Debito reports on a court case about a Nigerian, UC Valentine, being denied of medical treatment after police abuse in 2003. Consequently, his leg injury became so medically traumatized that it required complex hospital operations. The case was put on court in 2005 but a testimony of an African was rejected because of his race and the case was dismissed early this year. An appeal has been put forward to High court and tomorrow (July 17) is the first hearing.
Written byOiwan Lam
2 comments
Repeating what I said at Debito’s blog: Before expressing your outrage, PLEASE take a close look at what the court actually said in their opinion.
They discounted the testimony of an African witness who was friends with the African plaintiff within the African community in Tokyo. That’s rejecting testimony for its bias and has nothing to do with race. If my good friend is a party to a trial, the court shouldn’t take what I say about him as gospel, no matter what color we happen to be.
If this happened in the US, the judge would probably know better than to mention race in the opinion at all. As it is, one might infer racism from this opinion even though it really isn’t there. Bias toward the police and against doctors, yes. But not racism.
Being black myself even i have an understanding of the misinterpretation, of the court’s intentions. Although it may have stated in the wrong mannerism, which appeared racist, the context of the statement remains true.
The testimony of a victim’s friend can only be accepted; as to say, “yes I saw the event take place” and no more. Simply because a victim’s friend can make an incident appear more vicious then all actuality.
And so, It would be best to take a testimony from a witness who does not benefit from either parties victor.