Bragg. Alvin Bragg. Remember That Name
Issue #624 The Choice, Monday, June 3, 2024
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Hardly anyone believed him. Some snickered, others shook their heads in disbelief that he would even think he had a chance at what he was attempting to do. Others disparaged him for not attempting to do it sooner. And even among those who thought he possibly, maybe might be successful in what he said he planned to do, they fretted that his case was weak and therefore wouldn’t be of much consequence even if it went the distance.
He is Alvin Bragg. He is the Manhattan District Attorney. He is Manhattan’s first Black District Attorney. And he is he who was once mocked but now parts the waters, even as he says simply, “I did my job.”
For the record? Just doing his job embodied constructing and designing the perfect, airtight, waterproof, failsafe case that could not afford to fail in its mission to convict a former President of the United States on 34 charges related to election interference.
Alvin Bragg did not fail. As a matter of fact he superseded all expectations, right up to the date - May 30, 2024 - when the 34 guilty verdicts were read out loud in a Manhattan courtroom to a shocked audience and nation. Because right up to that moment, even those who had begun to realize that gee, maybe this case was kind of a big deal after all, were fairly certain that the best Alvin Bragg could hope for was a conviction on some but not all of the charges. And probably not even on most of them. More than likely the herculean efforts of Bragg and his legal team would result in a hung jury, they thought, because surely there would be a Trump supporter (or two or three) in the jury who would toss sand in the gears of justice on behalf of their Orange Lord. Or at least someone too intimidated by the prospect of convicting a former President of the United States.
So why bother? Is the question all inquiring roads seemed to lead back to. What realistic chance did Bragg have of succeeding with a case that even his predecessor, Cyrus Vance, not exactly an unknown without much respect in legal and political circles, had decided to pass on?
Which is why Alvin Bragg had to be perfect. And which is something that most Black people at Bragg’s level of professional accomplishment and achievement are accustomed to, but that most white people will never understand; when you are that Black (raised in Harlem), and that accomplished (Harvard Law School), you had damned sure better be perfect at what you do if you want to receive any credit whatsoever - and to shield yourself from destruction.
Black perfection is not an option if you want to succeed at a high level in America. Not opinion. Facts.
President Obama was the perfect Black man with the perfect Black family. Had to be. Only the perfect Black man could have been elected as the first Black president. Not even the Perfect Black Woman would have survived the cut. Consider that Fani Willis is somewhere between 98-99 percent perfect due to one single, meritless ludicrous accusation, and the haters are setting fire to her name and reputation as we speak. Because almost perfect won’t do, which is not to say Sister Willis may not yet prevail, because I think she will. But My God the cost.
Alvin Bragg.
You were perfect when you had to be, because you had to be.
Remember that name.
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