Being Black in America, in one paragraph: A white utilities and building clerk pleaded no contest to 22 counts of theft in Chagrin Falls, Ohio, after she stole more than $20,000 a year for more than 20 years from village residents who paid their water bills in cash. She was sentenced on Aug. 2 to two years of probation and spared any jail time, according to Cleveland.com. Meanwhile, a Black former school secretary with a gambling addiction and mental health issues, according to her attorney, was sentenced in the same court one day later earlier to 18 months in jail for stealing some $40,000 from Maple Heights High School students’ class dues in 2017 and 2018.
Assistant Cuyahoga County Prosecutor James Gutierrez initially requested a nine-to-12-month prison sentence in Karla Hopkins' case, but Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Judge Rick Bell told Hopkins, a Black woman, that when she liquidated her pension, it prevented the state from recouping the money. “She stole from kids, your honor,” Gutierrez said. “I have no idea why she did that.”
Her attorney Bret Jordan explained that Hopkins' addiction drove her to steal, and that she has received eight weeks of inpatient treatment and signed up for a job development program as part of a new job she was slated to start on Tuesday, Cleveland.com reported. She even gave Jordan $5,000 to start repaying her debt, the attorney said. Hopkins wasn’t given the opportunity to correct her actions, and was sentenced on Aug. 3. “I want to pay the Maple Heights city students back,” she told the judge before her fate was decided. “I’m so sorry to Maple Heights City Schools for not living up to the trust that they entrusted in me. I had a lot of friends there. I’m so sorry to them all.”
The judge told Hopkins: “I understand and am grateful you’re going on a journey to better yourself, but I think even your pastor would agree there has to be some consequence for your actions.”
Debbie Bosworth, a white woman, was able to avoid harsher consequences for what The Root writer Michael Harriot classified as the same crime. She was sentenced to probation on Aug. 2 by Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Judge Hollie Gallagher for embezzling more than five times the amount of Hopkins’ theft. Bosworth stole almost $250,000, Cleveland.com reported.
Assistant Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Edward Brydle pushed for Bosworth to be sent to prison, reading a letter from Chagrin Falls Mayor William Tomko, who wrote that her actions caused a "tremendous loss of trust." “Paying back the money you stole, losing your pension and bringing shame on you and your family are natural consequences of her crimes,” Brydle said. “None of those things are actual punishments for her crimes."
Her sentence, however, should come as no surprise to anyone even partially paying attention to how the criminal justice system works in America.
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“And in the history of America, there isn’t one documented case of a “Hollie” sending a “Debbie” to prison (yes, we actually checked),” Harriot wrote. “So, Gallagher, citing the fact that Bosworth paid back some of the money she stole, sentenced her fellow white woman to two years probation, much to the chagrin of Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O’Malley, who issued a statement saying he found the sentence ‘to be unacceptable in that he believes public employees who steal from taxpayers should go to prison.’”
Not when they’re white, O’Malley. Not when they’re white.
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Assistant Cuyahoga County Prosecutor James Gutierrez initially requested a nine-to-12-month prison sentence in Karla Hopkins' case, but Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Judge Rick Bell told Hopkins, a Black woman, that when she liquidated her pension, it prevented the state from recouping the money. “She stole from kids, your honor,” Gutierrez said. “I have no idea why she did that.”
Her attorney Bret Jordan explained that Hopkins' addiction drove her to steal, and that she has received eight weeks of inpatient treatment and signed up for a job development program as part of a new job she was slated to start on Tuesday, Cleveland.com reported. She even gave Jordan $5,000 to start repaying her debt, the attorney said. Hopkins wasn’t given the opportunity to correct her actions, and was sentenced on Aug. 3. “I want to pay the Maple Heights city students back,” she told the judge before her fate was decided. “I’m so sorry to Maple Heights City Schools for not living up to the trust that they entrusted in me. I had a lot of friends there. I’m so sorry to them all.”
The judge told Hopkins: “I understand and am grateful you’re going on a journey to better yourself, but I think even your pastor would agree there has to be some consequence for your actions.”
Debbie Bosworth, a white woman, was able to avoid harsher consequences for what The Root writer Michael Harriot classified as the same crime. She was sentenced to probation on Aug. 2 by Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Judge Hollie Gallagher for embezzling more than five times the amount of Hopkins’ theft. Bosworth stole almost $250,000, Cleveland.com reported.
Assistant Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Edward Brydle pushed for Bosworth to be sent to prison, reading a letter from Chagrin Falls Mayor William Tomko, who wrote that her actions caused a "tremendous loss of trust." “Paying back the money you stole, losing your pension and bringing shame on you and your family are natural consequences of her crimes,” Brydle said. “None of those things are actual punishments for her crimes."
Her sentence, however, should come as no surprise to anyone even partially paying attention to how the criminal justice system works in America.
YouTube Video
“And in the history of America, there isn’t one documented case of a “Hollie” sending a “Debbie” to prison (yes, we actually checked),” Harriot wrote. “So, Gallagher, citing the fact that Bosworth paid back some of the money she stole, sentenced her fellow white woman to two years probation, much to the chagrin of Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O’Malley, who issued a statement saying he found the sentence ‘to be unacceptable in that he believes public employees who steal from taxpayers should go to prison.’”
Not when they’re white, O’Malley. Not when they’re white.
RELATED: Why does Derek Chauvin deserve leniency but not Gwen Levi?
RELATED: 'Do you speak English?' Minnesota cops add insult to injury when they brutalize journalists of color
RELATED: Here's a rundown of the double standards between Trump's domestic terrorism and the BLM movement