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@mekkaokereke@hachyderm.ioSo the Black man that everyone was laughing at for dialing in to his court case from his car, while his license was suspended, is not so foolish. Racism has people laughing at its victims.
We'll see how many of the people that were laughing because they thought "Foolish criminal dials in from car, on suspended license case!
" have anything cute to say now. You know that none of them will.
It's just the regular anti-Black cruelty in the US criminal justice system.
1/N
Beyond the fact that his license should not have been suspended in the first place, a few basic questions:
Can a Black man in the US, that can't afford an attorney, afford to pay child support without a job?
How many jobs can you do in the US, without any access to a car?
2/N
So why do we suspend people's driver's license for being behind on child support?
In a country where Black folk are 63% more likely to be pulled over by cops, even though we drive 16% less, this contributes to more racist disparity in over-incarceration.
https://sc.edu/uofsc/posts/2020/06/racial_disparities_traffic_stops.php
3/N
Everyone said it was "tragic" that cops shot Walter Scott in the back while running away at a routine traffic stop. Lots of crocodile tears shed.
But why did he run?
He didn't want to go back to jail.
But why was he in jail before? What was his crime?
https://hachyderm.io/@mekkaokereke/109835106280475365
4/N
Walter Scott was only $7K behind on child support payments. He had a good paying job, and was making payments and closing the gap. He just couldn't close it all immediately.
They sent him to jail anyway.
And while he was in jail, the amount increased. And he wasn't making any payments, because he was in jail. By the time he got out, the amount was $18K.
He had another court hearing. He was accused of being a deadbeat, and "making excuses." They sent him back to jail. Again.
5/N.
1 in every 8 people in jail in South Carolina is there because of this child support trap. Most of the people that fall into this trap, are Black. But you already knew that.
Do you see why Walter Scott ran?
If you were Walter Scott, just released from jail, $18K behind on child support, having been to jail 3 times in the past few years and no consistent employment history because of these jail stints, with warrants for your arrest for it... How would you escape this trap?
Not rhetorical.
6/6
Timelordiroh 
@mekkaokereke I've never understood (beyond being cruel for the sake of cruelty) why the system takes away people's ability to travel anywhere (including to work) when they fall behind on child support.
I had a (white) friend who fell behind on his own child support payments during the covid lockdowns and the system completely destroyed him. I didn't know it's considered civil and so you have no rights to a lawyer. That's a massive extra dose of cruelty for only cruelty's sake.
@mekkaokereke I also feel for Mr. Harris when I found out that he had been told his license had been restored years ago. I don't know how the license revocation/restoration process works, but if I'm told by someone in a knowledgeable position that something has been done, I should be able to trust that. Mr. Harris should've been able to trust that too.
Once again, tabloids (like tmz) work to normalize cruelty in our society.
Thank you for sharing this thread. I appreciate it.
@timelordiroh @mekkaokereke Yet another reason why we need a civil analog to a public defender
@timelordiroh @mekkaokereke
The purpose of the system is what it does: https://www.anildash.com/2024/05/29/systems-the-purpose-of-a-system/
This is the system doing exactly what it was created for.
@timelordiroh @mekkaokereke man the cops really do push the "this is civil so you don't get a lawyer" angle in places where it clearly doesnt belong
@mekkaokereke
Thanks for calling out the racism. This is cruelty on several levels.
It is sad to live in a world with so much racism and anti-poor discrimination.
It is also sad to see things like this in the replies:
"the issue is the normalization of video chatting behind the wheel"
"he made a choice to make a baby that he didn’t wanna pay for"
"Don’t make babies you don’t want to pay for"
"Skin colour has no relevance."
"it's really the news outlets' responsibility to do due diligence here."
"The problem is cars."
"The problem is urban planning"
No, the issue here is systemic racism and poverty traps.
@mekkaokereke Wait, child support payments in the US aren't based on the income you have *at the time*? That's how they work around here in Germany at least.
@Teskariel@eldritch.cafe @mekkaokereke@hachyderm.io
In general, no: it's notionally an effort to prevent people from giving the spouse a giant F.U. by changing to lesser employment.
Child support payments on the US have two major goals:
1. Reduce access to state benefits.
2. Force people to get or stay married.
Things like fairness or meeting the needs of children and families do not enter in.
@mekkaokereke It's like they read Kafka for inspiration
@mekkaokereke Debtor’s prison system still alive and well.
Gotta keep those private prisons full and cranking out products.
@mekkaokereke "Tragic", sure. And they couldn't even get the cop for murder. "Violating civil rights". Like Al Capone going down for tax evasion 
@mekkaokereke
We still have debtors prisons.
@mekkaokereke I really don't follow the logic in this thread.
The suspension was unfair and therefore "committing an offense on recorded video while talking to a judge" is not funny?
His license was not suspended. That's the whole point.
