by Richard G. Carter Carters View Date 05-05-04

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As former New York City Mayor David Dinkins was fond of saying, our multi-racial, multi-colored society is a gorgeous mosaic. Indeed, when it comes to skin tones, few places on earth compare to America, with millions of people in various shades of black, brown, red, yellow and white. Just look around you.

By the same token, opinions held by Americans on a range of issues are as diverse as their color. Yet, just as all Black people and all yellow people do not look alike -- despite insidious, long-lasting stereotypes -- skin color remains the characteristic by which most people in this country are defined and judged.

As a result, Blacks are much more likely than Whites to be suspected, arrested and convicted of crimes—especially when an alleged victim is White.

But there’s exceptions, such as last week’s decision by the Jayson Williams’ jury which inexplicably failed to find him guilty on either of two manslaughter charges. I’ll deal with that in another column.

This brings me once again to the high-profile criminal cases involving 45-year-old Michael Jackson and 25-year-old Kobe Bryant. Owing to the publicized evidence, both look guilty of the dastardly deeds with which they are charged. But the absolutes of America’s legal system make it likely that Michael and Kobe are going down for one overriding reason: They are Black.

Of course, smart-mouthed, White TV pundits snicker that Michael abrogated his claim as a genuine Black man by altering his facial features and skin color over the years. Some racist White journalists have even taken to likening him to a skinny, washed-out White woman, paler than a bottle of milk. Yet, Michael, indeed, is a high-profile, wildly successful Black man in White America. As such, he’s in big trouble.

Kobe, who could be arraigned next week, probably will go to trial in late summer. And he could be in even bigger trouble, since he stands accused of committing the cardinal sin for Black men in the land of the free and home of the brave: Raping a White woman—19-year-old, blonde, blue-eyed Katelyn Faber. Worse yet, his trial will be held in front of a lily-white jury in a lily-white town in largely lily-white Colorado.

Significantly, the outlooks of both these big-time Black men have been battered by negative events of the last two weeks—signaling a definite downturn in their chances to beat the overwhelming odds against them. And while there remains an undercurrent of optimism by their supporters and well-wishers, the handwriting is clearly on the wall.

On April 30 in Santa Barbara County, Calif., Michael was arraigned and pleaded not guilty to 10 felony counts of child molestation: One count of alleged conspiracy, four counts of committing a lewd act on a minor, one count of attempting a lewd act on a minor and four counts of using an intoxicant. It is expected that an all-out show trial probably will get underway in December.

A few days after news of the grand jury indictments leaked, Michael stunningly announced in a prepared statement that he was firing attorneys Mark Geragos and New York-based Benjamin Brafman to give him the best chance at acquittal. In their place, he hired Tom Mesereau—another lawyer who specializes in representing celebrities.

Michael’s stated reason—alluding to Geragos’ time-consuming role as lead defense counsel for accused California murderer Scott Peterson and Brafman’s location in New York—appeared on his website: "It is imperative that I have the full attention of those who are representing me. My life is at stake.”

An objective reading of these developments—and Michael’s subdued court appearance—lends me to deduce that he finally may be getting the message. In two words, he’s in deep s--t. He’s finally running scared—and it’s about time. Hopefully, we won’t see any more of the foolish frolicking atop an SUV that he engaged in following his formal arrest and first day in court last year.

Bad legal news on the Kobe front centered around a ruling by State District Court Judge Terry Ruckriegle that alleged victim Faber’s medical records will not be made available to Kobe’s legal team. Defense Attorney Hal Haddon had argued that Faber gave up her right to medical privacy when she told family and friends about her past problems—including two suspected suicide attempts.

Meanwhile, Kobe’s lawyers also sought to have Colorado’s rape-shield law stricken to introduce her sexual past in court and prevent the prosecution from referring to Faber as a "victim." This has to do with Faber’s alleged sexual activity before and after having sex with Kobe and, they say, denies his presumption of innocence until proven guilty.

No matter how you slice it—despite his heroic status as a superstar professional basketball player in sports-happy America—Kobe is sinking deeper and deeper into an abyss of negatives about sex between Black men and White women, consensual or not.

O.J. Simpson found that out but had a predominantly Black jury. Not so with Kobe.

Bottom line: Mix a Black accused and a White accuser and it’s dynamite!

This is exactly why Michael paid some $20 million to the young White boy in 1993 to avoid going to court. He could read the handwriting on the wall.

This time, his goose appears to be cooked. And the same holds true for Kobe—unless his lawyers agree to settle by paying millions to Faber.

But time’s a-wasting. And that’s the name of that tune.

Richard G. Carter. a freelance writer, is a former columnist with The Milwaukee Journal and the New York Daily News.

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