We cannot equate the personal accomplishments of an individual with rampant racism of this country’s institutions and the injustices they reap on our communities. Davis is in a long and sorrowful line of Black men who have faced the injustices of our criminal justice system. What is sadder is that this is yet another example where a person of color who has a measure of power refuses to use it to make a difference. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, who comes from the same county in Georgia that Davis is from, refuses to step in to stop this miscarriage of justice. Barack Obama is for the death penalty, the very law that will unjustly kill Troy Davis, and I haven’t heard the brother utter one word on this case.

Yes, both men are working within the dictates of a broader system of white domination, but they sure as hell don’t seem to be doing much to resist it. In fact, in Thomas’ case, he’s totally down with the program. And Obama, like too many others like him who are climbing the social ladder, has personal and political expediency as an excuse. Politics and the forces of racism trumps diversity, trumps class and trumps justice again. I am angered to tears.