I agree with The Columbian Editorial Board (“In Our View: District Court Judge Zimmerman should resign,” The Columbian, March 16) and many others that Judge Zimmerman must resign or be removed. To accomplish its important purposes our justice system must, at minimum, operate fairly and impartially. The derision and contempt Judge Zimmerman expressed for Kevin Peterson Jr. and his father reveals attitudes and bias that shatter confidence in his ability to rule fairly regarding our Black neighbors.
Greg Jayne’s excellent column (“Call out bias in judicial system,” The Columbian, March 21) highlights that inherent biases, even expressed in private can be “just as damaging and insidious as blatant racism” in our public institutions. A compassionate line in County Councilor Temple Lentz’s statement points to damage at the personal level: “The wound from Judge Zimmerman’s comments is like so many other wounds people of color in Clark County have to bear every single day.”
To my fellow white people: let’s not use the privilege Mr. Jayne describes to add to this accumulation of wounds. With humility and empathy, let’s admit that even our private expressions of derision and contempt for our neighbors of color directly or indirectly give permission for public harm. Instead, let’s celebrate their strength, resilience and full humanity.
