Guilty Until Proven Innocent
Kevin Cooper is on Death Row Becuase He's Black
By Hector Gonzalez

Last Monday night gave me hope that justice can be brought if the public stands up and speaks on its behalf. Kevin Cooper's life was spared, for now at least. Kevin Cooper is a black man that was put on death row in 1983 for murdering two members of the Ryen family, a family friend and wounding Joshua Ryen who was the youngest of the Ryen family in the San Bernardino County. Kevin had just escaped from a county jail where he was incarcerated for burglary. He was hiding out in a house close to Ryan's home.

Joshua Ryen, who survived a slice to the throat at the age of eight from the incident, testified that either three white or Mexican males attacked him and his family. One of the victims that was killed managed to pull off the hair of one of her attackers. The hair was blonde, and although this may be enough evidence to prove his innocence, Kevin Cooper was the closest black man to the crime scene. As usual black males are the number one suspects, and being that Kevin had just escaped for jail, he was the perfect suspect.

Although there was more evidence proving his innocence, Kevin Cooper was still "proven" guilty and would have been executed this past Monday if it weren't for the voices of many, including key civil leaders such as Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. Sadly, Cooper is not the only one that is on death row unjustly, others such as Sundiata Acoli and Mumia Abu Jamal ,(both political prisoners, and both black males) are in the same situation for supposedly murdering police officers.

Although these cases clearly are racial and social justice issues, it is something more personal to me. Because of Cooper's case I have began to question the judicial system as a whole.

As a young man of color, I always hated the cops because they always target people of color. Latinos are pulled over by the police more than any other race in California now, and black males seem to be the first suspects to any crime. But through Cooper's case now I see a greater issue in the system than racial prejudice.

The opinion of the public does not count in the judicial system.

If our judicial system is supposed to bring justice, than it seems absurd that the evidence that could prove Kevin's innocence may be overlooked. The law is subject to us, yet we have no voice in deciding who is guilty or not. The public had no voice on whether or not Kevin Cooper should be executed, but all it took was the signature of Arnold Shwarzenneger for his execution. We as residents of California should make the law and we should be the ones to decide who is innocent or guilty.

The judicial system may claim the public has a role through the jury of twelve, but how can it be that 12 jurors are the equal representation of the public when in Mumia's case he was tried by all white jurors? Also, most people of color who are tried for whatever crime are not wealthy people. There is an obvious injustice when people who are wealthy can afford the best of lawyers and the poor are represented by public offenders. Justice has a price tag.

It is against the law for us to take justice into our own hands. If someone were to kill my mother and I go and kill their mother because I believe that that was justice, I would be held accountable for that murder. Me believing that I was serving justice would not matter. But if it's a crime for me to take actions into my own hands, then why is it ok for rich white men to do the same through there judicial power? That's what judges do, and that's what Arnold Shwarzenegger did by signing his consent for the execution of Kevin. They take justice into there own hands. The whole world can believe that someone is innocent but if the judge believes he's guilty, than our opinions don't matter.

Kevin Cooper's case is a great example of the flaws in our judicial system. Twelve jurors couldn't bring justice, twelve jurors overlooked the evidence that could have proven his innocence. And although many community leaders are happy that Kevin Coopers execution was postponed for further investigation, we don't know what the final outcome is going to be. We hope that his life is spared, but even though life is better than death, Kevin Cooper just lost 20 years of his life for being the closest black man to the crime scene.