Jack B. Johnson is the chief executive for Prince George’s County, Maryland. He was as influential there as former Mayor Marion Barry was in Washington, DC.
That is, until the FBI caught him and his wife flushing $100k down the toilet 11 days ago.
Prince George’s executive Jack Johnson and wife arrested
Prince George’s is the wealthiest Black county in America. It represents a dream fulfilled. One in which Blacks no longer have to move into white neighborhoods to live the American dream.
Johnson’s arrest risks turning that dream into a nightmare. His wife was elected to the county’s governing council only weeks ago. That makes this still-unfolding scandal all the more dismaying. Here in part is how the Washington Post reported their arrest on November 12:
Two FBI agents were at the front door of their two-story brick colonial in Mitchellville.
‘Don’t answer it,’ the county executive said. … ‘Do you want me to put it down the toilet?’ Leslie Johnson asked. ‘Yes, flush that,’ the county executive said. ‘
But what about the cash?’ she asked – $79,600. ‘Put it in your underwear,’ the county executive told his wife. She replied, ‘I have it in my bra’ – which is where agents discovered the money after she answered the door.
Yes, these greedy nincompoops didn’t even suspect FBI agents were recording them. In fact, they got ensnared in a four-year investigation. The main targets were corrupt developers who were bribing public officials.
And they weren’t the only prominent Blacks who got ensnared. Because Johnson granted government contracts to and took kickbacks from many of them.
Of course, they are presumed innocent. But the shame is such that you’d be hard-pressed to find a single Black willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.
This is especially so in Prince George’s. Because Blacks in this county are notoriously proud. In fact, they take umbrage when people refer to it as PG instead of Prince George’s. Because they hate alliterative association with poor and marginalized Blacks in DC.
Prince George’s Executive Jack Johnson causing racial shame
But there’s no living down the shame of Johnson’s wife flushing $100k down the toilet. Which is why this arrest will live in infamy. This, just like the arrest that featured DC’s Barry on tape smoking crack will.
The racial angle or symmetry between these two FBI arrests is unavoidable. And most Blacks would admit feeling shame when each became national news.
Of course, we felt pride when America elected Barack Obama the first Black president. But we also felt apprehension.
It stemmed from the same racial pathology that made us feel shame about these arrests. And it was about Obama’s presidency being a failure. Because then America would not elect another Black president for another 232 years.
There’s no denying the shame we feel when any Black is implicated in a notorious crime. But the shame is almost fatalistic when that Black person is famous; you know like O.j. Simpson, Michael Jackson, or, to a lesser degree, Jack Johnson.
The only time the media shows up in Prince George’s County is for something negative. There was never any balance. We have the lowest crime rate in 35 years right now. Have you seen any banner headlines on that?
(The Washington Post, November 12, 2010)
That was Johnson’s press secretary. But there’s no spinning flushing $100k down the toilet in a shameful attempt to avoid arrest. Moreover, his spin will do little to assuage the shame of Black folks. And it will do even less to mitigate the criminal charges Johnson faces.
It’s self-evident that cases like these inflict collective shame among Black folks. They also show how far we have to go to overcome the legacy of racism in America.
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