Paris, Texas must have felt the heat
There was some good news from the weekend. As posted here previously, 15-year-old Shaquanda Cotton was one year into a seven-year sentence for shoving a hall monitor. The monitor was not injured. In this same town, a 19-year-old was given probation for criminally-negligent homicide for killing a 54-year-old grandmother and her 3-year-old grandson with his car. In a case that further evidenced the contrast, the same judge who handed down Shaquanda’s sentence sentenced a 14-year-old white girl to probation for arson after she burned down her family’s house. Shockingly, this same girl later violated this probation and was, again, not locked up by this judge. It was only after a third offense that the judge finally sentenced the white teenager to jail time.
After a slew of news stories because to ask why there are two different standards of justice, based on color, legal authorities in Paris, Texas must have found themselves answering some very uncomfortable questions about racial disparities in sentencing because, Shaquanda Cotton was released on Friday.
Shaquanda’s mother, Creola Cotton, says she fears for her daughter’s safety but, hopes they can still live in Paris, Texas. I don’t know if I’d stay but, Ms. Cotton sounds like a fighter.
I still say that something is rotten in Paris, Texas but, now, a little more light is shining there today.
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