A judge unsuspended his license. Years ago.
He's been trying to get the paperwork to reflect that for years.
@mekkaokereke OK, the entire thing then makes even less sense.
Everyone in the video says that the license is suspended.
I genuinely can't tell if you're trolling, or are much slower than most people to understand this thread. I'm going to assume positive intent, which is that you're just slow.
Either way, I'm not the right person to 101 explain this to you. I'd ask one of our Black mutuals to help us out here, but there aren't any. So, you'll have to find someone on your own I'm afraid.
Be well!
@simontoth @mekkaokereke he got (incorrectly) charged for driving without a license, because the lift of the suspension never made it to the end of the process. which is what is so baffling about this.
not sure why that warrants calling you slow or trolling, especially as it was confusing to read without knowledge of US justice, but welp.
Did you read the article? I always find it best to do so before commenting.
Admin error left his licence listed as suspended. That is not "unfair". That is "unjust". The difference being that the state failed to do their job and is making him pay for their error.
This miscarriage of justice is then being treated as a joke. It is illustrative of the systemic racism faced by US Black people.
You're being asked if you're slow because you're asking why it isn't funny in your post.
@mekkaokereke Wait? How is it possible to suspend a license for non-driving-related offenses? Especially in a country where being unable to drive has such an impact on your work and social life?
I don’t see how it helps to make child support payment if you cannot get to work?
US Justice is wild.
@yatil @mekkaokereke Suspension of license happens all the time here. And as someone who is fully reliant on the driving of others I absolutely empathize with people in this situation because when you can't drive you are pretty much screwed in this country. I get the importance of on-time child support, my brother and sisters and I relied on it as kids. And our father was a total jerk about it and it wasn't because he couldn't afford it. But suspending someone's driver's license over it is completely counterproductive in all kinds of ways.
@acarson @yatil @mekkaokereke My girlfriend always had problems getting child support from her ex. He refused to hold a regular job to avoid paying child support, he only took jobs where he was paid under the table. In pursuing child support she was told that the state would jail her ex, so she didn't pursue because she knew if he was in jail there was no way he could pay anything. She got a few bucks over the years and he wasn’t involved in his kids’ lives (she gave him every chance).
@paulc @acarson @mekkaokereke In Germany, the state steps in and covers the child support payments, the person who needs to pay racks up that as debt which is then paid with income over the minimum you would need automatically. This is done to ensure that it’s never the child suffering on behalf of irresponsible parents. It also helps people to move on from relationships as there is less reliance on direct payments.
@mekkaokereke As soon as I saw the defendent I knew to wait a couple of days before making up my mind.
Because that sort of complete ignorance is maybe possible with privilege, but not likely without it.
@androcat @mekkaokereke my rule of thumb has been anything from a tabloid should be ignored for at least a week, because they always try to be cruel to their victims. They always show their victims in the worst light and are willing to make up stories out of whole cloth just to sell clicks/papers. I'm not surprised there's a much bigger story (thought his license was restored, going to a doctor's appointment, etc.) behind that video.
@mekkaokereke wow, this is outrageous. But he still knew he had to appear in front of the court because of the accusations of driving without a licence. And he seemed to be too unprepared to tell the judge the ban should have been lifted. And his lawyer didn't say anything either? This is so messed up. How can the system let someone down like that?
He wasn't unprepared. He was exasperated.
* Years ago, a judge issued an order that suspended his license for being behind on child support. He stopped driving.
* That judge rescinded that order, restoring his license. He's been driving ever since.
* He was recently pulled over (probably driving while Black). Cops arrested him for driving on a suspended license.
* He said "My license isn't suspended!" His lawyer agreed.
* But he gets arrested again while trying to clear it up
@mekkaokereke it's really ridiculous.
@mekkaokereke@hachyderm.io @karelbrits@mastodon.social
Weird: in VA, if they suspend your license, they notify your insurance company. In turn, your insurance company suspends your policy pending restoration of licensure.
I found this out the hard way while working a high-travel job. License plate had expired (because I was in travel and missed the filing date). Cop wrote a ticket on my parked car (I'd been home and sent in the paperwork and payment, but state hadn't processed it yet). That ticket went unpaid for a month (while I was on travel), so they suspended my license ...which I only found out because my insurance company called to inform me they'd be suspending my policy in 30 days if they didn't receive proof of the suspension being lifted. Never considered that to have been a lucky chain of events, before. You just sorta expect that things are ok unless specifically informed otherwise.
@karelbrits the cruelty is the point. It's a feature, not a bug. Large swaths of our society (especially in the US, but also true throughout the world) are designed to bind but not protect some people and protect but not bind others. @mekkaokereke
@karelbrits @mekkaokereke take a look at the melanation of the fella in the video. That's literally all the answer you need.
