Print 
PDF
Solicitor General Barry Morgan prosecuted Raquel Nelson of Marietta, Georgia, vilifying and persecuting her by persuading the all-middle-class-white jury, who has never had to rely upon public transportation, that she was a living embodiment of the pathological, negligent bad black mother archetype. Raquel Nelson’s crime? She was crossing the street carrying groceries with her children, when her 4 year child let go of her hand and was killed by a repeat hit-and-run offender, who admitted he had “a little” alcohol in his system, was medicated, and was vision-impaired. Nelson faced up to 3 years in prison while the driver served 6 months of a five year sentence. The driver’s license, to date, has still not been confiscated or suspended. Mind you, there was no cross-walk for nearly half a mile within the bus stop. When will Georgia’s officials be held accountable for failing to suspend the driver’s license? When will Georgia’s transportation officials be held accountable for their criminally negligent public transportation and roadway design?
From Criminal Injustice Kos:
[On July 26, 2011], Raquel Nelson of Marietta, Georgia, a working mom and college student, appeared in court for sentencing after conviction of three misdemeanors: second-degree homicide by vehicle, reckless conduct, and jaywalking – or “improper” roadway crossing. Her journey into court as a defendant began in April, 2010, when she and her three children got off at a bus stop after nightfall. The Nelson’s apartment complex was right across the street from the bus stop, while the nearest marked crosswalk was three-tenths of a mile further down the road. Carrying shopping bags full of groceries, and holding on to the hands of her children, Nelson did what she and others regularly did: crossed the busy, divided street, pausing at the center meridian before intending to go on.
While she waited, others began to move forward, and her son A.J., four years old, let loose of her hand and moved forward, out into traffic. She and her other kids did, too, and that’s when Jerry Guy’s van struck them. A.J. was killed. Guy hit another pedestrian and another vehicle. By his own admission, he’d been drinking (“a little), was on pain medication, and visually impaired in one eye. He had two other hit-and-runs on his record.
Jerry Guy got a plea deal, served six months of his five-year sentence, and was released on probation. Nelson, whose son was killed, potentially faced a longer jail sentence than Guy. Fortunately, Judge Kathryn Tanksley did not think incarceration was appropriate. She sentenced Nelson to 12 months’ probation, 40 hours of community service, payment of court costs (though no fine). She also granted Nelson a new trial, though Nelson is unsure whether she will see one.
More than 148,000 people signed a Change.org petition on her behalf, and courtroom reports say that the judge was “flooded” with support messages. Other blogs and political networks actively supported Nelson, slammed the prosecutor’s case, and documented the dangerous nature of the roadway she, her children, and so many others must cross every day.
Yesterday, Raquel said, “I’m so incredibly thrilled that the judge was compassionate, and I can go back home to be with my children. I want to offer my warmest thank you to all of the people who. . . supported me through the petition, and who spread the word about my case.”
Why didn’t Nelson’s case receive national attention like Case Anthony’s trial? Sikivu Hutchinson has an excellent piece on this: “Bad Bitches, True Women: The New Cult of True Womanhood.”
The mainstream media’s slobbery obsession with the Casey Anthony trial underscores how deeply the ideal of white womanhood is steeped in reverence for white motherhood. As many cultural commentators have observed, Anthony was appealing because she was a perverse representation of the Middle American “us.” She epitomized the seductive quandary of how seemingly good middle class white girls, good white mothers, could go so colossally bad. The white masses were transfixed and outraged by the tawdry saga of innocent little Caylee Anthony’s disappearance because she was “every child,” thus putting the sanctity of white motherhood on trial.
Being marked as bad bitches already, women of color don’t have far to fall when it comes to the pathological mother immorality sweepstakes. To paraphrase Gil Scott Heron, the realities of neglectful mothers of color will not be televised. They will not be the object of round-the-clock cable news, Court TV or supermarket tabloid frenzy. They will not elicit thousands of dollars in donations to defray their legal expenses because the subtext of the bad black or Latino mother is the good white mother whose children are America’s children.
Please share this story far and wide to colleagues, friends, etc. Please sign the Color.org Petition. We need to raise consciousness on cases like these and organize an opposition to such a grandiose abuse of power by the state, with all of its institutionalized and structural “isms.”
(12)