfATgmail.com. Frazier’s From Behind The Wall: Commentary on Crime, Punishment, Race and the Underclass by a Prison Inmate is available again in hardback. Snag your copy and have it signed by the author by visiting http://www.neighborhoodsolutionsinc.com.

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