Black judge kicks whites out of courtroom
I’m familiar with Marvin Arrington Sr because I knew his son when we both worked on Bill Campbell’s successful campaign for Mayor back in the 90s.
Mr. Arrington finds himself in a little controversy after ordering whites out of his Atlanta courtroom so he could lecture blacks on the proper courtroom etiquette.
Mr. Arrington’s actions garnered him national attention. I watched him handle himself very well in an interview with Anderson Cooper on CNN.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Marvin Arrington says he intended nothing racist when he ordered white lawyers from his courtroom while he lectured black defendants.
Arrington, who is black, ordered the lawyers from the courtoom on March 27th. He says he walked into the courtroom and saw a crowd who appeared to be “99.9 percent” black. He says he decided to talk privately with the suspects.
“I didn’t want to appear to be condescending, talking them down,” Arrington told Atlanta radio station WSB. The judge, who has been on the bench for six years, noted that he grew up on inner-city streets in Atlanta. Arrington says he urged people in the courtroom to take a hard look at their lives.
He says his message was “Get your life together, get in school, you can be a better you if you work hard.” Arrington says his message was essentially the same that comedian Bill Cosby has made.
In retrospect, Arrington says segregating the courtroom for those few minutes was a mistake and that when he lectures those in his courtroom this Thursday, he will invite everyone to listen. (Source)
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26 Responses to “Black judge kicks whites out of courtroom”
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i dont see what the big deal is. I appreciate him asking the others to leave the room. Otherwise, I would’ve thought he was just tryna put on a show for them. He shouldn’t apologize or change it. Hell, he could be like most other successful blacks and not say nuttin, leaving YOU to figure our ya own ish.
what’s it like for his son to live in his shadow. I hear his not half the atty his dad was.
I too don’t see what the big deal is. What I don’t like is when I watch judge shows on tv and Judge Judy does not let anyone cross their arms in front of them or curse in the court room. The black judge shows they curse and disrespect. I know it is tv but they are real judges. Speaking of Judges. Judge Mathis has declined Kwame Kilpatricks offer for legal counsel.
I commend him for this sometimes we need tough love but you know these days you have to be careful b/c big brother is always watching.
Anna Says
Judge Mathis has declined Kwame Kilpatricks offer for legal counsel.
Is Kwame crazy?
i felt that his heart was in the right place in talking to only the black folks, but when you are in that type of rank and your black… you are being watched for every little thing! Although I persoanlly dont feel he was wrong being black, but as a white person it would have bothered me too. Maybe he could have ordered them to some kind of class that was set aside for that kind of speech that he was trying to get across. In the judicical system as a judge yo are not supposed to single out anyone because of color.
Just my opinion. Im trying to look at it from both sides.
I appreciate what this judge did. These defendants needed to hear this, especially coming from him. I’m glad-it’s actually a tear jerker because a lot BM in America never get the priviledge of a sincere judge trying to help them.
Thanks for the post Sandra.
He was very wrong for doing so. Most of you on here, who have commented so far are saying that he was right for doing so, but if a white judge had done so, you all would be crying racism. We say everyday that we wanted to be treated equally, but then we want special treatment. If he wanted to tell the defendants to get their lives in order, stay in school, etc, he should have done so in open court, in front of all to see.
wow!!! I guess I shouldn’t be suprised by now the double standard most people want to live by.
@ Sandra - I wished you would have first put this story out there, only reveresed the colors, and THEN see what everyone’s comments would have been. But, I think we pretty much know the answer to that.
I can only imagine it now, a WHITE judge telling the black folks to get out of the court room, because he doesn’t want to talk down to white people in front of black people. SMDH!
I felt ok with what he did there was something that he wanted to say and we know how easy it is to break a black mans pride. He wanted to say it to a specific group. I just think it was a spur of the moment decision and not a deliberately planned action.
I totally understand what he was doing. As a judge from the inner city it must be very difficult for him to see black defendant after black defendant who doesn’t even know how to dress for court while the white ones come in wearing suits. What he did was done out of love for his people. Someone has to at least try to reach the roughnecks and hoodrats who have no home training.
Anna Says:
I too don’t see what the big deal is. What I don’t like is when I watch judge shows on tv and Judge Judy does not let anyone cross their arms in front of them or curse in the court room.
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Judge Judy gets on my last never but I love her for that. She corrects them when the speak improper english and she will keep doing it for the whole case and sometimes they never get it, but at least she tries. Nowadays teachers don’t even correct students when the speak improper english which has led to a generation of inner city, underpriviledged people who actually don’t even know how to speak proper enlish when they need to. It’s VERY sad. That’s why highschool drop out rates are at an all time low. In Baltimore less than 40% of students graduate from high school. What kind of sh*t is that?
I meant high school drop out rates are at an all time high.
