In a case that
illuminates the failings of the so-called justice system, a woman
named Theresa Culpepper was imprisoned for 53 days due to mistaken
identity. The Atlanta woman had called police to report that her
truck had been stolen, only to be arrested for assault when the
police showed up.
The mistake was found when the accuser told police
that they had the wrong woman. The only similarities between her and
the woman who had been accused of the assault were having the same
first name and being African-American. Her lawyer does not think it
was just an innocent mistake.
According to her lawyer, “I just don’t think in another side of
town this would have ever happened.” In the capitalist racist
justice system, being Black and from the wrong neighborhood
can mean going to jail. It is time to stand up against the
institutional racism in our so-called justice system.
