The Lynch Mob

Many moons ago, when I was a lowly college student at the University of Michigan-Flint, I found myself installed on the student body's version of a court as a judge. In truth, this was no small feat, considering that I was a middle-class white kid on an urban college campus where 'diversity' was one of the watchwords of the day. There were 5 of us on the panel, and some years, we didn't do anything, but had all the perks of being a member of student government.

Then came "the dispute". The student government president, himself a middle-class white guy, with a rapier wit, and likable way, had had enough of one government member's constant flouting of the attendance requirements, and decided to convene a hearing to review the member's attendance records and determine if he should be removed.

There was only one problem. The member was a "person of color".

Within a day, other members of the august body, in collusion with other interests that are typically quick to condemn "the man" and had swooped into action. Before long, there were flyers all over school advertising the hearing. "Come see racism in action" they proclaimed, the inplication of course being that the five, of which I was one, were racists, and that the member's removal was certain. Pressure continued to build over the coming week.

When the evening of the hearing had arrived, I walked into packed meeting room that no longer even had standing room. Campus security people were very visible throughout of the room. We had a protracted discussion with the Dean of Student Services about whether we should hold the hearing, since we were a member shy. We decided to go ahead, and entered the hearing room. There were a lot of people present, staring at us, and not politiely, either. Then a funny thing happened. As the hearing progressed, it became clear that the member's attendance record was very bad. We also discovered that the member was one absence shy of triggering the hearing...the President had jumped the gun. There were still angry people, but most of the anger was directed toward the member himself, with a little reserved for the President. Many were upset at the poor standard of representation that the member had set. More than a few expressed the opinion to me afterward that it had been a waste of my time. End result? The "people" came to the right conclusions, the member resigned, the Pres was exonerated, and there was a newfound respect for the process. This kind of experience is why I haven't decided to write this country off yet, despite the pettiness, bickering, freightening levels of selfishness, combined with repeated and escalating acts against our own best interests. And some days I have to remember this.