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In exchange for guilty pleas on a number of charges including assault of a fan, assault of his chauffer, driving with a suspended license and DUI, rap star Busta Rhymes avoided jail time and was sentenced yesterday to 10 days of community service. Sadly, we’ll be denied the publicity circus that swirled around Boy George and Naomi Campbell during their very public community services; Rhymes will have the privilege of choosing his own method of service at a “private, court-approved location.” (Will there be an after-party?) He’ll also pay fines and court costs amounting to – yes this figure you're about to read is correct – $1,510.
And he’ll be on probation for three years, which is an eternity for a guy who’s been arrested four times in 10 months. Any trouble with the law during that time could mean a year in jail for his prior offenses. What makes us think we’ll be seeing more corny “Busta Busted!” headlines before 2010’s over? Oh, and Rhymes still refuses to cooperate with the investigation into the 2006 slaying of his bodyguard, Israel Ramirez, father of three.
On his way out of court the rapper declared, "I believe in the system! It hasn't failed me personally yet." How street is that? As long as the system keeps deferring to the rich and well-connected, it must be working! Crack open the Courvoisier, Busta – and never you mind that the U.S. prison-industrial complex incarcerates a greater percentage of blacks than South Africa during apartheid.
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The US "prison-industrial complex" incarcerates people who break the law, and are either convicted or plead guilty to that crime. You don't do time just because you're black, white, asian, atheist, whatever.
Apartheid was universal racial segregation endorsed by the South African government. If you were black, good guy or not, you were stripped of basic rights and disenfranchised. Only because you were black or otherwise "colored."
Duh, are you 12 yo?
"U.S. prison-industrial complex".... Ease up on the Oliver Stone director's cuts. But I do agree, I've spent some time in Alabama prisons and everyone is innocent. Just ask them.
"You don't do time just because you're black, white, asian, atheist, whatever."
hmph.
"The US "prison-industrial complex" incarcerates people who break the law, and are either convicted or plead guilty to that crime. You don't do time just because you're black, white, asian, atheist, whatever."
This is patently false, since many people are wrongly convicted. Also, studies have shown that punishments are improperly influenced by race and other factors.
I hope this sets a precedent because I'm going to assault someone, assault a taxi driver, drive around with a suspended license and then get pulled over for DUI this weekend!
PSYCHED!
Or does this only apply to the rich and famous?
You might wind up in jail because of an invalid conviction, but people aren't swept up en masse and locked up in this country simply because of race. Two old exceptions to this would be slavery and the internment of "people of Japanese racial origin" during WW2.
The original article was alluding to the idea that there is an system, consisting of the government and private industry, which exists simply to incarcerate millions of blacks (and somehow make money since corporations are sometimes involved?). And that is just too much of a tin-foil hat argument.
If an average white guy with a long rap sheet like Busta were facing the same time, but didn't have $1000/hour attorneys to craft a deal, do you think he'd walk without jail time, or would he be on a bus to Rikers now?
Run up in your crib like my name was Search Warrants!
It shouldn't matter if the guy has $1000/hr attorneys. A precedent has been set. The law should be equal for all. I need the ACLU!
he'll be back soon enough.
"but people aren't swept up en masse and locked up in this country simply because of race."
No one argued that this is the case.
"The original article was alluding to the idea that there is an system, consisting of the government and private industry, which exists simply to incarcerate millions of blacks"
The article in no way makes the allusion marked in italics.
Your red herrings don't change the fact that there are systemic class and racial biases in the US justice system.
#9 Cash Rules. Remember the Lizzie Grubman thing in the Hamptons?
Your red herrings don't change the fact that there are systemic class and racial biases in the US justice system.
Unlike the justice systems in other countries... oh, right.