The Thought Police are Coming

December 21, 2007
by Cliff Carson

Wednesday December 19, 2007 should be remembered as a day of Infamy in the State of Arkansas. It was on this cold day in Arkansas, that Federal Judge James Moody sentenced Shawn Simone Hardin, a single mom with an eleven-year-old daughter, to 6 months in Jail for writing a "Racially hostile letter" to her Black neighbors next door, complaining about their 12-year-old son. The content of the letter was sealed to the public by the Judge so what was actually written cannot be examined.

But it was the second letter (also sealed) that got U. S. Prosecuting Attorney Michael Johnson to claim "obstruction of Justice" although the second letter was actually an apology from Hardin to the Neighbors. Johnson said that the letter should be held against Ms Hardin because although the letter contains no "explicit threat" it did in his opinion "contain a racist element more subtle, yet more prevalent, than the first letter, making it more heinous". "It does blame the victims, It says the boy is wrong" Johnson told the Judge.

Just imagine, a letter of apology for blowing one's stack, yet it still blames the boy for something, no one has ever said what, just that it still blamed the boy. That's one hell of a NO-NO. Blaming a 12 year old boy for his actions. And what made it inexcusable is that he is Black. And ever more unforgivable, his accuser is white.

Also in her letter of apology Hardin wrote that she really loved black people, this according to the aggrieved black mother of the 12 year old black boy. She said she found that statement insulting. Judge said he wasn't going to stand for that. At least according to U. S. Prosecutor Michael Johnson, no siree, "What Ms. Hardin has done cannot be repaired without a great deal of time and a great deal of forgiveness" says he. And Johnson went on to tell the Judge that Prison time would be appropriate to show the community how seriously the court takes criminally racist behavior. Not a whole lot of forgiveness there.

Said the aggrieved black woman, "I have to live next door to someone who hates me because I have a darker hue". Judge Moody in a fit of forgiveness decided that he would take into account Hardin's acknowledgement of wrongdoing as a measure of setting her sentence. So, since she showed remorse and confessed to using the word "nigger" in her letter, then the honorable Judge decided to back off being too harsh, so as a result when Harding gets out of Prison for using the "N' word, she will only have to serve another six months of house arrest and a year of Supervised release with electronic monitoring.

This is one forgiving man. And he put a lot of thought into the sentence for the use of the "N" word, he pondered the destruction of this woman's family for 15 minutes before meting out the sentence. Moody went on to say that he would recommend counseling, particularly anger management, while the racist was incarnated, and ordered her to continue counseling when she is released ( Didn't say for how long). Ms. Hardin is scheduled to enter the pokey on January 22, 2008. I think I would need quite a bit of anger management counseling after that court outcome.

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Moody went on to say he hoped the sentence would be a deterrent to others who might behave similarly and that he never wants to see another case like Hardin's. "I don't want this to ever happen again," he said. "This should not occur in civilized society". Now I'm not sure whether the good Judge meant the sentence or the name calling action that gave rise to the court thing.

OK now what have you learned from this story?

I learned that using the "N" word is considered criminal racist behavior punishable by at least a year and a half of lock down time and that's if you have a lenient Judge.

I learned that other non Politically Correct speech may become punishable as Criminal Behavior. Hmmmm?

Does that mean I have lost my freedom of speech? Did I see something lately where the FCC was going to change regulations concerning ownership of Media and another Bill called the "Thought Crimes Prevention Bill" about Home-Grown Terrorism? Wasn't there something in there about "identifying and detaining - Potential - Criminal Behavior people"? Maybe it was worded something akin to identifying potential Homegrown Terrorists by their thought patterns? Time to get afraid!! We better take back our country before people like me and Ms Hardin have to go before someone like U. S. District Judge James Moody. He might be what the Bush Administration have in mind for this HR1955/S. 1959 (Home-Grown Terrorism Prevention Act) now in the Senate. Find an Internet site with an action page and voice your opposition to this bill, to your Congressmen.

For her story the 43-year-old Ms Hardin who was divorced in 2005, will probably lose her home and any other material thing that she owes money on. She might be able to live on welfare for sustenance, if she can get into public housing, but anyway she admits that "threatening" the family next door by asking them not to live like "Niggers" was the biggest mistake of her life as she weepingly told the Judge before he passed sentence. She told the Judge she was trying to protect her daughter "I was scared my little girl was going to be harmed," she pleaded to the Judge.

This same day of the sentencing Natalie Mains (Dixie Chicks) was in Little Rock to protest the incarceration of the West Memphis three, the boys, now adults, who fifteen years ago were found guilty of ritually slaying three 8 year old boys and dismembering one of them. All three of these boys were older than 12 but I think one of them was just 13. Maybe Natalie can walk from the Capitol Steps to the Courthouse and rally for Ms Hardin to receive justice. Somebody needs to.

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