By: Donald V. Watkins
Copyrighted and Published on January 23, 2020
The Conclusion
The cases of Isaac Culver, Christopher Pitts, and Dr. Donatus Mbanefo demonstrate the embedded racism in the federal criminal justice system. In too many cases, modern-day COINTELPRO law enforcement agents and prosecutors run the system. They destroy lives of innocent black people simply because they can. Prosecutorial judgments are often skewed by their racist tendencies.
Sadly, these three cases are not the worst ones I have encountered in recent months. I am writing a book about five cases that are far worse than those involving Isaac Culver, Christopher Pitts, and Dr. Donatus Mbanefo.
Black men are imprisoned in the federal criminal justice system at six times the rate of white men simply because the U.S. Department of Justice has become a weapon to maximize the incarceration of black men. Federal prosecutors are successful in this regard because federal judges, who are supposed to be the guardians of the fair administration of justice, are little more than judicial "fluffers" for prosecutors. In some cases, their arrogance and racism exceed that of prosecutors. J. Edgar Hoover would be extremely proud of them.
To be clear, there are some fair-minded and decent federal prosecutors and judges who work hard every day to make sure that the scales of justice in their courtrooms are balanced and colorblind. Unfortunately, their numbers are dwindling each year.
The sad reality is this: Very few federal judges are willing to stop modern-day federal agents and prosecutors from running COINTELPRO operations because they do not want to suffer the fate experienced by two brave federal judges in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s -- Frank M. Johnson, Jr. of Montgomery, Alabama and Virgil Pittman of Mobile, Alabama. These two judges were severely criticized in the local media and ostracized in a majority of the state's white community because they advanced and protected the rights of African-Americans and other minorities to receive a fair trial and equal justice in their courtrooms. In the case of Judge Johnson, this ostracism caused his son to commit suicide.
The blame for the revival of COINTELPRO operations within the federal criminal justice system today rests squarely at the feet of federal prosecutors and judges. For the most part, they are no longer fair, balanced and impartial participants in the administration of justice. They have erased the line between prosecutors and judges. They are one and the same now. Furthermore, today's prosecutors and judges are mostly "political hacks" who prosecute and decide cases on the basis of a political agenda, race, and personal biases, rather than law and facts.
President Donald J. Trump, whose sister was a distinguished federal judge in New York, has recognized this sad reality. The President has labeled FBI agents as "scum", federal prosecutors as "corrupt," and the federal court system as "rigged." Trump should know better than most Americans whether his assessment is accurate because he was the self-proclaimed "victim" of an FBI-sanctioned attempted coup d'etat and two-year grand jury investigation by federal prosecutors. Trump survived this coup d'etat because he fought against it with every ounce of strength in his body. Interestingly, no Republican member of Congress has publicly disagreed with Trump's assessment of the federal criminal justice system and its key participants.
Members of the lawyers' bar associations are reluctant to criticize federal judges publicly or hold them accountable for their misdeeds simply because they fear the expected retaliation when they appear in their courtrooms. Most lawyers are afraid of prosecutors because they know how incestuous and slimy the relationship between prosecutors and judges has become.
How many more innocent people of color and their families must be ruined before the American people lose complete faith in the system? More importantly, will trust in the system ever be regained?
Federal judges are the biggest contributors to a federal criminal justice system that perpetuates the only constitutionally approved form of "slavery and indentured servitude." The founding fathers gave these judges a lifetime appointment so they would have the independence to do the right thing -- render justice in a fair and impartial manner, without fear of consequences. Federal judges are the only group of public officials in America with lifetime tenure in their jobs. Rather than honor the rationale for the award of a lifetime job, most federal judges have turned their backs on this principle in order to seek and enjoy social acceptance in the renaissance of white supremacy.
This problem will be hard to fix because "God Wears a Robe." People of color need not fear the men and women in white robes any longer. As the cases of Isaac Culver, Christopher Pitts, and Donatus Mbanefo demonstrate, it is the "gods" who don black robes who constitute a clear and present danger to people of color in America today.
