You may recall the case of ShaQuanda Cotton. She was convicted and sentenced for shoving a hall monitor at school. Her sentence of seven years in youth prison for pushing a hall monitor at her high school provoked national criticism and fueled allegations of racial discrimination in the town's schools and courts. Some judges in Texarkana denied the 16-year-old's
appeal of her conviction for assault on a public servant and turned aside her claim that she received ineffective assistance from her defense lawyer at her trial in juvenile court before Lamar County Judge Chuck Superville."It's not right, it's not fair that Shaquanda has to go around with this felony conviction," Creola Cotton (ShaQuanda's mother, shown with her daughter in the photo) said. "I am just sick over this, I really am."
Fortunately, the appeals court decision has no immediate impact on ShaQuanda, who was ordered released in late March by a special conservator in charge of the state's juvenile justice agency after she had served one year of her sentence. Her case rose to national prominence after it was actively discussed in the Afroshpere. One of the ironies was that three months before ShaQuanda, who was 14 at the time of the shoving incident, was sentenced to prison, Judge Superville saw fit to place a 14-year-old white girl convicted of the more serious crime of arson on probation.
Villagers, it seems to me that we have another Black child charged with a criminal offense that is totally out of line with the incident. Another Black child placed into the criminal just-us system. In my view, the Paris school district should have never let a minor school incident escalated into criminal charges of this magnitude. And the district attorney and others involved in the case should be ashamed of themselves.
It appears that the public school administrators and the criminal just-us system do not have our children's best interest at heart. So, we have to each do a better job. I have to be a better father and parent so that my children don't get caught up in this nonsense.
How about you? How do you respond to the question --> Do We Really Care About Our Children?
