By SUSAN K. SMITH
Crazy Faith Ministries
I do not understand why the former president has been allowed to announce another bid for the presidency.
He has been accused of some of the most serious crimes a national leader can be accused of: sexual misconduct, including rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment, his role in the Jan. 6 insurrection, financial and tax crimes, including fraud, election interference. Within each of those broad categories are specific crimes all being investigated, as noted by The Guardian.
And lest we forget, he also accused of stealing official and highly classified government documents, according to CNN and The New York Times, an indication of a possible violation of the Espionage Act.
And yet, he is being allowed to run for president. Why isn’t there a law that says that a person accused of all such crimes cannot run for president? Why isn’t there a tool in place that would outrightly prevent him from running.
Why is the American justice system allowing him to run? Who or what agency has the power to shut him down – in the interest of saving the country?
Not only does he have the charges mentioned pending against him, he has also openly defied the very dignity of this country by cow-towing to Vladimir Putin and other dictators. While in office, he openly disavowed the United States as he praised and supported authoritarian governments. He has been defiant and arrogant, acting as though he knew no government and no agency could or would stop him. His decision to have a private meeting with Putin in the White House, for example, a meeting where he did not allow the American press to attend but welcomed the Russian press – a meeting that was not recorded, ought to have been a call to arms for those who say they love this country and who promised to “preserve, protect, and defend” the Constitution of the United States, The New York Times reported.
If reports are true, the very wealthy and politically connected planned the Jan. 6 insurrection, and yet, they have not been called to task. Why is that? It feels that the former president has uncovered “dirt” on nearly everyone, coercing them into silence, support and complicity with his crimes. They are getting away with a lot, and they know it.
Meanwhile, people accused of lesser crimes are drying up in the American penal system. There are a lot of people in that situation, holed up in prisons for nonviolent drug crimes, helping to make this the most incarcerated nation in the world. A young, pregnant Black woman, for example, Brittany Martin, was sent to prison for four years for being belligerent with a police officer during the protests that erupted all over the world after George Floyd was murdered by a police officer, CNN reported.
She was charged with breaching the peace.
People are thrown into the system for all kinds of minor, nonviolent crimes, crimes that do not pose a threat to the very existence of this country, but the former president and his wealthy circle of friends are being allowed to walk all over the floor of justice and operate, making their own rules and defying rules and laws in place, because they can.
Bryan Stevenson, the founder and CEO of the Equal Justice Initiative has said that it is better to be guilty and wealthy than innocent and poor. We are seeing that in real time.
It is frustrating to watch, but more importantly, it is eroding the public trust in the justice system. That a pregnant Black woman has been thrown into prison for verbally challenging a police officer is about as unjust as a “crime” can get, especially since in this country we have a Bill of Rights that grants us freedom of speech, according to CNN.
Black mothers have been thrown into prison for five years for sending their children to better public schools outside of their district, People Magazine revealed. Another person was thrown in prison after being accused of voter fraud, according to an Associated Press article published by U.S. News & World Report.
But the former president is still free, covered by news operations as he continues to spew lies, mis – and dis- information, and as serious allegations against him continue to surface. Where is the justice in that?
The current situation has exposed the innate weakness of the American justice system. The media – both mainstream and cable – are not reporting or analyzing what is going on, helping some people – too many people – to believe that everything is working fine.
It isn’t, and it feels like the exposed justice system needs an overhaul. “Justice” seems to be a euphemism for “privilege,” a term without depth or boundaries. It is a concept that has been allowed to mean different things for different people and different groups of people.
Which is why a man who seemingly supported a coup attempt in this country seems to be getting away with what he did and is even being allowed to run for president again.
If possibly committing treason and sedition isn’t enough to earn a person an immediate arrest, confinement, conviction and imprisonment, what is?
Someone please explain to me this American justice system.
Rev. Dr. Susan K. Smith is the founder and director of Crazy Faith Ministries. She is available for speaking. And she is an award-winning author for her latest book, “With Liberty and Justice for Some: The Bible, the Constitution, and Racism in America,” available through all booksellers. Contact her at revsuekim@sbcgloba.net.