Never scared...nervous maybe....but scared, NEVER!

I'm back, thanks for checking for me Creole and others. Duty called and I had to put in some major work to make sure we stay in business. I own a newspaper and a radio program and every once in a while I have to put myself on punishment to get all of my work done. But I'm out of the corner...here's something I was working on before my departure....

Because I write and talk for a living I think that I have been deliberately random and vague here. But that ends today. I still need to vent now and again and so since my blog is pretty unknown and rarely read, I'll go a little more in depth this time.

Those of you who haven't had the pleasure of meeting Sister P in person don't know that I am sooooo opinionated and often find myself in verbal sparring matches with those who are ill-equipped to be in the ring.

More often though, people talk about me behind my back because it's easier than facing me or they are feeling people out to see if they can get away with their attempt at character assassination.

Without getting too personal...I don't just "run" a newspaper...I own it.

I covered a story about where I felt some young men were being prosecuted to fullest extent of the law just to make an example out of them (see page 2 of this paper)

Because of this fact I really can't stand our local prosecuting attorney.

Well, you may have read how excited I was about jury duty. I got called for what could be a 2 day trial and I'm too hyped. They begin asking us all of these elimination type questions and one is, "Who knows the prosecutor?" I don't "know" him other than professionally but wanted to make it known, so I asked to approach the bench.

What I told the judge was this, "I don't like "bald headed midget prosecutor" and I know he's not personally trying the case, but if he comes in here I may get distracted because he over charges Black people and also I'm on his email list and get sent links to his innappropriate, unprofessional website."

Because I approached the bench, they put white noise on so no one could hear me except the judge and attorneys. It wasn't a shocker that I didn't get picked for the jury but here's the KICKER!

The head of the local Human Rights Commission comes up to me a couple of weeks later and says, "I heard how you got out of jury duty!" I say "WHAT????" He says that "bald headed midget prosecutor" told him about what I said.

Hubby says don't sweat it but I'm fuming and now paraniod that he's going to try and get me.

Well about a week later, I run into "bald headed midget prosecutor" and ask him how this person heard what I said. He says that he heard the tape and mentioned it to "few people". For what??? He says, "I can do that."

I know that he was testing the waters to see who would have my back if he came after me. But I know all the Black folks and you just wouldn't want to mess with the owner of the Black paper, I could devote pages to discrediting you.

I won't tell you exactly what I said to him so I can deny it if ever called to testify in my own defense, LOL, but I will say that I let him know that Yvonne didn't raise no punks and Sister P ain't neva' scared.

No better service to your community...

As I mentioned before I was so excited to be contacted about jury duty. Because of the lack of justice in so many areas including the legal system, I am excited when I get to really make a difference. I think jury duty is especially critical for Black people to take seriously because this is a time when your experiences and judgment are respected.

I don't consider myself a "conspiracy theorist" but there is a heck of a lot of stuff that I question. Knowing me, you know that this experience couldn't go off without a hitch.

As I was reading all the materials that came in the mail I realized that in my county (or State?) you serve for a calendar month. So after the first day of orientation you call in each night to see if you are due to come in to be considered for a trial. I have waited 20 years for this and today was my first day. Here's how it went...

8:30 a.m. Orientation- I'm in this room of about 300 people. I was surprised with how many Black people I saw. Mostly there were Black men!!! (This is great since so many defendants will probably be Black men.) After roll call the judge comes in and explains that some of us will get to be on the grand jury for June. I wanted to jump up and say, "Please pick me!!!" In case you don't know, the prosecutors present their reasons for wanting to put a person on trial then the grand jury decides if there is enough to indict the person or if the person can go free and not be charged. It was a random selection of 12 jurors and 3 alternates. We are called by number and not name so I guess it is pretty random. The first man called was Black. Then another Black man. Then me and the Black guy next to me started smiling. Some white people who were called said that they had conflicts, so they called another number and by the end of it 6 of 12 were Black and one of the alternates was too. I think there were only 5 women too. We joked that this was going to someone's lucky month to get that many Blacks on one grand jury. (Not that we all think alike, but you sure have better odds of someone being suspicious, oops, I mean, critical of the information presented when they are Black). It was looking to good to be true. Then before we took a break and the grand jury was escorted out, the prosecutor asked to approach the bench. When we came back from break, someone mysteriously had a conflict and they had to select another person. She was a white woman. This is "mysterious" since they gave us the dates and the chance to opt out of the grand jury 3 times before they were sworn it. I think the prosecutor didn't like the make up and pulled someone.

I'll let you know what happens next, but of course I can't discuss my cases. Just my experiences.

Have you ever been on a jury?

This year marks 20 years of being a registered voter and this is the FIRST time I have EVER gotten a jury duty notice. I am sooooooooo excited. I hope I get selected for a jury. I'll keep you posted on how this goes, I report on May 31st.