“The easiest answer is that my past convictions still
legally impact me to this day,” he wrote, “…my prior record can potentially be
the basis to deny me a concessionaire’s license in California and elsewhere.” (Wahlberg is in the restaurant business with
a brother.)
In addition, he wrote, “I have become close with many
members of the local law enforcement community in Boston and Los Angeles,
including as a member of the board of directors of the L.A. County Sheriff’s
Youth Foundation, which is dedicated to helping at-risk youth. But, given my prior record, Massachusetts and
California law prohibit me from actually obtaining positions in law
enforcement. If I were fortunate enough to
receive a pardon, I would have the ability to become more active in law
enforcement activities, including those that assist at-risk individuals.”
Then Wahlberg got to the heart of the matter.
“The more complex answer is that receiving a pardon would be
a formal recognition that I am not the same person that I was on the night of
April 8, 1988,” his petition states. “It
would be a formal recognition that someone like me can receive official public redemption if he devotes
himself to personal improvement and a life of good works. My hope is that, if I receive a pardon,
troubled youths will see this as an inspiration and motivation that they too
can turn their lives around and be formally accepted back into society. It would also be an important capstone to the
lessons that I try to teach my own children on a daily basis.”
As a 16-year-old, Wahlberg was the protagonist in a very
ugly incident on Dorchester Avenue on that April night more than 26 years ago. According
to police reports at the time, Wahlberg came upon a man, an immigrant from
Vietnam, who had just purchased two cases of beer. He proceeded to beat the man with a stick,
demean him with racially tinged insults, and take the beer. Wahlberg was arrested as he tried to run off but
not before he assaulted another Vietnamese immigrant who had apparently come to
the aid of the first man or just got in the way somehow.
Wahlberg was found guilty of assault and battery, assault
and battery with a dangerous weapon, and possession of a Class D controlled
substance, marijuana. He received a
three-month jail sentence but got out after serving half of it, 45 days.In his petition for a pardon, Wahlberg, now 43, wrote that he was “deeply sorry” for his actions that night and “for any lasting damage that I may have caused the victims.”
He added, “Since that time, I have dedicated myself to
becoming a better person and citizen so that I can be a role model to my
children and others.” (Wahlberg and his
wife are the parents of four children.)
Given Wahlberg’s status as a movie star and celebrity, and given
the aspect of racial bias in the case, it is not surprising that his attempt at a
pardon has generated a ton of news coverage and commentary. Nor is it surprising that many people have
reacted negatively to the idea of pardoning a wealthy big shot for such
objectionable crimes, even if they did occur almost three decades ago when he
was a street punk under the influence of illegal narcotics. (Wahlberg was said to have been a user of
cocaine at that time.)
The TPM web site offered a good sample of the anti-pardon sentiment
in an opinion piece by Fitchburg State University professor Ben Railton, which
was posted this past Monday, Dec. 8: “Mark Wahlberg’s Ill-Timed Pardon Bid Is
the Epitome of White Privilege.” See http://talkingpointsmemo.com/cafe/mark-wahlberg-pardon-request-white-privilege
“For so many Americans,” Railton wrote, “especially
Asian-Americans, Latinos, black women, and most of all, black men, a criminal
record permanently impacts their professional and personal futures. A criminal conviction – indeed, even a simple
arrest – can reduce their options in every part of their lives, from employment
to travel to child custody to voting. Wahlberg
claims his record has denied him certain recent opportunities. Maybe so.
But his record clearly didn’t stop him from making millions and becoming
famous.”
Railton also wrote: “Many Americans might prefer to erase
the histories of white crime and violence from our collective memories, just as
Wahlberg now requests that his own history of violence towards people of color
be legally erased. This ability – to write
history the way we choose, regardless of the facts – is a frightening example of
white privilege. Until we make these
histories a fuller part of our understanding of our shared American identity,
our sense of ourselves will be as partial as a bio of Wahlberg without his
teenage crimes.”
Gubernatorial pardons are as rare in Massachusetts as a July
4th weekend with light traffic on the Sagamore Bridge. The last one was granted in 2002 by then
Acting Governor Jane Swift.
Pardon requests move slowly through the system, guaranteeing
that Charlie Baker and not Deval Patrick will be the one with the final say on
Wahlberg’s petition. The other day,
Baker answered a query on Wahlberg from the State House News Service by saying,
“He should go through the process just like everybody else and on the facts of
the case. If it’s up to me to make a
decision, I’ll make it at the time.”
At some distant point in 2015, after the process has run its
course and the public has witnessed every step of it, I hope Baker will pardon Wahlberg.
I say that because Wahlberg has owned up to his
responsibility for his crimes and has repeatedly offered apologies to the
victims and expressed sorrow for his shameful actions. I also say that because Wahlberg has donated
millions of his hard-earned dollars to charities and supports worthy causes
left and right.
But mainly I say it because:
One, Wahlberg had the courage and decency to seek a
pardon knowing full well that request would attract world-wide attention -- and
knowing it would serve to inform millions of his fans of his crimes, persons
who would not otherwise have ever taken note of those crimes; and
Two, Forgiveness has to become a bigger part of our justice
system.
Human beings do change and reform themselves. They do turn their lives around.
Isn’t that, ultimately, what we want our justice system to
produce: reformed human beings?
Pardons from a governor recognize successful reformation
projects. Thereby, pardons help to encourage those who truly aspire to reform themselves, and
who stay reformed.
I mean no disrespect for Deval Patrick when I express the hope
that Charlie Baker will not be as stingy with pardons as Patrick has been.
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