By Judge Greg Mathis

Racial disparity in the court system has been a problem for many years. From arrest to trial to sentencing, many African-Americans are all too aware of the legal system’s injustices. Others, however, have failed to acknowledge them. Now, there is solid proof that racial biases can affect a key component of the justice process: the jury. Recent research shows that all-white juries can be, and often are, biased when deciding the fate of a black defendant. Perhaps this “new” evidence can pave the way to change, ensuring juries are diverse and fair.

A study published in the recent issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology reveals that diverse juries, especially those that have both black and white jurists, are more likely to hand down a fair verdict than an all-white jury is. Fifty percent of the study’s pForarticipants on the all-white mock juries thought a defendant was guilty — even before deliberations. On the diverse jury, only 34 percent of whites had made up their minds before reviewing the case with their peers.

Researchers aren’t exactly sure why whites on the diverse jury were more open-minded, but experts say that working with minorities may have compelled the whites to hide any racial biases they may have. The experts also believe that whites are more likely to review the case more thoroughly when there are minorities on the jury. In other words, white folks will “act right” when they’re around black (or Latino) folks.

To read more, go to: www.BlackAmericaWeb.com/site.aspx/sayitloud/mathis526

On August 12, 2004, New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevey announced that he was resigning from his position due to a scandal regarding an extra-marital affair and a sexual harrassment scandal. Unlike most revelations of its kind, which typically require a public apology, a few tears, and skillful public relations work, Governor McGreevey’s confession required a resignation because his affair was with a man.

Nearly two years later, McGreevey is back in the public eye as he prepares to release his tell-all memoir “The Confession.” According to sources, he’s prepared to travel the country promoting the book in major media outlets, including CNN and The Oprah Winfrey Show. Despite all of the public conversation about McGreevey, little has been said about one glaring fact: He was on the Down Low.

Like the “Brokeback Mountain” buzz last year, much is being made of the idea that married men engage in secret same-sex relationships. Unlike when Black men are the topics of such conversation, however, there has been none of the pathologizing discourse that accompanies our public analysis. Keith Boykin recently acknowledged this double standard:

“When white men do it, we just call it what it is and move on. When black men do it, however, then we have to pathologize it, analyze it, and find out what’s wrong with the black man, the black family or the black community.”

Like Keith, I’m not interested in subjecting gay white men to the dehumanizing Down Low discourse. Instead, I’m hoping that we acknowledge the differences in representation and learn that it is possible to discusss Black men with equal care, compassion, and critical understanding.

A few days ago, I decided to pick up the Gnarls Barkley “St. Elsewhere” CD. For those that don’t know, Gnarls Barkley is a muscial collaboration between underground producer Danger Mouse and former Goodie M.O.B. front man Cee-Lo. Apparently, the group has become the new hip thing for young urbanites to have on their CD shelves. After weeks of media hype and several recommendations from my readers, I picked up the disc.

Given the lack of quality in today’s musical marketplace, the album is a refreshing change of pace. Like Andre 3000’s “Love Below” masterpiece, Gnarls throws off the artistic shackles of traditional hip-hop and makes an album from the heart. With Danger Mouse behind the boards, Gnarls gives us an eclectic but unpretentious mix of D’n'B, house, funk, hip-hop, gospel, and soul. The man best known for mashing up Jigga and the Beatles finds his artistic soul mate in Cee Lo, who is equally willing to extend beyond his comfort zone and perform different artistic selves. The combination works best on tracks like the wildy popular “Crazy,” “Just a Thought” and “Go, Go Gadget Gospel”.

Unfortunately, as Common learned with “Electric Circus,” following one’s artistic dream can also alienate listeners. At various moments on the album, listeners will inevitably feel like they are on the outside of a musical inside joke between Danger Mouse and Cee-Lo. While this undoubtedly made for great sudio sessions, it doesn’t always translate well to “St. Elsewhere.” Also, there are a few moments where, like “Electric Circus,” the album feels contrived, like it’s trying too hard to be avante garde.

In many ways, “St. Elsewhere” represents hip-hop’s growing maturity. In addition to challenging our aesthetic sensibilities, the album offers a more expansive range of themes than the tired “money, drugs, hoes, thug love” themes that we’re forced to endure on Top-40 radio. Issues like depression, craziness, pathology, and radical hope place this album in sharp relief to its Billboard neighbors.

Overall, Gnarls Barkley’s debut disc is one of the better albums that have emerged this year. While it’s far from a classic, it’ll provide definite listening satisfaction.

BARBERSHOP RATING: 3.5 out of 5 clippers

My op-ed about Bill Cosby was published in today’s Baltimore Sun. It can be accessed at:

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bal-op.cosby25may25,0,2536599.story?coll=bal-oped-headlines

By Tonyaa Weathersbee, BlackAmericaWeb.com
I guess this shouldn’t bother me. Maybe I don’t have the right to allow it to bother me.

But it does.

Since the crack cocaine epidemic began spawning so much carnage in black communities two decades ago, another morbid trend has evolved. In many violence-ridden places, people have taken to remembering their murdered loved ones by wearing the images of the slain on T-shirts.

Now, people who have lost people they care about to violence have every right to express their grief in whichever way offers the best comfort. If that means a T-shirt, then so be it. Yet while I’m sensitive to their loss, I can’t help but be troubled by the collective message that wearing T-shirts airbrushed with the faces of the dead sends.

That message being that, among many of us, violence and murder has become so common that it has transcended the realm of cemeteries and solemnity into the realm of mass-marketing. Murder — especially slayings generated by drug and gang-related violence — is no longer shrouded in anomaly as it is in the trappings of pop culture.

For the rest of this story go to: http://www.blackamericaweb.com/site.aspx/sayitloud/weathersbee524