“I was privy to an online conversation a week ago in which several Black men were making an argument that Black people have not been effectively impacted by institutional racism. While they made valid points in their assertion that Blacks have some culpability in arriving at our current state, their primary declaration that White Supremacy Racism is an illusion and it is weak-minded Blacks who fall for the idea of racism was completely unfounded and does not correspond with the current reality in the United States and beyond. 

The truth is that institutional racism can be detected in even the most subtle systematic functions in this country — from the micro-aggressions that almost every Black person experiences on an almost daily basis to situations that are revealed in this particular story of detective Louis Scarcella. Scarcella is a disgraced New York City police detective who has been proven to coerce confessions from defendants and coerce witness testimony for starters. 

What Scarcella has done is only a microcosm of a much larger reality for Blacks and other groups who are not in a position to effectively defend themselves against false allegations. For instance, an entire police squad in Dothan, Alabama planted drugs on Black males for more than 20 years, affecting thousands of cases. The same thing happened in Philadelphia and Chicago. In Texas, Sandra Bland ultimate died after a rogue police officer decided to turn a minor traffic stop into an arrestable offense. 

Police corruption is only one way that racism supports the marginalization and mistreatment of Blacks and other groups rendered impotent through the means of socially engineered poverty. We see it in our banking system through discriminatory and predatory lending. We see it in the job market where Blacks are screened by name, geography, educational background and more. Practices that are viewed as hostile can also be observed in the educational system on every level. 

While I am a firm believer in the philosophy that supports confronting the enemy within is the best place to start in building the power to overcome obstacles, ignoring the presence of those obstacles is not wise. 

Serial forced displacement is another nefarious act precipitated through racial profiling and leading to a weakening of the Black race, as well as serving as a direct influence on the decline in health among Blacks. I have written about this in depth. Everything from redlining, urban renewal, benign neglect, and gentrification have all serve to effectively disburse the Black collective in the most hostile of way. 

One thing is certain, those at the helm of this system will not willingly reverse the aggression and assist in the healing and empowerment of Blacks in this country — that is something that we will have to do for ourselves.” Rick Wallace, Ph.D., Psy.D.

Get your signed copy of Born in Captivity: Psychopathology as a Legacy of Slavery

Shawn Williams walked out of prison Friday and looked with the eyes of an innocent man straight into the best weekend he’s had in more than two decades.

“Today is a great victory,” Williams said as he fought back tears in Brooklyn Supreme Court, shortly before he stepped outside and into freedom. “For over 20 years I’ve fought a long battle. My childhood friend was murdered, and I was framed.”

The past five years were especially tough for the 41-year-old Brooklyn man as his lawyers worked to overturn his murder conviction — which was based largely on the work of disgraced NYPD Det. Louis Scarcella. With hard-edged hope and a couple of dedicated lawyers on his side, Williams on Friday finally heard the words he’s been waiting for, and more. The prosecution agreed to toss his conviction and will not retry him.

Last year, Brooklyn prosecutors agreed to conduct a hearing for a judge to determine if Williams got a fair trial in 1994. A jury found Williams, then 17, guilty of shooting Marvin Mason in the head on Eastern Parkway in July 1993.

The sole eyewitness, Margaret Smith-Leddy, recanted her testimony in 2009 and signed an affidavit in 2015 for the consideration of the Brooklyn district attorney’s Conviction Review Unit.

Smith-Leddy “who is ill, did not want to cooperate any longer and is unavailable for a hearing,” a prosecutor said told Justice Sharen Hudson on Friday. The prosecutor alerted the judge that since Smith-Leddy, 63, was the only witness in the case, there is no case and the DA’s office did not object to vacating Williams’ conviction.

Smith-Leddy could not be reached for comment.

“The people will not go forward with retrying this case. This indictment is dismissed. We will do some paperwork and then you are free to go,” Hudson told Williams as members of the audience gave a standing ovation.

Williams’ attorneys, Victor Hou and Sam Hershey, worked feverishly for five years to clear their client’s name.

“He’s never stopped professing his innocence. He had hope from day one that the truth is on his side,” Hershey said as his voice cracked. “We are overwhelmed with joy.”

According to court documents, Scarcella and Stephen Chmil were the lead detectives who pressured Smith-Leddy to say Williams was the shooter — despite having viewed the scene from her sixth-floor apartment.

The shooter was described as being 5-foot 2. Williams is over 6 feet tall.

Smith-Leddy relocated to Georgia from Brooklyn to escape the officers’ coercion, but they tracked her down and held her in custody as a material witness until she testified, said Hou.

That now-scorned method, practiced under former District Attorney Charles Hynes, came to be known as a “Hotel Hynes” tactic.

Prosecutors from the Brooklyn appeals bureau wrote in court documents that they did not find any misconduct on behalf of Scarcella or Chmil in Williams’ case.

Since 2014, the CRU has overturned convictions for 14 people. Nine are linked to Scarcella, including one in which prosecutors cite his name. Williams is the fifth person to be exonerated in a case Scarella is accused of tainting.

The CRU still has 30 more Scarcella-related cases to review.

“How can he get away with this?” asked Williams’ brother Rodney, 53, outside of court. “My baby brother was 17 when he was taken away from his family all these years and for what?”

Williams was greeted by emotional family and friends outside of the Downtown Brooklyn courthouse and was all smiles as he exited the building. But he’s still not done.