A Nation of Two Laws

I feel trapped: the reason for feeling this way might not be effectively communicated to my readers unless you are ordinarily of the same group as I am in this nation called America. You might have heard that you live in a nation of laws; America is supposedly a nation of the rule of law. Unfortunately this is not entirely true; for in this nation they have two laws. They have one law for the super rich and one law for the common man; one law for those of fairer skin and one law for those of hue; one law for the women and another law for men. Unfortunately on every one of these three counts, I am on the wrong side. I am not a woman, I am not super rich, and I am not White.

You see, take a quick voyage to the prisons of this nation, take a quick peep into the jails, look at the police records across our cities and what you will find is that even though people of my kind- ordinary black men constitute just five percent of the nation’s population we account for a third of the prison size. The law is an ass and it is definitely trying to put me in a hole- no pun intended; there is no doubt that when I enter the store, when I drive in that extravagant rental car or through the rich neighborhood I get more scrutiny than you the rich, white and feminine. I am the number one enemy; this amazes me considering the fact that this is supposedly the nation of the rule of law.

The law truly is no respecter of persons, yet it is a full respecter of color, economic class, and indeed sex. Or how else could you explain the fact that every man is an automatic suspect if his pregnant wife disappears? How do you explain the fact that while male rapists are routinely hounded and even convicted extempore their female counterparts get nothing but a slap on the wrist?How do you explain the plain bare injustice of putting Debra Lafave on probation while so many male rapists and pedophiles are getting life and death sentences in the same state? Haba! That one na injustice- anything that is good for the goose is good for the gander. Abi who said beautiful blondes should not spend the rest of their lives in dark holes even after having repeated sex with an underage and confessing to it? That to me is double standards.

Talking about race, what is happening in America no pass injustice? While Ken Lay robbed many Enron workers and investors, he was left to walk the street for many years afterwards and was only sought five years later. Show me a black brother that shoplifted goods worth fifteen dollars in Wal-Mart and gets to walk out of the door without sleeping in jail that night and I will show you a deluded gangster. Indeed, the stocks, pensions, and monies Ken Lay stole and plied his wife with were much more in the region of billions of multiples of what I have just mentioned; heck, it doesn’t count. He is rich and white and heck he can pay for it. Now they say he is dead, but rumor has it that he is in Bermuda. At the end, his estate gets to keep his stupendous wealth and he gets to have a plastic surgery too- Haba Allah! Anyway, na rumor

Talking of shoplifting, an ex-Wal-Mart boss found stealing items from his own stores was convicted to spend twenty seven months in home confinement because of ill health! To add salt to injury the judge went further to say the public embarrassment the executive suffered was enough punishment. Haba! This is injustice considering the number of times I have been called to jury duty to convict fellow black brothers scrounging from hands to mouth for shoplifting few hundred dollars worth of Wal-Mart item and then spending twelve months in prison. God help you if you shoplifted hundred dollars worth of equipment and you are caught and then you happen to be a black man. I will suggest you call in at work and take a five year sabbatical. Even if you have syphilis and gonorrhea combined, jail is still your home. But ask me who deserves to be in prison for a longer time; the millionaire director of Wal-Mart that steals from his store or a poor wretched, homeless man that lifts his late night meal from the shelf? Heck is all Darwinism. Survival of the fittest, I hear you!

I dare you “son of a gun” hit on a black woman for longer than she desires, I will suggest you call the bail bonds man. For when she calls the police for restrictive order cum arrest warrant for your stalking moves you are as well good as done. Worst still if you are an immigrant, “na odiodi be dat” as Warri go talk. I even hear of many immigrants that were thrown out of the country by disgruntled spouses who in a fit of anger, jealousy, or greed with apparent desire to corner the sweat of the labor of these poor men just dialed 911 and accused their African husbands of spousal rape. Can you imagine that? Your word against my word, you will expect right? You are wrong Mr. Man; this is America- she is a woman, and you are a man. God help you if she is white, you will definitely revive a lot of historical revulsion from white males sitting on that jury even though their likes account for raping our women historically more than we raped theirs. Or how can you account for mulatto kids of slave owners?

By now you must be thinking that this is a no win situation for the black man since economics, race, and gender is stacked against him. Fortunately all hope is not lost; even though there is possibly only one way he can redeem himself i.e. by getting rich and all the work that comes with it (since a black man should forget about cutting corners with getting and staying rich), the fact is there is also a second alternative. The second alternative is simple: join the military. You see, my best friend is an Officer of the US Marine Corps (Semper Fi), a member of the few and the proud group of young men and women defending the fire from which we immigrant Africans are using to warm ourselves while Atiku and OBJ is pursing cold water on our own. From my interaction with him, I reached this conclusion; fact is after being pulled over nine times by the cops for his crazy driving (he is a trained combat driver and tactician) and the subtle flashing of his military ID got him off ticket clean, I am already warming up for the next boot camp. For the records, this is not a paid advertisement by the Department of Navy. God Bless America and our Homeland too.

Musings:

All these OBJ-Atiku fight na film trick? Just now, United States Department of State said they didn’t ask OBJ to investigate his VeePee, of course one of the recalcitrant benefactors or better put alter ego of the president- altar boy Osuntokun like his more rascally senior egbon, Fani Kayode, bad mouthed and insulted America for an obviously factual statement. Wetin concern post man with bad news wey dey inside letter? In any case, the Ghanaian anti-corruption body also cleared her Vice President who Jefferson pointed fingers at like he did to Atiku as being one of his African co-conspirators this week. This points all fingers back at Jefferson as a born liar, added to the fact that the money was discovered literally cold cash in his freezer anyway. To cut long story short, I have always said hundred thousand dollars was too small to bribe an ex-customs officer and criminal like VP Atiku; OBJ should be more daring and show us the real corrupt Atiku. At least I will be interested in seeing the cheques that were used to pay those hired assassins that paved the road to Aso Rock for both of them in 2003. Abi you too no wan see am? We will call the new scandal Bola-IgeGate…don’t ask me why; ask a sitting Senator.