Renisha McBride's family and the county prosecutor's office "said that the case was not about race, a Los Angeles journalist writes Monday. "But I knew better."
Thandisizwe Chimurenga: "It was important for me to witness this trial for evidence of structural racism."
Thandisizwe Chimurenga covered Theodore Wafer's porch shooting trial for a site called Color of Change and Black Agenda Report ("news, commentary and analysis from the black left.") In the follow-up for Ebony, posted four days after Wafer's second-degree murder conviction, she says:
It was important for me to witness this trial for evidence of structural racism, also known as White supremacy. . . .
I knew that White supremacy was always present.. . .
it was present when defense attorney [Cheryl] Carpenter used 7 of her 9 peremptory challenges to strike African Americans from the jury pool.
But nowhere was it more present than in Carpenter's defense narrative. Carpenter argued that there was an “aggressive side” to Renisha McBride as a result of alcohol in particular, and Renisha's social media profile truly represented who she was.
Carpenter sought to enter into evidence photos and texts from Renisha McBride's cell phone and pictures from her Twitter and Facebook profiles that talked about marijuana, “thuggin',” and “gettin' paid.” A social media profile that began at age 15 and ended three years later.
The photos/texts weren't allowed into evidence, but Carpenter would periodically repeat her request for them, reminding the jury of Renisha's alleged “thug life.”
In her sharp-edged commentary, Chimurenga adds that Wafer's defense rested largely "on the vilification and criminalization of a teenager whose face had been blown off."
The writer explains why she "had to bear witness" by sitting in the Wayne County courtroom through last Thursday:
I had to see those 12 men and women – the jury that heard the evidence in this case – toss Carpenter's narrative onto the trash heap where it belonged. . . .
And I'm grateful that I did.
Related coverage at Deadline Detroit:
Myth That Lasts: Wafer Trial 'Largely' About Race, Ebony Writer Claims, Aug. 7
