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shaquanda cotton case at forefront of texas juvenile investigations

Young Black Professional Guide The New Civil Rights Movementthe support for shaquanda cotton in the last few weeks has been overwhelming. in fact, the story has triggered massive articles in thousands of blogs across the world and has highlighted the problems within the texas youth commission that has been plagued with corruption for years.

ybpguide received an email from howard witt, the journalist who wrote the original chicago tribune article, tipping us off that a new story about the state’s juvenile system would be published in tuesday morning’s chicago tribune and that shaquanda’s case will soon be reviewed by a special panel. here is the original email (links are paraphrased).

Greetings. I know you have blogged about the Shaquanda Cotton case so I wanted to call your attention to a significant new development in the case, which is contained in a story that is now available on the front-page of chicagotribune.com and will be published on the front page of the paper on Tuesday. Essentially this story says that Shaquanda’s sentence will soon be reviewed by a special state panel with an eye toward possibly freeing her.

I have also written an article about the huge response to this story in the blogging world that you may be interested in referencing.

In case you can’t find the new stories easily, here are links directly to them: here and here.

Regards,

Howard Witt
Southwest Bureau Chief
Chicago Tribune
Houston, TX

the first article highlights that the texas juvenile system, often known as the texas youth commission, has been a corrupt system entrapping young people for years. in addition to numerous felony and misdemeanor charges as well as sexual abuse associated to the staff, a minor becomes trapped when a judge in their case lays down an ‘indeterminate sentence’ for their crime, such as what happend with shaquanda cotton. this same staff has the authority to determine how long that sentence will be and can use their power to manipulate the juveniles. since shaquanda’s case has been so high profile, mr. witt highlighted that she remains in juvenile detention because of a contraband violation administered by the staff. what was the violation? she had an extra pair of socks.

some of our commenters mentioned that ’shaquanda should just admit she was wrong’. this has also been a contingent for shaquanda’s release, but what those aligning with this sentiment fail to realize is that doing so would completely undermine her appeals. these appeals are her only legal way of getting out of the system. this entrapment philosophy in addition to the sexual abuse claims are why the commission and all of its cases are being investigated.

of particular interest to me in mr. witt’s second article, a personal letter, was his quote:

I had no idea, for example, of the extent of the African-American blogging world out there and its collective powers of dissemination. But now, after reading thousands of anguished, thoughtful comments posted on these blogs reflecting on issues of persistent racial discrimination in the nation’s schools and courtrooms, what’s clear to me is that there’s a new, “virtual” civil rights movement out there on the Internet that can reach more people in a few hours than all the protest marches, sit-ins and boycotts of the 1950s and 60s put together.

what a statement!

thank you to all who found our story, mr. witt’s story, and all of the other stories out there and contacted shaquanda, governor rick perry, and their friends and family to show the world how powerful our community, especially those who read the young black professional guide, really is.

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