299 votes. That was the difference between the candidates in Alabama’s Bessemer Cutoff D.A. election. The margin was so narrow it triggered an automatic recount, but late last week it became official: Lynneice Washington will be the first African-American woman to be elected as a district attorney in Alabama.
As reported by AL.com, Washington was gracious in victory and had this to say:
“I feel honored that the people in the Bessemer Cutoff had enough confidence in me to be the chief law enforcement officer in the cutoff,” Washington said.
“This is a historic moment,” Washington added, recognizing she is set to become the first African American woman to become a district attorney in Alabama.
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This historic election for Alabama comes after a study was released last year that revealed 95% of elected prosecutors were white, and only 1% are women of color. And while the disparate representation in the legal profession isn’t helping the issue, the ABA puts the legal profession at 88% white, so there are other issues involved. The demographics of who is charged with running the legal justice system has a profound impact on justice, as reported by NPR:
“The group of people who are really the managers of the criminal justice system in America are concentrated among one demographic group: white men,” said Brenda Choresi Carter of the Reflective Democracy Campaign, who led the study.
That demographic, she said, “really just does not have the kinds of life experiences that most of the population has. If you’re a person of color, you know what it is to be treated with suspicion from a policing perspective.”
She added that male prosecutors could, for example, see and handle cases related to pregnancy, abortion rights, sexual harassment and domestic violence differently than cases.
While Washington’s victory isn’t going to lead to radical changes overnight, in a world that cannot secure a conviction when a cop shoots an unarmed, fleeing man in the back 5 times, we’ll take the small victories we can get.
Recount: Lynneice Washington set to become first black woman D.A. in Alabama history [AL.com]
Does It Matter That 95 Percent Of Elected Prosecutors Are White? [NPR]