@dave the worst part is the judge had a similar kind of melanin. It's really embedded in society. Edit: the judge even denied the guy the right to defend himself. Sent him straight to jail without giving him an opportunity to explain why he was driving. @mekkaokereke
@mekkaokereke This doesnt surprise me at all. Saginaw county (and generally any county that isnt Oakland or Wayne in MI) is particularly more anti black than even Oakland County. Thats saying something when a large part of Oakland county is black (Southfield and Oak Park).
(Ive lived in Oakland and Wayne county, MI my entire life)
"It took less than five minutes for 7 News Detroit to search Saginaw County court records to see that in January 2022, a judge rescinded the order that suspended Harris' driver's license so he could be reinstated."
@mekkaokereke thank you. I boosted this because I have to admit, I didn't think about it much at the time and it definitely seemed like "stupid criminal". I guess I felt it was a daily dose of schadenfreude at the time even if I didn't publicly laugh at it. Going to do better to remember this next time. Important to remember the systemic stuff behind this especially when it seems cut and dried. Thanks for the insight.
@mekkaokereke I abhor racism but...was the judge not also black?
Really though, both are human beings. Skin colour has no relevance.
@raghnallborders @mekkaokereke All the elements of systemic racism that led to this event are still there. He shouldn't have needed to show up to a court hearing in the first place.
The glee and ease with which social media believed this black man to have been so stupid, it's embarassing.
@cargot_robbie @mekkaokereke I just saw a man forgetting that he was driving to a court hearing to be seen by a judge in respect of a driving ban.
I read no more into it than that. That others do says a lot about them.
*Sigh*. It's 2024. I'm not engaging with people whose understanding of racism is still so simplistic, that they don't get that Black folk can contribute to systemic racism. I'm also not dealing with the "I don't see color!" nonsense.
My Mastodon mentions are not a good place to learn "systemic racism 101." Because I'm not gentle or patient here.
There are Black folk living in Scotland. I used to be one of them. Learn from them.
Respectfully. Be well and have a nice day!
@mekkaokereke aye ok.
Enjoy your night big guy.
@mekkaokereke this case made it into international media without the context you provided below. You can't blame people for not knowing the judicial system in a certain state is rigged in this way.
I'm glad you elaborated, because I learned something, but this is contextual information that truly matters and it's really the news outlets' responsibility to do due diligence here.
Um... I absolutely can blame people for not knowing that. I literally just did. And it was fine. And I'll do it again next time this happens too.
Readers should know better, because US news almost always does this when talking about Black people and crime.
People never want to take responsibility for their own actions, or the harm that their beliefs can have on others.
Stop expecting US news to talk about Black people anything close to fairly, when that has never happened.
@mekkaokereke so everyone should be able to find their way in the complete mess that is a foreign judicial system - even though locals can't even - whenever they read something?
Do you do the same every time you read news from a foreign country? I bet you don't.
I thank you for setting the record straight but your anger should be with the media.
I absolutely do!
If I read some garbage about Roma people in an EU news article, it takes 3 seconds to see what someone that doesn't hate Roma people has to say about it.
If I read some sexist hatred about women in Korea, it takes 3 seconds to see what a feminist in Korea has to say about it before amplifying.
Don't put your own childlike rejection of any media literacy, and unrealistic desire to be spoonfed the truth by news editors with no incentive to do that, on me.
@mekkaokereke I'm not rejecting media literacy, you're greatly oversimplifying it.
I'd call that ableist, but honestly not even people with average intelligence are adequately equipped for the challenge, as evidenced by the current age of misinformation.
No. I reject your weak attempt to call me not accepting your whining in my mentions as ableist.
Almost everyone else from the EU and other countries are in my mentions going "Woah! The US is messed up! Thank you for adding that context! I learned something!" 
But here you are, whining in my mentions about it not being your fault for not knowing this up front, and expecting the news to hand this to you.
The news isn't going to give this to you. People like me will.
@mekkaokereke I think your reading comprehension leaves a lot to be desired if that's your conclusion from what I said. I think I'll leave it at that then.
You: "Blah blah blah ...I think I'll leave... blah blah blah"
Me: 
Leaving! finally!
In conclusion:
1. The US criminal justice system is fantastically racist.
2. The US news industry lies about Black people constantly, and blames us for our own mistreatment.
3. If in 2024, you come in a Black person's mentions, expecting to be coddled while not knowing this, it's not going to work out well for you.
4. If you don't like this, then don't come in Black people's mentions.
@mekkaokereke@hachyderm.io I should have known not to interact the second I saw that twitter verified tick on Mastodon tbh, that's on me 
Also MF works at google and complains about misinformation and people having to look shit up here?! 
Come on dude
@EchteNachtraaf ik ben het met je eens dat het begrijpelijk is dat mensen deze fout maken. Maar het kwetst mensen wel, dus dan is het toch ook niet raar dat ze boos worden?