Mugged (47 page)

1996 ELECTION

CHAPTER 1: RACE WARS OF CONVENIENCE, NOT NECESSITY

1
.   In Eisenhower’s first election, Republicans also picked up six House seats in Virginia, ten in North Carolina, one in Florida and five in Texas. (Michael Barone,
Our Country
at 711, f1.) It was then that Republicans began to think that “if they were no longer quite so strong in some of their old citadels in the North like Pennsylvania, they were now capable of wining elections in modern-thinking towns in the South like Roanoke and Charlotte, St. Petersburg and Dallas.” (Michael Barone,
Our Country
at 262.)

2
.   Henry A. Rhodes, “An Analysis of the Civil Rights Act of 1964: A Legislated Response to Racial Discrimination in the U. S.” (Yale–New Haven Teachers Institute, 1982, available at http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1982/3/82. 03.04. x.html).

3
.   Robert A. Caro,
The Years of Lyndon Johnson, Vol. 3: Master Of The Senate
(Paperback).

4
.   Ibid., at xv.

5
.   Reagan’s magnificent 1981 tax cuts passed with a vote of 323–107 in the majority Democratic House, and 89–11 in the Senate, where Republicans held a bare majority of fifty-two seats. Edward Cowan, “Reagan’s 3-Year, 25% Cut in Tax Rate Voted by Wide Margins in the House and Senate,”
New York Times
, July 30, 1981.

6
.   During the campaign, Nixon had been polling at 42 percent, Humphrey at 29 percent and Wallace at 22 percent. On election day, Nixon’s percentage held steady at 43.4 percent. Wallace’s had dropped to 13.5 percent, while Humphrey’s jumped to 42.7 percent. Patrick J. Buchanan, “The Neocons and Nixon’s Southern Strategy,”
The American Conservative
, December 30, 2002. See also Michael Barone,
Our Country
, at 449 (Nixon’s “status as a longtime supporter of civil rights, in the Eisenhower administration and at the 1960 national convention, made it difficult for him to steal away Wallace’s votes”).

7
.   Conrad Black,
The Invincible Quest: The Life of Richard Milhous Nixon
(McClelland & Stewart, 2007) at 647.

8
.   
Hannity & Colmes
, FOX News, November 17, 2004.

9
.   Walter V. Robinson, “Professor’s Past in Doubt: Discrepancies Surface in Claim of Vietnam Duty,”
Boston Globe
, June 18, 2001.

10
. Adrian Havill,
Deep Truth: The Lives of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein
(Birch Lane Press, 1993) at 19–20 and 221–23.

11
.
Thomas Sowell,
Black Rednecks and White Liberals
(Encounter Books, 2005),
Chapter 1
, passim. See also David Hackett Fischer,
Albion’s Seed
(Oxford University Press, 1989) and James Webb,
Born Fighting: How the Scots-Irish Shaped America
(Broadway Books, 2004).

12
. Sowell,
Black Rednecks

13
. Ibid. at 22.

14
. Ibid. at 23.

15
. Fischer,
Albion’s Seed
at 737.

16
.
Albion’s Seed
at 770.

17
. Webb,
Born Fighting
at 168.

18
. Sowell,
Black Rednecks
at 25 (internal quotations omitted).

19
. The verdict from the jury of eleven blacks and one white was “not guilty by reason of insanity.” 83 percent of Americans disagreed with the verdict, according to an ABC poll the day after the verdict. Doug Linder, “The Trial of John W. Hinckley, Jr.,” UMKC Faculty Projects (2008), available at http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/hinckley/hinckleyaccount.html.

20
. Kerwin Swint,
Mudslingers: The Twenty-Five Dirtiest Political Campaigns of All Time
(Union Square Press, 2008) at 228.

21
. See, e.g., Rick Bragg, “Quietly, Alabama Troopers Escort Wallace for Last Time,”
New York Times
, September 17, 1998; “George C. Wallace” (1963–67, 1971–79, 1983–87), Encyclopedia of Alabama, available at http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-1676.

22
.
Black Rednecks
at 1.

23
. Fred Siegel,
The Future Once Happened Here
(Encounter Books, 1997) at 38.

