THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, September 26, 1994 TAG: 9409260084
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A2 EDITION: FINAL
SERIES: [Parole]: Facing the Fear, Paying the Price
This series is a combined project of The Associated Press, the Daily
Press of Newport News, the Richmond Times-Dispatch, The Roanoke Times
& World-News, and The Virginian-Pilot and The Ledger-Star.
SOURCE: BY TONY WHARTON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium: 87 lines
Nearly 100 Virginians - white, African American and Asian American - talked through the summer about crime, punishment and redemption.
But until Saturday, an early autumn afternoon on the eve of a potentially historic legislative session on parole reform, they skirted around a chilling presence in the room: race, to some people the No. 1 blight on American justice.
Charles Howell, a black, 67-year-old hospital administrator, finally threw it on the table.
``The thing that has been haunting me since we had our first session is that none of us, including myself, identified the people who were causing the crime that we're so concerned about,'' he said. ``We didn't say whether they were white, black or otherwise. I don't know whether it was a reluctance on my part to bring the race issue up, but I'm putting it in the pot today.''
Why, he wanted to know, had it never come up before?
``The answer is obvious,'' said Craig Day, 34, a geographer from Falls Church. ``As a white male, I'm sin reincarnated, or at least I'm made to feel that way nowadays. And if I mention that something has a black component to it, even if it's just an academic analysis, I feel that I will be deemed a racist.''
Fred Nice, 34, a white building contractor from Newport News, said, ``Race shouldn't be an issue. If a judge anywhere has a tendency to be more lenient on white people and harder on black . . . I mean, that's horrible. But what we're talking about here wouldn't necessarily help that.''
Maybe it should, the group said. For months they had talked about how important it is to provide recreation, job training and other services for children. Newport News dentist Guy Levy said that was a good place to start dealing with race.
``There are things we don't talk about,'' he said. ``For instance, there is a misperception that African Americans are less cerebrally competent - people believe this - and that they are not able to handle what perhaps a white person can handle.
``And that's perpetuated in the fact that when they develop programs to divert the attention of young African-American males, they build basketball courts rather than a library or computer centers, rather than exercising their minds, which are exactly the same as any white mind. This perpetuates the misconceptions.''
Sure, said Kianna Price, 16, who drove from Roanoke to take part in Saturday's all-day discussion. Those attitudes, she said, are common: ``There's a basic attitude about African Americans, especially females, that they're single mothers, they're lower class, never middle class or upper class. OK, I'm an African-American girl. Society wouldn't expect me to be here. They'd think I'm somewhere on a basketball court, hanging out, or at the mall. Now when I go back home, they'll never know I was here. They probably wouldn't care.''
``Your best answer to that is your record, your expression,'' Day said. ``You will be able to set the record straight by your own example.''
The group talked about mounting evidence that black defendants get longer sentences than white defendants. Their anger over that led them finally to challenge a basic principle in the courts.
``It may have to do with what the gentleman spoke to this morning, that we have a tradition of looking at equity issues in sentencing and giving judges that flexibility,'' said Dale Pennell, an assistant principal in Newport News. ``I'm ready to give that up in the name of making things fair and equal.''
Not everyone was so sure.
``I think we would have a completely different justice system if we gave up equity,'' said Gail Whitney of Richmond. ``You can't apply any single law to everyone entirely the same way, because circumstances will always be different. It's basic constitutional law.''
Yet the group decided to urge the General Assembly to consider a race-blind approach to sentencing and parole, even if it means giving judges less leeway.
Howell, who had brought up the race issue, closed it by reminding everyone of their feeling that the community must be responsible for its children.
``The key to resolution of part of our problems is that we need each other,'' he said. ``We've got to be able to see each other as black, white and what have you, but not let the race make a negative difference. Don't tell me we're no different, because we are.''
KEYWORDS: PAROLE REFORM VIRGINIA SERIES by CNB