By Liza Ahmed
In 2012, Indiana police entered the home of 18-year old high school student Deshawn Franklin in the early morning without a warrant. He was punched six times, tased, and arrested, before being dragged to a patrol car. When he demanded to know what happened, Franklin was told that he matched the description of a suspect that the police were searching for because he shared the same dreadlock hairstyle.
Shortly after, the police realized that they were actually looking for Franklin’s brother, and released Franklin with their apologies. Franklin then sued the police department, and after rejecting several settlement offers, took the case to trial. His attorney argued that the police department infringed on Franklin’s Fourth Amendment rights by entering the property without a warrant and wrongfully arresting him. The jury agreed. When determining how much Deshawn Franklin was entitled to for a violation of his Constitutional Rights, the jury deemed each violation worth $1 for a grand total of $18. The police department further insisted that the Franklin family pay the $1500 cost of legal and travel expenses for the three officers involved in the wrongful arrest.
How is this possible? Peter Agostino, the attorney representing the city, blames the family attorney for not instructing the family to take the settlements offered by the city. The family’s attorney, Johnny Ulmer, who has spent 20 years as a sheriff’s deputy took the case pro bono. It is difficult to conceive that with his experience and expertise, he could have thought the jury would find such a small reward appropriate for the violation of the rights given by the supreme law of the land.
And what became of the officers? They were given written reprimands and underwent training for Fourth Amendment Rights.
The problem is that there’s no remedy for black Americans. They cannot sit at the wrong counter or drink from the wrong fountain without being violently accosted; they cannot march in defiance, or kneel in protest without being criticized; it does not matter if they get shot when they have their hands up or when they lay down in submission. The bottom line is America largely wants black people to sit down and gratefully take what they are given. This country has only ever intended to build itself on the backs of black people; it had never intended to grant them full privileges and rights.
This disparity is on full display when a jury awards someone $18 for the blatant violation of his constitutional rights. And from my own experience, I express a misaligned gratitude that at least this young man is alive. Violated, humiliated, and unrepresented, but alive. The system does not, and was never intended, to work for people of color. The underlying truth still rings true: justice is exclusive in America, from the moment you are suspected of a crime, to the time you seek reparation for injustices.