24
. Only between 1960 and 1966, more then 600,000 blacks migrated out of the South to the North and West. Report of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, Summary of Report,
Chapter 6
.

25
. “The Negro Crime Rate: A Failure in Integration,”
Time,
April 21, 1958, 16–20. Quoted in Michael W. Flamm, “‘Law and order’ at Large: The New York Civilian Review Board Referendum of 1966 and the Crisis of Liberalism,”
The Historian
, March 22, 2002.

26
. Sowell,
Black Rednecks
at 121–22.

27
. Erol Ricketts, “The Origin of Black Female-Headed Families,”
Focus
, Spring/Summer 1989, 32–37, available at http://www.irp.wisc.edu/publications/focus/pdfs/foc121e.pdf.

28
. Siegel,
The Future Once Happened Here
.

29
. Mickey Kaus,
The End of Equality
(Basic Books, 1995) at 111.

30
. Kaus,
The End of Equality
at 110–12.

31
. Ricketts, “The Origin of Black Female-Headed Families” at 32–37.

32
. Thomas Sowell,
The Vision of the Anointed: Self-Congratulation as a Basis for Social Policy
(Basic Books, 1995) at 61.

33
. Ricketts, “The Origin of Black Female-Headed Families” at 32–37.

34
. About 6 percent of both blacks and whites were widowed; 15 percent of blacks were divorced or separated, compared to 11.9 percent of whites. America’s Families and Living Arrangements: 2010, U.S. Census, 2010, Table A1, available at http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/hh-fam/cps2010.html.

35
. Josh Getlin, Joyce: “Celebrity of Homeless Dispute in N.Y.,”
Los Angeles Times
, December 20, 1987.

36
.
Siegel,
The Future Once Happened Here
at 205.

37
.
The Future Once Happened Here
at 206.

38
. William J. Stuntz, “The Pathological Politics of Criminal Law,”
Michigan Law Review
, December 1, 2001 (citing U.S. Dep’t Of Justice, Crime In The United States 1972: Uniform Crime Reports, 1973, at 61 table 1).

39
. Brent Staples, “When Only Monsters Are Real,”
New York Times
, November 21, 1993.

40
. Pew Social Trends, “Optimism about Black Progress Declines,” November 13, 2007, available at http://pewsocialtrends.org/files/2010/10/Race-2007.pdf; See also Juan Williams, “One Race Divisible,”
Washington Post
, November 14, 2007; Gary Kamiya, “Is Race Dying?” Salon.com, November 26, 2007.

CHAPTER 2: INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN WHITE

1
. Robert F. Williams,
Negroes with Guns
(Marzani & Munsell, 1962).

2
.   Eric Pace, “Jimmy (the Greek) Snyder, 76, Is Dead: A Sports Oddsmaker,”
New York Times
, April 22, 1996.

3
.   Vera Haller, “Judge to Decide Case Against Policeman Who Shot Woman During Eviction,” Associated Press, January 12, 1987.

4
.   Selwyn Raab, “State Judge Dismisses Indictment of Officer in the Bumpurs Killing,”
New York Times
, April 13, 1985.

5
.   Selwyn Raab, “Angry Outburst by Spectators Disrupts Start of Bumpurs Trial,”
New York Times
, January 13, 1987.

6
.   Frank J. Prial, “Amid Protest, Bumpurs Case Nears Its End,”
New York Times
, February 18, 1987; Raab, “Angry Outburst by Spectators Disrupts Start of Bumpurs Trial.”

7
.   “Testimony Barred in Graffiti Arrest,”
New York Times
, November 2, 1983.

8
.   “Account Is Read of Officer’s Bid to Curb Stewart,”
New York Times
, August 20, 1985.

9
.   Isabel Wilkerson, “Gross Testifies on Alcohol’s Role in Stewart Death,”
New York Times
, October 17, 1985.

10
. Editorial: “Transit Police on Trial,”
New York Times
, June 9, 1984.

11
. Sam Roberts, “Death Stirs Police Burtality Charges,”
New York Times
, September 29, 1983.

12
. Philip Shenon, “Juror Says Prosecutors Fought Murder Counts,”
New York Times,
August 25, 1984.

