But institutional racism isn’t an attitude, or a policy; it’s an outcome. To diminish it and ultimately eradicate it, we first have to measure it.
So we’re asking leaders in Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties to undertake an extraordinary effort: Gather the data necessary to document, and quantify, the racial inequities that infect each county’s criminal justice system, following the example of civic leaders in Washtenaw County.
The dedicated and methodical group of grassroots activists known as Citizens for Racial Equality in Washtenaw, or CREW, had no idea what they’d discover when they undertook to analyze 3,600 felony charges brought in Michigan’s sixth-largest county between 2013 and 2019. The racial disparities they documented in the prosecution and sentencing of criminal defendants astonished them, and their discoveries have challenged Washtenaw’s top law enforcement officials to reexamine the procedures, protocols and culture undergirding every facet of that
Detroit Free Press Editorial Board
Accusing anyone of racism is a sure way to elicit a defensive response. Suggest that institutional racism is rampant, and most white Americans will react with the same reflexive denial, insisting they neither practice nor condone it.
But institutional racism isn t an attitude, or a policy; it s an outcome. To diminish it and ultimately eradicate it, we first have to measure it.
So we re asking leaders in Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties to undertake an extraordinary effort: Gather the data necessary to document, and quantify, the racial inequities that infect each county s criminal justice system, following the example of civic leaders in Washtenaw County.
authority may discipline a classified employee for just cause. just cause includes but is not limited to the following. conduct unbecoming a state emply ee. governor granholm, a democrat who does not share cox s political views, clearly believe s shirvell s conduct is unbecoming and so does her predecessor, attorney general for 37 years. when he was barred from the university of michigan because of his actions, that raises the question of sexual harassment and intimidation. right away there s laws against that. i would have my lawyers check into it and if he had done any of those things he violated his agency and should be disciplined immediately. joining us now is senior legal analyst and former federal prosecutor jeffrey toobin and alma wheeler smith. first, what do you make about these ties? clearly cox knows shirvell pretty well, going back to 2002.
amendment arguments in defense of shirvell, it s just become politically untenable to keep him around. and so they announced that he s leaving voluntarily. but the point is he s out, at least temporarily. representative wheeler smith, what do you think should happen in this case? you obviously believe, what, he should lose his job? well, i certainly think he should be dismissed. he uses his presence in the attorney general s office as a bullying tactic. a student at michigan state university was in a counterpicture counterpeck et to one of the demonstrations shirvell was attending, and there was a clash of opinions, and andrew used his position as attorney general, deputy attorney general with the university, michigan state university in this case, to get the student dismissed from a course. i think he is beyond the pale, if you will. he should be dismissed from the attorney general s office.
his campaign was paying money. every attorney general s office where the attorney general is elected there s kind of an inner circle of people who are political allies of the attorney general. there s nothing wrong with that. that s just you have to get so attorney general s offices are very political. they re political. you don t get to be attorney general in most states unless you are elected. but if you are part of that inner circle, you are a political ally. there are a lot of people in the attorney general s office who are civil service employees who are not particularly political. cox says i have 500 employees. exactly. and he s right. most of those are not political allies. they stay there through administrations. but clearly shirvell is a political ally. he is a campaign worker. and that puts him not legally but factually in a very different category than the run-of-the-mill assistant attorney general. representative wheeler smith you ve had run-ins with andrew