In an entry at his the Boyce Blog, Dr. Boyce Watkins looks at the troubling case of David Clarke, a National Honor Society student who spent four years in prison for a murder he didn't commit. In March a jury exonerated him, but he was murdered before he could taste freedom.
… David Clarke is a victim of what might be accurately called “The black male paradox.” This is where the cultural tornado created for and unfortunately sustained by black men in America often leads to the death and incarceration of men who didn’t do anything wrong. For most black men in this country, it’s not enough to watch what you do; you can also have your life destroyed by what others around you are doing as well.
I’ve seen far too many cases of good kids, with good grades, doing good things having their lives ruined by men who have nothing to lose. You date the wrong girl with a killer for an ex-boyfriend, you go to a club and get into a brawl with a gang banger who grabbed your girlfriend’s butt, or you’re simply in the wrong place at the wrong time when your best friend’s enemy rolls up with a machine gun. It’s the ultimate and worst form of bullying, and often ignored by the rest of society.
I am David Clarke. I was the 23-year old black male who chose to do the right things, abide by the law and make good grades in college (not high school, as some of you already know). But I also saw, around that same age, my best friend shot in the skull by black men who had no problem murdering him in front of his young daughter. The hurdles are complex, and when one considers urban war zones like South Central Los Angeles, you wonder how even the good kids make it out in one piece.
Read Dr. Boyce Watkins' entire blog entry at the Boyce Blog.