Tiffany Cross and Guests Rip Judge’s Sentence for Daunte Wright Killer: ‘You Don’t Need White People to Uphold White Supremacy’
MSNBC’s Tiffany Cross and several guests criticized Judge Regina Chu’s lenient sentencing of Kim Potter, who was convicted of manslaughter in the killing of Daunte Wright.
On Friday, Judge Chu stunned many observers when she passed sentence on Potter for the killing of Mr. Wright: two years, including time served — well short of the maximum sentence of 15 years. The decision drew outrage from the family of Daunte Wright, as well as many media figures.
And on Saturday morning’s edition of The Cross Connection, Ms. Cross convened a panel to discuss the sentence that consisted of Jess Morales Rocketto, MSNBC’s Katie Phang, and Fordham University Professor Christina Greer.
While Ms. Phang noted the law gives judges the discretion to show this sort of leniency, she noted that “there’s supposed to be a punishment mechanism because it’s supposed to deter future offenders from doing the same exact thing,” and that compared to other less serious offenses, the sentence didn’t “make any sense.”
Ms. Cross and Prof. Greer then talked about the “gut-wrenching” disparity on display in the treatment of Potter by Judge Chu, versus that of a Black officer who killed a White person:
MS. CROSS: Chrissie, I’m going to say something unpopular here, when [Potter] said to Daunte Wright’s mother, “You said I didn’t look at you. I didn’t feel I had the right to,” my heart broke a little.
That’s not to say that she doesn’t deserve to go to prison and that she took this black child’s life and Black Lives Matter, as we know. But seeing that just, you know, it did strike me.
However, comma, the judge’s empathy in this scenario… The amazing Sherrilyn Ifill made a really good point and tweeted as she was watching this sentencing that she couldn’t help but remember the Somali-American police officer in Minnesota who also made a mistake, quote-unquote, shooting a White Australian Tourists, and he was sentenced to 12 and a half years in prison. So seeing these two justice systems play out for the rest of America, it is enraging, enraging. Your thoughts on the whole situation?
MS. GREER: Yeah, it’s a pretty, you know, officer Potter is a human being and she has a family. And I understand she has emotions and she’s allowed to feel how she feels.
I think what was so frustrating and infuriating and incredibly sad for me is that this isn’t about you, Officer Potter. This is about yet again another family of a Black boy who has lost a member of their community. And so when I’m reminded that you don’t need white people to uphold white supremacy, you know, as Katie said, there is a punitive aspect of the criminal justice system. But we know, we’ve seen time and time again, it’s just not allocated equally.
If it worked across the board, then fine. I would have some investment in some faith in it. We’ve got black women facing five and six years for trying to register to vote. We’re not even talking about drugs. We’re talking about people who are trying to be citizens. And so it really does bring this question of can we ever be equal citizens in this country where even after our death, we have no justice, we have no peace?
Watch above via MSNBC.
