officers - The Black Vault

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"This just reinforces the Afri-.
can-American community's paranoia
that justice is oalways twisted
when it comes to African-Americans,"
Bakewell said. In fact, the
injustices have become so pervasive
that the concerns are no
longer paranoia, he said.
Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles)
puts the leaked memo in the
same league as the bizarre new
developments in the racially
charged case of truck driver Reginald
0. Denny.
Dennis Palmeiri, a former attorney
for one of the men accused of
beating Denny on the first night of
the riots, testified last week that he
had been ordered not to vigorously
defend his client, Damian Monroe
Williams, by superiors at the defunct
Center for Constitutional
Law and Justice.
The former deputy director of
the center, Frederick George Celani,
has said in a taped statement
that he was hired by the federal
government to sabotage Williams'
case. The judge, John W. Ouderkirk,
is considering a motion by
Williams' new attorney to throw
out the charges.
"These are unheard of problems,"
Waters said. "Why are they
happening all of a sudden with this
case? We're at a point in time
where we are increasjngly suspicious
of the criminal justice system.
[These developments] don't help
us any."
A former gang member who has
spent time behind bars agreed.
"You can't trust the justice system
a bit," said Smokey, who wore
a T-shirt that showed the Bill of
Rights in flames over the slogan
"Can't Trust This." "We know it
ain't fair. There ain't a brother in
the neighborhood that thinks he's
gonna get a fair trial."
Councilman· Michael Woo, one in
a large field of mayoral candidates
vying to replace Bradley, said
skepticism of the justice system
extends to all of the city's ethnic
communities, although it is most
pronounced among African-Americans.
"I'm extremely alarmed," Woo
said. "There .were millions of people
all over the country that
thought justice was denied in the
first trial. It's very disturbing to
think that justice in [the] second
trial may have been jeopardized."