When the Racist on the Jury may be Black
Many people have heard of the death of Christa Worthington, an affluent white fashion editor who was killed in her Truro, Massachusetts home in Cape Cod, and her toddler was left unharmed in the home with her body. The case received national media attention, and a black garbage collector, Chris McCowen was accused, charged, convicted of murdering her. The child’s father was married, and at first, I thought perhaps this married man could have been involved with her death.
There were a few theories I had heard circulating when this story was a hot topic; however, based on the information I read in the press, he appears to be very guilty of committing this crime. I will not go into any more specifics surrounding this case, but will provide a link to the story. I just wanted to provide some background info.
The big side story to this case is there is a hearing taking place to determine whether there was racial bias amongst jury members and whether a new trial should be granted. During the trial, one juror was let go for discussing the case with her boyfriend who was in jail at the time.
The main controversy is a dark skinned Cape Verdean juror by the name of Eric “Billy” Gomes, who is accused of making racist or biased comments against black people to other jurors. Now the clincher. His 74 year old aunt, Delainda Miranda, testified this week at the hearing and gave some damaging testimony on her nephew’s bigoted views. The aunt testified: “Indeed, he repeatedly denied being black, she said, even though she told him he was.”
Here are some of his aunt’s testimony statements:
“Billy has talked about black people. . . . He doesn't like black people.” In addition, she stated he said, “All blacks do is come down here and get in trouble and do drugs. N-word don’t like to work.”
"They're lazy, they don't want to work. . . . All they do is rob people, kill them, and deal drugs."
Also, it was reported ealier that he said to another jury, that he did not trust black people and all of his sisters did not like black men, that’s why they married white men.
According to the Boston Globe, two other jurors said Gomes told them “did not like blacks because they cause trouble and that he considered himself white and preferred to socialize with whites.”
Cape Verdeans are said to be the oldest black immigrant group in the U.S., and there is a large population here in New England. The group is so large, that I would not be surprised if they are the number one group.
Here is an interesting quote from FORCV.com on the Black American-Cape Verdean racial misconceptions.
“From the Cape Verdean angle, a small minority, yet very vocal, refuses to identify with or acknowledge their obvious shared black racial heritage with African Americans. Moreover, these folks often make disparaging remarks against American Blacks when amongst each other. Elements from this small minority of Cape Verdeans are more often than not, older, poorly educated, and have limited exposure to the complex realities of Black America.”
Miguel Vieira, the writer of this article makes a very good point that there is a “Billy Gomes” mentality in every black ethnic group. READ MORE…
Reference:
Aunt says juror in murder trial racially biased
Photo Credit: Cape Cod Times photo of Delainda Miranda, top photo is of Chris McCowen
Thanks for the correction Alberto.
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Hi. You need to make a correction on the sentence below. The name of the site is FORCV.com not FORV.com. Thank you.
Here is an interesting quote from FORV.com on the Black American-Cape Verdean racial misconceptions
In fact Miguel touched a controversial issue that need to be dealt with NOW to avoid further misconceptions and stereotypes.
Please, check the reaction of different members of the Cape Verdean community under the section Race, Identity and Culture of forcv.com's forum:
Stereotypes Edited!
Link: http://forcv.forumup.org/about801-forcv.html
How Should We Address The Racism Among Us Cape Verdeans?
http://forcv.forumup.org/about796-forcv.html
This is the same Miguel Viera who posed between two Seneglese men to show how he is not black but creole.