Dear President Obama,
A week or so ago I sat a friend's house watching a documentary about four Black men who were recruited by an FBI informant to carry out a domestic terrorist attack. It was so clear that these men were set-up, that it was totally inconceivable to me that they were actually convicted and serving time. I was wrong. They WERE convicted. They ARE in prison.
There are many troubling issues with this case. First, it marks a continuation of the U.S.’s long history of targeting Black males as criminals. Secondly, these men – James Cromitie, David Williams, Onta Williams and Laguerre Payen – were not terrorist. They had neither the resources nor the knowledge necessary to plot and carry out the attack for which they were convicted. Thirdly, the entire investigation was a gross misuse of taxpayer dollars.
In his famous "I Have a Dream" speech, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stated "In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check...This note was a promise that all men- yes, black men as well as white men-would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned." It has been over 50 years since this speech and the U.S. is still defaulting on these promises. Nowhere is this most evident than in the inequities in the distribution of justice.
You are in position to make a difference Mr. President. For the sake of not just the Black community, but the entire American community, I pray you do.
