By Mansfield Frazier
Just when the nation is healing in regards to the racial strife caused by the killing of Trayvon Martin in Florida, another incident, this time in a suburb of Detroit, threatens to once again inflame passions. Thankfully, Wayne County, MI, prosecutor Kym Worthy (who just happens to be black) is levelheaded and has moved to diffuse the situation as best she can at this juncture.
What happened was this: A young black woman, 19-year-old Renisha McBride, wrecked her car (her blood alcohol level was more than twice the legal limit) near the Dearborn Heights home of 54-year-old Theodore P. Walter, who happens to be white. When she banged on his locked screen door seeking help Walter shot her in the face, killing her.
Of course the first thing that comes to black folks’ minds is: “Would Walter have shot a young white woman banging on his door?” But the fact is — and the reason the issue of race should not be brought up in this case — there’s only one person who knows the answer to this question, and at this point he’s saying the killing was an accident. No matter what our suspicions are, black folks need to accept that answer.
This, of course, doesn’t mean that Walter is not guilty of at least reckless homicide; no matter the race of his victim, he shot from behind a locked screen door, and that’s why Worthy stated that under Michigan law he was not acting in self-defense.
“In this case,” said Prosecutor Worthy, “the charging decision has nothing whatever to do with the race of the parties.” Bravo for her, and let’s pray race isn’t allowed to rear its head as the case proceeds through the criminal justice system. While blacks might have suspicions based on years of ill and unfair treatment, in this case we’ll just never know.
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://NeighborhoodSolutionsInc.com.