TGR: No Prison for Eliyahu Werdesheim: Slap on the wrist for racially-motivated assault with a poor black community still in shock
By Doni M. Glover, www.bmorenews.com
(BALTIMORE – June 27, 2012) - Today, Eliyahu Werdesheim eluded a prison sentence. That was to be expected, according to noted Attorney J. Wyndal Gordon, based on the charges and the fact that Werdesheim has a clean record and several letters from the community written on his behalf. However, the issue of a racially-charged assault and the stain it has left on an entire city remains unresolved. The fact is that the State’s Attorney failed to charge it for what it was from the very beginning: a hate crime.
Let’s start there! Baltimore City State's Attorney Gregg Bernstein blew the chance to show that he was the fair man he said he was back when he was running for the office against former Baltimore City State's Attonrey Pat Jessamy, a black woman.
In any event, Baltimore Circuit Judge Pamela J. White sentenced the older Werdesheim brother to three years' probation for false imprisonment and second-degree assault.
Just hearing the charges made against these bullies sickens me.
Werdesheim has gotten a smack on the wrist for assaulting a kid, when if the tables were turned and it was a black man assaulting a white Jewish youth in East Baltimore, everybody reading this column knows that it would be a different story.
And you call that justice? There is no justice in America. When it comes to prisons, - to use famous comic Richard Pryor’s words – “it’s just us!”
Yet, black people see this kind of chicanery, unfortunately, all too often. Black people know all too well, considering that black men alone comprise over 40% of America’s prison population, that the justice system is no more than modern day slavery.
From a black man’s perspective – one who is indigenous to Baltimore: This foolishness called freedom and justice in America is a farce. It’s all about money. If you got the money, you can beat the charges … but can you right the wrong? Can you go back and heal that pain you have caused, the damage you have perpetuated against the civility in 2012 America? Can you ensure that the young man you attacked like an animal will be healed after being severely emotionally traumatized and go on to do something productive with his life like go to college like you have?
It’s the issue of race that nobody in the mainstream wants to address: the Jewish community in Upper Park Heights is marred by this bullying incident against a black high school student. Pain has been levied. And it was very wrong. And unacceptable. The Werdesheim family should really take a look at their contribution to racial progress in this 21st century world.
I’ll end with this. The judge in the case, according to the Baltimore Sun, made a remarkable comment, I thought: "There is nothing served or gained with incarceration."
I bet those many innocent black men in prisons across America today find great comfort in her words. Better yet, I bet the thousands of black male inmates from California to Louisiana wished they got such empathy.
In a funny way, I’m not really mad at Jews for looking out for Jews. I just wished African Americans would better emulate the model.
According to Cortly "CD" Witherspoon who was put out of the sentencing because he protested the Defense Attorney's comments, "I think it was a gross miscarriage of justice." He added, "I think this was about class, it was about privilege, power, and influence."
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