Sad Injustice

Another African American superstar athlete has been prosecuted by the Justice Department for perjury arising from the Balco Grand Jury. Now Marion Jones, winner of five Olympic medals and probably the best female athlete of our time, has been sentenced to 6 months in prison by a federal judge in New York.

The Judge’s remarks in sentencing Jones are curious and reflect the double standard facing celebrated sports figures. On the one hand, the Judge said: “I want to make [people] realize no one is above the law,” reinforcing the myth that these athletes are too often given passes by the media and the law when they get in trouble. In fact, just the opposite is more likely to be the case as evidenced by the reason the Judge gave for handing out such a harsh sentence to someone with no criminal history and who is not a threat to anyone. “Athletes in society,” he continued, “have an elevated status. They entertain, they inspire and perhaps most importantly, they serve as role models for kids around the world. When there is a widespread level of cheating, it sends all the wrong messages to those who follow these athletes’ every move.”

What is that? Jones, who is still nursing her seven month old, has to spend six months locked away from her family and the rest of us because she disappointed the kids who idolized her? Where in the sentencing guidelines is that factor?

I said it before and I will say it again. This Bush-Gonzalez Justice Department does not have the moral authority to sentence anyone, but particularly African-Americans, to prison for not telling the truth about whether he or she took performance enhancing drugs. Not when the President commuted the sentence of Scooter Libby who was convicted of lying about an issue that led the country into an unjustified war and when the Attorney General himself had trouble telling the truth under oath before Congress.

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