Eddie Glaude: Manafort Sentence Reflects ‘that White People Matter More than Others’

EXCERPT:

GLAUDE: "Or we can even bring it closer home. Remember Congressman Jefferson from Louisiana. Judge Ellis gave him 13 years, the same judge in this case gave him 13 years. Look, the sentencing gap reflects what I call the value gap. Underneath the sentencing gap, just as underneath the empathy gap and the wealth gap is the value gap. And the value gap is the belief that white people matter more than others, particularly white people with money matter more than others. And to the extent that that is true, no matter what the inputs are, outputs would be the same. And in addition to that reality being affirmed and confirmed, what we see with this decision I think is a deepening of the erosion of trust. We’ve already experienced in the country broadly kind of an erosion of trust because Donald Trump lies daily. So the executive branch is looked upon with suspicion. There is an erosion of trust with regards to the legislative branch because of the hyper-partisanship that defines the legislative branch, even as the Democrats have taken over. And now we have here the judicial branch. We thought that holding the line. And so here you have people all around the country wondering how is it possible that Manafort could get 47 months with nine months served. It suggests that something is cooked, that something is fundamentally wrong."