Free At Last, Stay Away From White Girls

After a four year long nightmare that ruined a good kid's chances at a great life, the Georgia Supreme Court decided that Genarlow Wilson had enough and freed him today. The original crime - letting a girl blow him who turned out to be 15 and just happened to be on camera. Because for some reason, in 1995 the Georgia legislature decided that oral sex was the work of the devil and should be a felony even between kids of the same age (unlike sexual intercourse). Hmm, I wonder who inspired that law...

Worse, the august Georgia Legislature changed the law to make such acts only a misdeamenor, largely in response to the bruhaha over Wilson. Yet, for some reason they did not make the law retroactive even though they had the option to do so. Thanks to an over aggressive Attorney General, this kept Wilson in prison and the State Supreme Court upheld his conviction and sentence of 10 YEARS.

Finally, a Monroe County judge agreed that all this was bullshit - and that 12 months was long enought to stay in prison for getting head. The Attorney General stepped in again and appealed to the Supreme Court - who agreed that the sentence was completely ridiculous.

I know this is the Bible Belt, and I know more about the Bible Belt than anyone - but you don't see kids from Alpharetta High facing hard time for getting their dick wet. If she wasn't white, if it wasn't on videotape, it wouldn't be an issue. And that's the saddest thing of all. At least Wilson is free.

Ten Years For This?

Georgia is fucked up for a lot of reasons... Attorney General Thubert Baker has shown another reason yesterday. Most sane people agree that getting brain from a 15 year old is not that big a deal when you are 17. Certainly, angry fathers should have some recourse besides a shotgun - but no one thinks 10 years is appropriate anymore. Of course, when the 17 year old boy, Genarlow Wilson, is black, and the fifteen year old girl is white - the tempature down here changes. Maybe that is why the General Assembly elected not to make its new law decriminalizing (rather the oral sex is now a misdeamenor vs. a felony) this act retroactive.

Thankfully, a Superior Court judge came to his senses and allowed Wilson to appeal and reduced his sentence to timed served, with no requirement to join the sex offenders list. Two years for a hummer is bad enough (he was acquited on the drunken sex with another girl), although Baker disagrees. Even though Baker is black, the racial issue still looms. Why try to keep this kid in jail? It was all consensual, and the legislature agreed that the law he was tried under was wrong.

I can't help but identify with him. I'm black, and I remember the cute girl who used to give handjobs in the stacks at the High School library back home. The difference is that my parents and my uncles would have murdered me if I ever got caught messing around with her. Hell, my mom would have been able to tell by looking if I had just a little too much fun at school that day. There was no "boys will be boys" attitude in my home.

Attorney General Baker, Wilson may have been wrong, but two years hard time is more than enough compensation for his indiscretions.