Commentary

COMMENTARY: Justice for Jussie Smollett? What About the Rest of Us?

Smollett stuck to his own story and had a few character witnesses. But the jury determined the truth. Jussie Smollett lied to us all. The attack was the charade, not the trial. The attack was done as a play for our sympathy. If you weren’t a fan of Smollett on “Empire,” maybe you checked it out. That appears to have been the goal. Smollett became an overnight sensation and people saw him as a traumatized survivor.

Published

2 years ago

December 22, 2021

Oakland Post

From here on, Jussie Smollet has spoiled that trust for all people of color who speak the truth about race crimes. The hill we climb for justice is steeper than ever. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons / Sister Circle Live)

By Emil Guillermo

And so now the verdict is in. Jussie Smollett was found guilty of five of six felony counts of disorderly conduct, connected to the night Smollett claimed he was mugged by two masked men in Chicago.

The breaking news of the “attack” two years ago only breaks our hearts today. Because the perps were friends and associates of Smollett who testified under oath that it was all planned and staged.

Smollett stuck to his own story and had a few character witnesses. But the jury determined the truth. Jussie Smollett lied to us all.

The attack was the charade, not the trial. The attack was done as a play for our sympathy.

If you weren’t a fan of Smollett on “Empire,” maybe you checked it out. That appears to have been the goal. Smollett became an overnight sensation and people saw him as a traumatized survivor.

Some commentators have suggested Jussie be placed on probation, given no prior record. But not so fast.

There is somewhere under $175,000 the city of Chicago wants back to pay police overtime for investigating the matter. That’s real, and a civil matter. But criminally, he should face some time. Should the system go light on a person who willingly concocted a story of hate? And refuses to be held accountable?

Some commentators mention the ‘dog’ woman in New York’s Central Park, Amy Cooper, who falsely claimed a bird-watching Black man was harassing her. She got community service, but compassion was shown after she admitted her guilt.

Jussie continued to tell his story on the stand. And his defense even says, they will appeal because of the one not-guilty count. But a juror told the media this week they were giving Jussie a break on the sixth count — that of filing a false report on an aggravated battery (the attackers were masked). Since the attackers were always masked, a juror told a reporter that with further deliberation “I think we probably would have found him guilty.”

Hate crimes are real. We don’t get justice for the real race crimes against our communities.

We shouldn’t waste an opportunity for justice on a fake one.

The real harm is that Jussie has now unleashed doubt on all our claims, credibility be damned.

Suni Lee, the Asian American Hmong Olympic champ, a few weeks ago claimed that she was accosted by a passerby in a car who yelled out a racial epithet.

As I recounted the story on my web show “Emil Amok’s Takeout” on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, a viewer put in the chat how he doubted the story. He said it was just like Jussie Smollett. After all, wasn’t she appearing on “Dancing with the Stars,” a show that takes public votes?

I didn’t even think about that. But afterward, I questioned — was there a police report? No. What about her girlfriends who were with her. Did anyone corroborate the story? No.

But the story made its way to all the major outlets, NBC, CNN, New York Times, etc., because there was trust in the Olympic champion.

How about for you or me?

From here on, Jussie Smollet has spoiled that trust for all people of color who speak the truth about race crimes. The hill we climb for justice is steeper than ever.

It’s not like it wasn’t hard enough already.

Emil Guillermo is an award-winning journalist and commentator. A former host of NPR’s “All Things Considered,” see his work at www.amok.com

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Commentary

Commentary: May Is Asian American Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander Heritage Month

AANHPI is not a social term; it’s purely political, a Frankenstein acronym that reeks of inclusion, and yet there’s so much more of us we don’t see in the name. In fact, the top three groups are Chinese, Indian and Filipino. We’re “Chindipinos.” It makes AANHPI more like a prompt to make sure we don’t forget the incredible potential of our large, diverse community.

Published

2 days ago

May 17, 2024

Oakland Post

iStock Photo

By Emil Guillermo

It makes AANHPI more like a prompt to make sure we don’t forget the incredible potential of our large, diverse community.

Across the United States, we’re more than 25 million strong. As I like to point out, it really should include West Asians, like Arab Americans, at around 5 million people. That would boost the group to around 30 million- plus.

How can U.S. policy makers ignore a coalition of 30 million people that have all of Asia as their common ground? They can’t.

Unless we don’t vote.

THE AANHPI POWER YEAR

Around 15 million Asian Americans are projected to be eligible to vote in 2024. This is an increase of 15% from 2020, according to the Pew Research Center. That’s a larger projected increase than for Hispanics (12%) and Blacks (7%).

A lot of talk this year has centered so far on Black and Hispanic voters defecting from the Democrats in 2024. There’s hardly any talk about the Asian American vote. But any change there could be significant.

Seventy-two percent of English-speaking, single race, non-Hispanic Asian voters went for Joe Biden in 2020 vs. 28% who voted for Donald Trump, according to Pew.

Will we see Asian Americans continue to show up for Biden at the 72%level, or will that number erode?

Hopefully, Biden’s Asian American numbers may go higher if the Republican voters in our broad community (around 30%) understand what’s at stake and abandon Trump.

The list of Biden White House initiatives to help Asian Americans is long.

On the other hand, think about how Donald Trump treated his lone Asian American cabinet member, Elaine Chao, and see if that isn’t reason alone for MAGA-AANHPIs to dump Trump, the indicted one.

Here are some other key things about Asian American eligible voters that are worth noting.

We’re 6% of the electorate, which means as a bloc, it has the potential to be a real swing vote.

When you see poll numbers at a dead heat with the margin of error at 3-5%, imagine Asian Americans making up the difference to provide a margin of victory.

That’s how critical our vote is.

Gender-wise, the demographic breakdown is also significant: 53% women and 47% men. Which party has women’s best interests at heart?

By age, 22% of us are 18-29 years old. The biggest demo is 30-49 at 36%. Add ages 50-64 at 23%, and the core 30-64 working age demo is almost 60% of our community.

The majority of us are also naturalized citizens, 56%, vs. U.S born at 44%.

For me this is always where I see some of the biggest fissures within our community. Who was pushing for affirmative action and who was against? Naturalized citizens, immigrants generally led the fight against affirmative action. It remains a flash point. Might it also define a new dividing line between Asian American red and blue?

So, this month, AANHPI Heritage Month, take the time to notice and get to know us better.

About the Author

Emil Guillermo is a journalist and commentator, and was the first Filipino to host a national news program while at NPR’s “All Things Considered.” Contact him at www.amok.com.