@Bird
In Detroit the graduation rate is only 20% Now that is sad.
I don’t disagree with what the judge did at all,and I wouldn’t have been mad if a white judge made black folks leave the courtroom so he could speak with the white folks. In this texting, blogging & myspace world, most Americans’ English skills have gone out of the window (just horrible). Either that or the ‘myspace age’ has simply exposed and magnified the problems that have always been there.
Proper speaking (using the right phrases instead of BS like “conversated” and “numerous of times”), reading and writing (not using ‘ch@t$pe@k’ or words like ‘dis,”dat’, ‘ur’, ‘kno’ & especially ‘wat’) are the building blocks to a successful career.
And YES, smart people CAN tell when ‘not-so-smart’ people try to use big words and phrases when they speak, trying to sound more intelligent than they really are. You can see it all the time on those ‘judge’ shows - which, by the way, are simply the ‘new’ talk shows that have taken over for shows like Jerry Springer (although it’s still on), Ricki Lake, etc. Average (and sometimes below average) people come on and simplay air their dirty laundry.
I actually like Judge Judy the best - she doesn’t put up with any mess (”UMM is NOT AN ANSWER!!”). Second, I like Judge Joe Brown - when people haven’t made good choices in life, he tries to lay it all out in front of them so they can see the error of their ways. I also catch Judge Mathis - and he seems to me to be the kind of judge that would do something similiar to this judge above, trying to get black folks to behave more professionally and civilized.
*simply
Judge Arrington is a trip. But i think he dismissed the white audience so that he wouldn’t offend them. Some things are in house issues (between blacks only), and he solely wanted to address them. White people are so freakin sensitive, but are constantly accusing black people of being sensitive. What’s the problem here? So they didn’t get to hear a scolding, what’s the offense? They should just thank their lucky stars they didn’t have to sit through. They act like they missed out on watching a hanging. They seriously need to grow the **** up whiney a-s-s white people. They are some cry babies for sure.
I applaud what the judge did, and I hope more Black men start speaking out to black youth.
If a white judge had done this, we’d be calling him a racist, but this is the thing: I don’t care. I don’t care if this is a double standard or whatever. I don’t care how this looks to white people any more than they care about the truth of America (per Jeremiah White).
Basically, black folks have a lot of catching up to do, and if we have to send some white folks out of our earshot to do it, then fine.
And if you think about it — if the judge had allowed the whites to stay in there while he spoke to black youth they’d still find some racism in that. I can hear them now, “he should have addressed ALL youth in the court.” Whatever. Black folks have got to find some sense for ourselves. The whites will be fine.
And, uhm yeah…. I know his name is Wright. Just got caught up in typing “white”.
NC_NYer Says:
…using the right phrases instead of BS like “conversated”
GIRL! That is my pet peeve. I have tried to learn how to correct people on that gently. Something like, “I just want to make sure that you know that is not actually a word so that you are not using it in “mixed” company.” That is a “big” word to many of the people that use it. They think they sound intelligent when they pull “conversate” out of their hat. Lawd help us all.
what’s the big deal people ? i think he’s just looken out for his kind.
Judge Judy is racist!
@kdillon I cosign that and funny she gets paid $15 mill a year to be rude and racist.
I applaud him. Black Americans have no place that is our own. No language that allows us some racial and cultural privacy. We work and we consume. Segregation might have left us unequal, but intergration did us few real favors. At least then we were self sufficient, and had more pride.
Now folks are up in arms ’cause a Black judge took Black folks off front street, and put us in a room for a quick pow wow. Folks are up in arms ’cause if the negroes get to talking amongst ourselves we might do something wonderful and revolutionary. Some of us might not only stop looking ignorant, but also stop being ignorant.
Can’t have that!
Judge Judy gets 15mil….dang!
I actually DON’T think Judge Judy is rude or racist - have you seen the IDIOTS that come in her courtroom? You can tell as soon as you see the STUPID looks on their faces! You can see by how they lean on the podium and she has to tell them to stand up straight! You can tell by the non-professional attire they wear to court! And, you can tell by their lack of mastery of the English language! (*Ahem - “looken” is not a word - try LOOKING*)
She is just as hard on whites as she is on blacks & hispanics - and so is Judge Joe Brown. She threw a white lady out of her courtroom on a show recently because the woman kept interrupting and had a bad attitude. Judge Joe Brown is known for giving out administrative assessments for people who are rude or talk back in his court. Judy’s only rude and hard on people who either aren’t smart enough or mature enough to be in the situations that they’re in - like co-signing on a car loan to a deadbeat, bailing a lazy fool with no means of income out of jail, buying someone a cell phone that isn’t mature enough to handle the bill or control their usage, or allowing a boyfriend/girlfriend to use their credit card - ALL THINGS YOU SHOULD NEVER DO.