Can’t make this up, folks.
You know Alabama? The state that ranks #47th in education but still found the time to ban CRT from its curricula? Well, a judge recently got canned over events that could have easily been avoided if he were a little more aware of how racism can shape public policy and law.
Mr. John Randall “Randy” Jinks of Talladega County, Alabama (Yes, that Talladega), is a former judge who was removed from his post as judge by the Alabama Court of the Judiciary after clear and convincing evidence of his casual racism surfaced. Join me in secondhand embarrassment and read what sound like Will Ferrell SNL bits that would have got him cancelled:
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• Jinks asked an attorney, in the presence of a probate office employee, whether he knew about an acronym for a racial epithet involving the N-word. The lawyer stopped Jinks, telling him, “Whoa, I don’t think we need to go there or you need to go there,” according to trial testimony.
• Jinks questioned the only Black employee in probate court about his new Mercedes. “I’m the judge, and I can’t even afford a Mercedes. What you doing, selling drugs?” Jinks asked.
• Jinks was recorded in the workplace saying protesters have to quit burning things down because they “will need something to burn down after Trump gets elected to a second term, sons of b- – – -es.”
The complaint is much worse, and I am choosing to laugh about him having a hissy fit over a lost sandwich instead of dreading how many other Randys cloak their racism in judicial robes each and every day. The good news is that we may be at a turning point that makes it harder to paint judges like Randy as accidents. A survey of 635 judges last year suggested that about 65% of them think that racism plays a role in how our judicial system operates. Maybe Mr. Jinks’s situation can bring some awareness to the current problem. Who knows, he might even be able to get his money up and grab a Mercedes after some reflection.
Say it with me now: 1, 2, 3, “Damn it Randy!”
Judge Ousted Partly For Racial Comments; He Once Asked Black Employee Whether He Dealt Drugs To Buy Car [ABA Journal]
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Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s. Before that, he wrote columns for an online magazine named The Muse Collaborative under the pen name Knehmo. He endured the great state of Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who cannot swim, a published author on critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at [email protected] and by tweet at @WritesForRent.