Racism and classism in the justice system: The price to pay for a quality education

On March 12, 2019, “Operation Varsity Blues” AKA the college admissions scandal became public. It became more prominent in March of this year when its 51 participants began their trials. Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin were some of the more notable people involved in the scandal. Both actresses were sentenced to under three months for crimes that boast sentences of up to 30 years... Why?

Felicity Huffman paid $15,000 to have her daughter Sophia Grace Macy’s SAT test scores changed. After this was revealed, Huffman was tried for conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud. She was found guilty on both counts, the standard sentence for this is 20 years and a $250,000 fine. Her sentence was 2 weeks. She served 11 days. She paid a $30,000 fine and is required to complete 250 hours of community service. In a letter to the court, Huffman wrote: "In my desperation to be a good mother I talked myself into believing that all I was doing was giving my daughter a fair shot," Huffman said in the three-page letter. "I see the irony in that statement now because what I have done is the opposite of fair. I have broken the law, deceived the educational community, betrayed my daughter, and failed my family." Her daughter is currently enrolled in Carnegie Mellon University’s theatre program. 

Lori Loughlin and her husband, Mossimo Giannulli paid $500,000 to have their daughter, Olivia Jade accepted into USC. They created fake profiles for their daughters to appear as recruits on the rowing team. The two pled not guilty to conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, however, they were both found guilty. Lori received two months in prison, two years of supervised release, 100 hours of community service, and a $150,000 fine. "I went along with a plan to give my daughters an unfair advantage in the college admissions process," Loughlin said during her virtual sentencing hearing. "In doing so I ignored my intuition and allowed myself to be swayed from my moral compass. I thought I was acting out of love for my children. But in reality, it only undermined and diminished my daughters' abilities and accomplishments." She said she now understood that her decision helped exacerbate existing inequalities in society "While I wish I could go back and do things differently, I can only take responsibility and move forward," she said as her voice cracked and she began to cry. "I am truly, profoundly and deeply sorry," she said, using both hands to wipe tears from her face. "I'm ready to face the consequences and make amends." - CNN

Her husband, Mossimo, received 5 months. "I deeply regret the harm that my actions have caused my daughters, my wife, and others," Giannulli said during his virtual sentencing hearing. "I take full responsibility for my conduct. I'm ready to accept the consequences and move forward with the lessons I've learned from this experience." - CNN

During the hearings Friday, US District Judge Nathaniel Gorton addressed both defendants, telling Loughlin that he believed her statement was sincere but pointed to what he described as her "fairy-tale life."

"Yet you stand before me a convicted felon, and for what? For the inexplicable desire to grab more," Gorton said. "To have whatever prestige and instant gratification that comes from being able to show off the admission of your daughters to a preferred university." Earlier in the day, Gorton told Giannulli that he "certainly did know better."  "You were not stealing bread to feed your family," Gorton said. "You have no excuse for your crime. And that makes it all the more blameworthy."- CNN

In a video she posted on her youtube channel, their daughter, Olivia Jade said this about attending USC: “"I don't know how much of school I'm going to attend, but I'm going to go in and talk to my deans and everyone and hope that I can try to balance it all," she said. "But I do want the experience of game days, partying — I don't really care about school, as you guys all know." She later apologized. "Before I went to college I was super naive and ignorant and dumb. I was like I’m not going to college because I want an education. I'm going to meet people and be social and party. That's literally the dumbest thing you could say, especially when I have the opportunity to have such a good education."

"It's not that I don't show the education part because I don't care, because now that I'm here it's actually really interesting and I love it. And that's why I'm still here." She is no longer enrolled in the university.

Tanya McDowell was arrested in 2011 after enrolling her then 5-year-old son, Andrew, into the wrong school district.  McDowell, who was homeless and splitting her days and nights between living in a Bridgeport apartment with a friend and a Norwalk homeless shelter, had used the address of her son’s babysitter to enroll him in the Norwalk public school system as a kindergartener, Refinery 29 reports. Authorities determined that McDowell was living in Bridgeport, and arrested her for first-degree larceny, she told Norwalk newspaper, The Hour in 2017. - Oxygen

They told McDowell at the time that she was being arrested for stealing an education.

McDowell received a 12-year suspended sentence for the drug charge, with five years probation, but was allowed to serve both sentences concurrently. She went on to serve a total of three years behind bars. When she was released, she still had to serve three years of probation and was ordered to pay the city of Norwalk around $6,500 in back tuition.

“I would still do it all over again because I haven’t been let down,” she said in one of the first interviews after her release. “My son exceeded all of my expectations.” 

After she was arrested, McDowell’s son lived with her mother and attended school in the Bridgeport school system, where he made the honor roll.- Oxygen

See the problem? For the sake of remaining unbiased, I won’t excuse the drug charge however, the stark difference in the two cases is astonishing. A wealthy White woman pays 500,000 dollars to bribe her daughter into a college and is sentenced to two months in prison. A homeless black woman falsified her address to ensure that her son had access to better education and she was sentenced to 5 years. Only one of them was accused of “stealing an education” 

What McDowell did was illegal, but she shouldn't have needed to do it at all. In the United States, all children have the right to a free public education no matter their race, ethnic background, religion, sex, or even legal citizenship. 

Something that is listed as a right, is becoming exclusive to those who can afford it. Why are children with well known and very wealthy parents more entitled to a quality education than a child from a low-income family? The public school system has a lot of work to do, but so does the justice system. No matter how wealthy or influential someone is, they deserve the same treatment as those from a less affluent background. Wealthy white women are bribing colleges meanwhile lower-income families have to break the law just to ensure their children can attend a public school.

Access to education is right, irrespective of money or status. Treat it as such.

“I’m not only doing it for Andrew, I’m doing it for any other parent, any other child out there that has the potential to exceed and excel at a certain level and is just being deprived, period.”-Tanya McDowell

As always,

Stay funky, spunky, spicy, and hydrated

- Elliott☆