When I was wrongfully suspended from the practice of law in 1990 for refusing to assist New York in its investigation of my client, Tawana Brawley, and the prosecution of my other client, Al Sharpton, in two indictments involving 70 counts, it follows that the New York Police Department can engage in racial profiling and the assassination of young Black men with impunity.
The tragedy though is that Blacks in New York would start knocking on the wrong doors, talking to the wrong people and asking the wrong questions. Gullible Blacks are being misled by high-profile preachers and politicians. Mayor Michael Bloomberg is paying the tab.
This is a classic case of the blind leading the blind and it was exported to Jena, La., in 2007.There will be no relief in sight until Blacks get on the right track and demand legal and political representation. Lawyers run this country. Any group without competent and zealous lawyers is located at the bottom rung of the political ladder.
American jurisprudence has an on/off switch, and Dred Scott is still in effect. Stated differently, the law is outcome determinative. Moreover, the outcome of a case is dependent on race. Capital punishment proves this point. The race of the victim determines the sentence. For example, John White of Suffolk County used a gun on his own property to protect his Black family against a white lynch mob. White is headed to prison. Joe Horn of Texas fatally shot two Black trespassers in the back on an absent neighbor’s property. Horn, who is white, was never charged with a crime. Alexander Hamilton Garland, a white attorney, was unable to swear under the Test Act of 1865 that he had never given aid and comfort to the Confederate States of America. President Andrew Johnson pardoned him and he became a U.S. attorney general. President Bill Clinton pardoned Bill Borders in 2001 for felonious acts in United States v. Alcee Hastings. Borders is still fighting for reinstatement to practice law in the District of Columbia. Bush 41 pardoned Eliot Abrams for his conviction in the Iran-Contra affair. The District of Columbia allowed him to continue practicing law.
Garland was subject to a “nation of laws.” The pardon power of a president under Article II, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution extends to “Offenses against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.” Borders, on the other hand, is subject to a “nation of men”: “no Negro has any rights that whites are bound to respect.”
Mychal Bell, a member of the “Jena 6,”was successfully prosecuted in adult court after he had already been successfully prosecuted in juvenile court in Jena, La. Bell was unable to secure an attorney to defend his constitutional rights. This is the status of an unpopular defendant.
In the meantime, the four white assassins of Amadou Diallo were acquitted in state court, and the U.S. Justice Department has refused to prosecute them for federal civil rights violations. It might violate their right to double jeopardy, especially when the perpetrators are white and the victim is Black. White men are repeating history while most Black leaders are sitting on the fence. John Menard, in 1868,was the first Black person elected to Congress. Whites arbitrarily denied him his seat. One hundred and forty years later, whites are once again refusing to seat Roland Burris, the junior U.S. senator from Illinois. Whites want a white woman to replace President-elect Barack Hussein Obama in the U.S.Senate. Apartheid continues.
Against this backdrop, I argued the appeal in Maddox v. Prudenti et. al before a panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on Aug.8,2008.This appeal not only was outcome-determinative but also involved a Black attorney who had sacrificed his career for the benefit of Blacks. Knowing the modus operandi of the judicial system, I stated publicly that the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals would wait until Christmas Eve to render its decision in Maddox v. Prudenti et. al. Historic dates and holidays are very important to whites in delivering an ominous message to a descendant of enslaved Africans.
The decision would actually coincide with the 2008 Christmas Eve massacre in Covine, Calif. Dressed as Santa Claus, Bruce Jeffrey Pardo walked into a party, killing at least six persons and setting the house on fire with an accelerant. Others were shot. This was obviously a premeditated scheme to harm his recently divorced wife.
The Clerk’s Office of the Court informed my office by telephone on Dec. 23 that I could pick up a “summary order” on Christmas Eve. A summary order means that it only applies to a perceived enemy combatant or an alien, and it will not enjoy the benefits of stare decisis or has any precedential value. I refused to participate in this star-chamber by undermining the spiritual meaning of Christmas. The intent was for me to become depressed at the federal courthouse on Christmas Eve. Instead, the decision would have to be mailed to me in Brooklyn. I received it on Dec.30.
In fighting white supremacy, you must have a headquarters. I was out of town during the holidays. If my home had been my headquarters, I would have never received the mail until Jan. 4, 2009. By law, I had to file a petition for rehearing by Jan. 6 if I had been served personally. As it happened, I had to spend my trip in a Georgia law library.
I had modeled my complaint on Hachamovitch v. DeBruno 159 F.3d 687 (2nd. Cir. 1998). The Federal Appeals Court in Manhattan had ruled that a white doctor could sue New York for reinstatement to practice medicine. Dr. Moshe Hachamovitch had been suspended from the practice of medicine. Today, the doctor is back in business in the Bronx. Hachamovitch had engaged in serious professional misconduct, including the death of a female from a botched abortion, and several damage awards involving medical malpractice were accorded to his patients.
Hachamovitch had complained that New York had refused to reopen a closed, disciplinary case based on newly discovered evidence. He sought to clear his name. This is also my claim.
Maddox v.Prudenti et. al is identical factually to Hachamovitch v. DeBruno, except that I am a suspended Black attorney. Both cases should have had the same result. Chief Judge Dennis Jacobs, inter alia, wrote both decisions. While Hachamovitch was accused of serious professional misconduct, including the death of a female, I was accused of refusing to violate the attorney client-privilege.
In other words, I refused to serve as a junior prosecutor in People v.Al Sharpton. Obviously, this was a capital offense under the slave code. My selfless decision not only led to Sharpton’s acquittal on a 67-count indictment, but it kept Sharpton from possibly testifying against Don King in a plea bargain agreement. If you also believe that apartheid has no place in the judicial system and that freedom of expression is a human right and should be enshrined in this column despite judicial opposition, you should write to me, Alton Maddox, 16 Court Street, Ste. 1901, Brooklyn, N.Y. for further instructions. The next generation of Blacks should not have to suffer these abuses.
Jan. 10–UAM Kwanzaa Breakfast, Cotton Club, 656 West 125th Street in Harlem 8:30 a.m.-11:30 a.m. Call UAM at (718) 834-9034 for further information. Jan.11–Great Harlem Debate: “The Bible: Is It Good for Black People?” Salem United Methodist Church, 211 West 129th Street in Harlem at 3 p.m. Jan. 14–UAM weekly forum will occur at 7:30 p.m. at the Elks Plaza, 1068 Harriet Tubman (Fulton Street) near Classon Avenue in Brooklyn. Take the “C” train to Franklin Avenue. Jan. 17–UAM Membership Dance, Cotton Club, 656 West 125th Street in Harlem at 9 p.m. Supporters of the 2009 Freedom Retreat for Boys and Girls are encouraged to support this endeavor. See: www.reinstatealtonmaddox.net for “Roller Coaster Ride for Blacks” and “Critical Lessons in Black History.”
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