Tuesday, September 20, 2011

NAACP Proves Diversity by Giving Scholarship to White Convicted Murderer


By: Kirsten West Savali, Your Black World

Tulane Law Student Bruce Reilly Exposed as Convicted Murderer


The NAACP has been attempting to re-brand it's image as of late; instead of being seen strictly as an organization giving voice to the concerns of the African-American community, they have admirably positioned themselves to be speak for all disenfranchised and marginalized people of color in our society.



Apparently, the best way to drive that point home is to give a convicted murderer---who happens to be white---a scholarship to the prestigious Tulane University School of Law

The violent criminal background of Bruce Reilly, 38, was exposed by legal blog, Above The Law, last week.

In 1992, Reilly was found guilty of murder for stabbing and bludgeoning to death Emerson College professor Charles A. Russell in Rhode Island --- allegedly he "flipped out" after being invited to the professor's house to smoke marijuana and engage in oral sex, according to a source in 1993.

During his incarceration, Reilly became a passionate human rights advocate and screenwriter, and states that he was completely upfront when applying for admittance into Tulane:

"By the time I apply to a state or federal bar, my last criminal activity will be as a teenager, and over two decades passed. I will be presenting a model case for rehabilitation, an impressive resume, and a substantial list of esteemed supporters," Reilly wrote in a letter to Above the Law. "I have found that a majority of our society believes in forgiveness and second chances, and all I can do is keep doing what I'm doing."

Though students have voiced concerns that he may become violent again when faced with the daily stress of law school --- and disbelief that as school loans skyrocket and competition for scholarships becomes even more strenuous, a convicted murderer passed muster when so many others fail --- Tulane's dean stands by his decision:

"We evaluate each law school applicant as an individual, taking into account all available information bearing on their character, life story and academic qualifications," said Dean David Myer in a statement. "Our admission process also allows for exceptional circumstances if the prospective student's experience and background will contribute to his and his peers' study and appreciation of various aspects of the law."

The NAACP has yet to release a statement.

In addition to the scholarship from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Reilly also received a Dean's Merit Scholarship.

Many advocates will say that Reilly has served his debt to society and should be allowed to re-enter freely and succeed on his merits, not fail because of his past --- and they would be correct; however, when you factor in the glaringly obvious standards by which a white ex-con in the United States of America is held next to his Black counter-part, many will find it nauseating that a white man who freely admits to cold-blooded murder at the age of 20 is becoming the face of fairness and justice while Troy Davis --- and others like him --- face imminent execution for murders when no evidence even exists that they're guilty, in fact, it points to the contrary.

Maybe Tulane feels that now is an appropriate time to conduct a pseudo-scientific study gauging law students' reactions to having a murderer in their midst, forcing them to come to grips with their own prejudices and biases, subsequently enabling them to approach the law from a more holistic, brutally honest perspective --- I don't.

Reilly holds no illusions about his notoriety, and is open about his regret even as he benefits from his heinous crime:

"In some ways I deserve this. I brought this on myself," he told The Times-Picayune. "For the last 19 years, I've had to come to grips every day with the terrible thing I've done. I took a man's life. How can I possibly brush that off, or make up for it?"

I have no idea how you'll "make up for it," Mr. Reilly---that's between you and your conscience---, but the NAACP is apparently going to help you pay for it.

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Kirsten West Savali is a Senior Editor and writer at Your Black World. You can connect with her on Facebook and Follow her on Twitter: @KWestSavali



6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Exactly, one of the many reasons I why I have nothing to do with the NAACP, puppets

Kazembe said...

This angers me to no end. Sadly, though, it's what I've come to expect from the NAACP.

It is, after all, the National Association for the Advancement of CERTAIN People.

This is the same organization that awarded the Confederate flag wearing/waving Kid Rock
an NAACP Image Award. Kid Rock is (and has been) a Confederate. He hoists gigantic
confederate flags at all of his concerts... yet... the colored people who run NAACP sees
no contradiction with this.

So... based on that (and other incidents) I am no longer shocked over the insanity
committed by the NAACP.

The story you sent makes me reflect on the high recidivism rate of Black men. It also
makes me think about Mumia, Troy Davis, Geronimo Pratt, and the thousands
of Black who are wrongly convicted or wrongly incarcerated by the white supremacy
system of criminals injustice. These Brothers and Sisters never live down the stigma
of incarceration and their lives are forever destroyed.

Yet... a so-called Black organization sees fit to not only bring a white murderer into their
institutional embrace... but they go so far as to pay for his college education.

We live in a sick, twisted age of extreme backwardness and psychic violence.

The inmates are running the asylum.

Kazembe

Anonymous said...

I am appalled, incensed and I want to use a few four-letter words right now, but I won't. I'm a college student and it's been impossible for me to get the local NAACP to answer the phone, let alone offer me a scholarship.If the NAACP want's to change their image, start with the image their own community has of them. This is a slap in the face, pure and simple. There is NOTHING the NAACP can tell me to justify this decision. I have no respect for them. The founding fathers of the NAACP are spinning in their graves, this is NOT what they in mind. We are selling out left and right and going backwards instead of forward in our fight for education, equality and humanity.

Anonymous said...

NAACP = national advancement for COLORED people. Giving a scholarship to a convicted white murder has to be a COMPLETE JOKE played on the black community. I mean, the head of the NAACP must have lost a bet with a white racist, and the only form of payment, is to empower the very type of person who compelled those early NAACP pioneers. With all of the black makes dropping our of high school, the unemployment rate of blacks some 18%, college tuition rising a staggering 6% year by year since 2000... WTF. A WHITE GUY.... WHAT THA F&*K

Anonymous said...

NAACP = national advancement for COLORED people. Giving a scholarship to a convicted white murder has to be a COMPLETE JOKE played on the black community. I mean, the head of the NAACP must have lost a bet with a white racist, and the only form of payment, is to empower the very type of person who compelled those early NAACP pioneers. With all of the black makes dropping our of high school, the unemployment rate of blacks some 18%, college tuition rising a staggering 6% year by year since 2000... WTF. A WHITE GUY.... WHAT THA F&*K

satsang said...

I agree. This does not prove diversity. This proves how co-opted the NAACP has become. It is a sterile and useless organization.