John Edwards was Right

Sometimes it's odd how a word, or a phrase, or a quick notion will strike a person and give you pause to think about an issue. On Monday morning this week such a thing happened to me. I was having breakfast and watching national news on TV. The story was about John Edwards, who had been in the news last week because he was indicted in Federal Court for misuse of campaign funds. As you recall John Edwards was running for President in 2008 and had an affair with Rielle Hunter- who it later turned out gave birth to his child. He's accused of using close to a million dollars of campaign donations to cover-up the affair and the baby. This particular news item was an interview with a close family friend who said that Edwards was just moments away from a plea-bargain before the indictments came down. This fellow was explaining that Edwards turned down the deal because it required 6 months of jail time. The friend noted that John Edwards is now a single parent, and therefore characterized the government's offer as "awful". Yes, "awful" is the word that struck me.

Please don't think I believe John Edwards is right for anything having to do with this affair or the circumstances surrounding this child. I know it happens all the time in our culture; but  this case points out the huge level of hypocrisy for a person who seeks high office based on an image, that was a major lie.

But I hearken back to his campaign, remembering it was Edwards' message that was so unique and so correct in 2008. His campaign theme was about 'Two Americas". On this, he was right! Ironically, he is now the possible beneficiary of that America where wealth and power make it possible for his friends to claim that being a single father makes (even the idea of) jail time 'awful". John Edwards is a very wealthy white male; a trial lawyer by profession and a former U.S. Senator. In this country we rarely put rich, white men in jail. They have the money and the influence to defeat our system of justice. The only rich, white guy of note who went to jail lately was Bernie Madoff- and that is simply because he swindled a bunch of other rich, white guys. (the ultimate offense in white, rich guy world)

Over the many years I've spent in social work I have dealt mostly with the other one of those "Two Americas". My contacts have almost exclusively been with the poor and disenfranchised people of my community. Before I bore you with a few statistics, I'll tell you that I've worked in or around child welfare cases the biggest chunk of 35 years. In those many years I can count on the fingers of only one hand the number of times the system has even touched a family of wealth- and that goes for families of moderate wealth too, the middle class included. Our social service and justice systems are designed to regulate the poor. In that America the idea of a single parent going to jail is not "awful"- it's standard operating procedure. There is very little empathy for the poor. There is very little concern for their children, no matter how tragic the circumstances. They don't have the highly paid lawyers- so they do the time.

We know that families of every economic strata have problems, but if you look at who is in 'the system" they will overwhelmingly be poor or minorities. People of means have choices on how they handle their legal and social issues. The United States incarcerates more people than any other country in the world. Over 3% of our total population is in jail or prison- far more than even the most repressive governments anywhere. In that "other America" 39.4% of those in prison are non-Hispanic blacks, while the non-Hispanic black population in the country is 12.6%. Hispanic prisoners represent 20.6% of the imprisoned, while only being 16.3% of the general population. Nearly everyone in prison comes from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. This is no coincidence and it does not mean that minorities or poor people are that much more likely to engage in crime. Over representation by minorities and the poor in our prisons is an institutionalized aspect of our culture and does not represent the reality of criminal behavior among the poor or minorities. Every study supports these facts.

So John Edwards was right. There are two Americas. Instead of being a voice for fairness and equality, John Edwards has become the poster-boy for what is really wrong here. He exemplifies the real differences between those two Americas. Money,  power, and status play the most important roles in determining how our institutions function- a bigger role than fairness-justice-or any of our American ideals. There is an America for the affluent and those who enjoy white privilege; and there is another America for the poor and the minorities. Now that is "awful"!

Thanks for looking in.
p.s. Betcha a quarter John Edwards doesn't serve a day- probably won't even be convicted....