Principalities & Powersrnby Samuel FrancisrnVictims of Blunt Force TraumarnEven before the end of the trial of LosrnAngeles police officer Mark Fuhrman forrnthe crime of white racism, the percentagernof black Americans who believedrnthat Officer Fuhrman’s most celebratedrnvictim was innocent had risen from 60rnpercent before the trial to a whopping 78rnpercent by the time the prosecution rested.rnIt is never easy to find 78 percent ofrnany large group in the United States thatrnagrees on much of anything, and the proportionrnof blacks who believe O.J. Simpsonrndid not commit the murders ofrnwhich he was accused is exceeded perhapsrnonly by the percentage who thinkrnthe landing on the moon is merely whiternracial propaganda. Whatever the otherrndifferences between the two main racesrnof the country and their cultures, nothingrnin recent memory exposes the profoundrnperceptual gulfs that divide themrnmore than the protracted and preposterousrncircus in Los Angeles that raised tornstardom such obscurities as Judge Ito,rnMareia Clark, Johnnie Cochran and arnthrong of semi-educated technical expertsrnwho proved incapable of explainingrnthe esoteriea of their craft to a bewilderedrncourt.rnIn the last few years, the American judicialrnsystem has become almost asrnmuch of a joke as the United StatesrnCongress. The courts have become notoriousrnfor magistrates who shamelesslyrninject their own prejudices and opinionsrninto the cold majesty of the law, permitrnruthless criminals to bargain their way tornfreedom, and impose the most draeonianrnpunishments on citizens who haverncommitted at worst only minor legal infractions.rnBut juries are not much better,rnespecially when a ease before them isrneven remotely colored by racial issues. Itrnis now commonplace for black jurors tornannounce after a trial that they voted tornacquit black defendants plainly guilty ofrnserious felonies just because they didn’trnwant to see any more young black malesrngo to jail, and the almost universal cynicismrnamong whites that Mr. Simpsonrnwould be acquitted or get a hung juryrnsuggests that few citizens any longer expectrnthe courts to provide real justice inrnany case involving race. The ease withrnwhich the Simpson defense team succeededrnin making Officer Fuhrman’srnsupposed racial epithets the main issuernin the trial betrays the degree to whichrnracial right-think rather than any commitmentrnto justice is now the prevalentrnconcern of the court system.rnThe foolishness of the Simpson trialrninevitably recalls the judicial destructionrnof the white police officers who subduedrnRodney King in 1991, but the fate ofrnthose white men at the hands of a criminalrnjustice system rigged against whites isrnnow largely forgotten. Yet those officersrnat least received a reasonably fair verdictrnin their first trial before the federalrnleviathan waddled in to make their ruinrncertain in their second, constitutionallyrnrepugnant, and politically mandated tribunal.rnBut what happened to Sgt.rnStacey Koon and his colleagues looks likernthe justice of Solomon compared tornwhat befell two Detroit policemen in thernepisode now known as the “MalicernGreen ease.”rnLike any case involving white policemenrnand a supposed black victim, thisrnone made national news for a brief whilernin 1993, not least because it looked likernyet another chance to whack the whiternpower structure for its “institutionalrnracism” and because it seemed to be arnpossible sequel to the merry yarn of thernillustrious Rodney. But there were clearrndifferences between the Green case andrnthat of the “black motorist” of Los Angeles,rnhi the former, there was no videotapernto be distorted for the misinformationrnof the public on national television,rnand there were no riots to display thern”rage” and wounded self-esteem that thernspectacle of four law officers wieldingrntheir truncheons against a strapping,rndrunken, and uncontrollably violentrncriminal helped produce in Los Angeles.rnHence, the Malice Green case as a nationalrnstory withered rather quickly, andrnhad it not done so, the patent miscarriagesrnof justice against the white copsrnmight well have produced riots of arnrather different hue. Yet the full storyrnhas never, as far as I know, attracted thernslightest attention from the media.rnOn the night of November 5, 1992,rntwo Detroit police officers named LarryrnNcvers and Walter Budzyn approached arnparked car in the nether parts of Detroit,rnthe same area where race riots erupted inrn1967. The ear they approached resembledrnone reported stolen earlier, and itrnwas stopped outside a building they sayrnwas known to be a crack house. As theyrnreached the ear, they realized it was notrnthe stolen vehicle, but they did recognizernone of its occupants as a person with arnrecord of drug violations. Officer Ncversrnasked the other gentleman, a 35-year-oldrnblack male with a history of petty criminalrncharges named Malice Green, forrnidentification.rnGreen, accompanied by OfficerrnBudzyn, walked to the other side of therncar, and Ncvers soon heard sounds ofrnscuffling. According to the officers’ laterrnaccount. Green was holding somethingrnin his fist that he refused to release.rnBudzyn yelled that he was holding drugs,rnand both officers had to struggle withrnhim. Green kicked Ncvers in the chest,rnand Nevcrs, who says Green tried to seizernthe handgun at the officer’s side, struckrnGreen several times with his flashlight.rnWhat eventually fell out of Green’srnhand was a rock of crack cocaine.rnDuring the struggle, an emergencyrnmedical vehicle happened to pass by,rnand several other officers were requiredrnbefore Green could be completely subdued.rnBy that time unconscious, he wasrnplaced in the ambulance and taken to arnlocal hospital. By the time the ambulancernreached the emergency room, MalicernGreen was dead on arrival. Within arnfew hours it became clear that the careers,rnif not the lives, of the two officersrnwho had tried to bring him in were alsorndefunct.rnNeither the Detroit police departmentrnnor the city’s political leaders lostrnany time in deciding what had happenedrnand what would happen. Within 18rnhours, the precinct commander brayedrnthat “They murdered this man for nornother reason than the fact that he wasrnblack,” and Detroit police chief StanleyrnKnox proclaimed at a press conferencernthat “This is not Simi Valley, and we willrnconvict here.” Simi Valley was the locationrnof the first trial of the four Los Angelesrnpolicemen in the Rodney King easernin which they were mostly acquitted. Atrnthe time Chief Knox uttered thisrnthought, there had been no criminalrncharges filed and no completed investi-rn8/CHRONICLESrnrnrn