13
. “12 Cases: Synopses of the Issues and the Panel’s Conclusions,”
New York Times,
April 24, 1985; Richard Levine, “Charge Against Officer in Stewart Case Is Dropped,”
New York Times,
October 28, 1987; Kevin Sack, “New York Regents Drop Charges Against Former Medical Examiner”
New York Times
, July 28, 1990.

14
. “12 Cases: Synopses of the Issues and the Panel’s Conclusions,”
New York Times,
April 24, 1985

15
. The accusations against Dr. Gross led to state and city investigations into the examiner’s conduct. He responded with defamation suits against the
New York Times
and various pathologists, and in the end he was mostly cleared, accused of mismanagement by the state health board and fired by Mayor Ed Koch. Dr.
Gross’s libel suit was dismissed because of the impossible standard for such claims by public figures.

16
. Editorial: “Transit Police on Trial.”

17
. Editorial: “How to Remember Michael Stewart,”
New York Times
, November 26, 1985.

18
. “Voices from the Jury Box,”
New York Times
, January 15, 1986.

19
. Isabel Wilkerson, “Stewart Decision In, the Trial Goes on Trial,”
New York Times
, December 1, 1985.

20
. Samuel G. Freedman, “To Some, Davis Is ‘Hero’ Amid Attacks on Blacks,”
New York Times
, January 2, 1987.

21
. Editorial: “The Message of the Davis Case,”
New York Times
, November 25, 1988.

22
. Editorial: “How to Remember Michael Stewart.”

23
. Editorial: “The Crown Heights Acquittal,”
New York Times
, October 31, 1992.

24
. Donatella Lorch, “2d Officer Recounts Details of Arrest in Crown Heights,”
New York Times
, October 1, 1992.

25
. See, e.g., Charles J. Hynes, district attorney, Kings County, “Letter to the Editor: Crown Heights Trial Had Vigorous Prosecution.”
New York Times
, April 7, 1998.

26
. Robert D. McFadden, “Teen-Ager Acquitted in Slaying during ’91 Crown Heights Melee,”
New York Times
, October 30, 1992.

27
. Donatella Lorch, “Inquiries Set in ’91 Slaying in Crown Hts.,”
New York Times
, October 31, 1992.

28
. Andy Newman, “In Twist, Defendant Admits to Stabbing in Crown Hts. in ’91,”
New York Times
, April 29, 2003.

29
. Editorial: “The Crown Heights Acquittal,”
New York Times
, October 31, 1992.

30
. “Is This Justice?” (New York)
Newsday
, October 31, 1992.

31
. McFadden, “Teen-Ager Acquitted in Slaying.”

32
. See, e.g., Bob Liff, “PBA Head: Dinkins Poured Gas on Riot,”
Newsday
(New York), July 14, 1992; Samuel Maull, “DA: Washington Heights Cop Cleared Because Witnesses Unreliable,” Associated Press September 10, 1992.

33
. James Dao, “Tension in Washington Heights,”
New York Times
, July 8, 1992.

34
. Peter Hellman, “The Cop and the Riot,”
New York
magazine, November 2, 1992.

35
.
See, e.g., “District Attorney’s Findings Regarding the Police Killing of Jose Garcia,”
New York Times
, September 11, 1992; M. P. McQueen, “Calm on Clear Day,”
Newsday
(New York), September 11, 1992.

36
. Hellman, “The Cop and the Riot.”

37
. Connie Chung and Giselle Fernandez, “Violence Breaks Out in New York in a Case of Police Brutality,” CBS Evening News, July 7, 1992.

38
. Dennis Hevesi, “Upper Manhattan Block Erupts after a Man Is Killed in Struggle with a Policeman,”
New York Times
, July 5, 1992.

39
. James Dao, “Angered by Police Killing, a Neighborhood Erupts,”
New York Times
, July 7, 1992.

40
. Alfred Lubrano, “He Didn’t Want to Die in New York,” (New York)
Newsday
, July 6, 1992.

41
. Jim Dwyer, “Lies, Whispers in Garcia Case,” (New York)
Newsday
, July 6, 1992.

42
. See, e.g., “District Attorney’s Findings Regarding the Police Killing of Jose Garcia” and “Calm on Clear Day.”

43
. Hellman, “The Cop and the Riot.”