An Open Letter to the U.S. Pardon Attorney

Mr. Ronald L. Rodgers
U.S. Pardon Attorney
United States Department of Justice

June 23, 2009

Mr. Rodgers:

I read in the Charlotte Observer this week that some of my state’s most respected leaders have petitioned your office for the early release of former N.C. House Speaker Jim Black. If his sentence cannot be commuted, they have asked that he be moved to a correctional center closer to his home in Matthews.

Mr. Black is serving time in the federal penitentiary in Lewisburg, Pa., on government corruption charges, and his wife has been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly known as ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease.

Mr. Black is 74 years old.

His attorney says about 150 people have written so far on Mr. Black’s behalf. They include former Gov. Jim Martin, interim N.C. State Chancellor Jim Woodward, state Sen. Bob Rucho and Central Piedmont Community College President Tony Zeiss.

Given Mr. Black’s age and the deteriorating health of his wife, they are asking the federal government to show compassion.

I write this letter to oppose their petitions.

It is not that I lack compassion for Mr. Black and his wife. Indeed, I empathize with their suffering, especially in what are surely the final precious years of their lives. Of all the diseases known to science, ALS must rank among the cruelest. I pray that God will keep Mrs. Black in the cradle of his compassionate hand.

Nor do I suppose that Mr. Black’s crimes are so horrific that they preclude mercy.

I oppose his early release on more reasoned grounds. I know that reason and compassion must often be at odds, but we cannot allow emotions to carry the day on such matters.

You see, Mr. Rodgers, I am an African American male, and for years I have bristled when racial demagogues have blamed the “prison industrial complex” for the high number of black males who languish behind bars.

I am no fool. I know as well as anyone that our justice system is far from colorblind. But I also know that too many of my African American brothers have chosen lives and habits that invariably lead them to prison. If you doubt what I say, simply read the “Police Blotter” on my Web site, www.Qcitymetro.com.

Mr. Black also made choices.

His early release would give comfort to those who would say the system is rigged. It would confirm what the demagogues have long espoused: That America has one set of justice for rich white males and another for poor people and blacks.

Commutation of Mr. Black’s sentence would disarm those of us who say African Americans must focus first on rooting out the criminal cancer we have allowed to spread among us, judicial disparities notwithstanding.

How could I respond to young black men who would see Mr. Black’s early release and blame the “system” for their own incarceration?

Could I point to others like them who were similarly set free solely on compassionate grounds?

No.

It has become sadly cliché to talk in poor communities about “prison moms.” Is there no compassion for these, or for the lives of their innocent children?

I cannot fault those who have written your office seeking clemency for Mr. Black; friendship demands such loyalty.

But as a steward of our judicial system, Mr. Rodgers, your job is to first consider what is best for society as a whole. In this case, I fear, that means keeping Jim Black in prison.

Editor's note: The office of the pardon attorney, in consultation with the U.S. attorney general or his designee, assists the president of the United States in the exercise of executive clemency as authorized under Article II, Section 2, of the Constitution.