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“No I’m not staying this. The wheels of justice turn slowly but sometimes the hammer of justice has to fall and it is falling right now. I’m not staying this. This is happening right here, right now.”
                     – Justice James Linn

The black gay actor Jussie Smollett will be going to jail and also paying a hefty fine for staging a hate crime hoax.

When Smollett’s account of what he says transpired first came to America’s attention, he garnered much support from politicians, actors, the press and those in the racial discrimination industry.

They couldn’t have conceived that  it was all staged and that Smollett was fanning racial tensions and looking to denigrate the MAGA movement. It was all “poor Jussie”.

Now it turns out it was a hoax and it has left the likes of Black Lives Matter, Jesse Jackson, Kamala Harris, Don Lemon, Joy Reid, and Reverend Al Sharpton all embarrassed.

They were all defending the undefendable.

Smollett still strenuously maintains that he was abused but still cannot corroborate what he says took place. It has now been unveiled that he was familiar with his so-called assailants and even engaged in sexual acts with one of them.

In the culture wars of today, race can be weaponised and it is a contentious subject that people rather circumnavigate for fear of retribution coming down upon them.

As the scholar Thomas Sowell calls them, the “race hustlers” are making the most of this time, just like the carpet baggers did after the civil war in America. Jussie Smollett was supposed to be their poster boy, but all he has done is left them with a lot of egg on their face.

After being sentenced, Smollet still invoked race and then went into a rant about not being suicidal. He showed no contrition or embarrassment for his terrible act.

Remaining defiant till the end, he shouted: “Your Honour, I respect you and I respect the jury, but I did not do this. And I am not suicidal. If anything happens to me when I go in there, I did not do it to myself. And you must all know that.”

Is Jussie Smollett acting or is he telling the truth?

What he is now is inmate #20220310140 in Cook County jail and it will be a long road back for him.

His outburst in court seem to irk Justice James Linn who shot back: “There’s a side of you that has this arrogance, selfishness and narcissism that’s just disgraceful.

“You’re not a victim of a racial hate crime, you’re not a victim of a homophobic hate crime. You’re just a charlatan pretending to be a victim of a hate crime and that’s shameful.”

Linn wasn’t talking directly to Smollett here but to all those who seek to profit from race and sexual orientation strife. Rather than look to ameliorate and find sound solutions there are many that are looking to antagonise and inflame this malady that has plagued America for centuries.

Donald Trump, the subject of much opprobrium, was right when he said “the Smollett case was a disgrace to our nation”.

Thomas Sowell has observed that “the people who are playing the race card at every turn because the people who are hurting most from that are the blacks themselves”.

Do we want to foster a society where hate prevails? Where colour and sexual preference matter more than character

Justice James Linn’s remarks before pronouncing judgment were revealing as they were Godlike in their condemnation. It clearly left no room to doubt that machinations of this order must be punished.

“Your very name has become an advert for lying and I can’t imagine what can be worse than that.”

Justice James Linn speaking about Jussie Smollett

It should have given Smollett cause for self-examination and to ponder the damage he has wreaked.

“The damage you have done to yourself is way beyond anything else that can happen to you from me or any other judge that can be sentencing you in the criminal case. You are now a permanently convicted felon. You have to live with the fact you put your family through a ringer. You embarrassed your friends in high places, public officials, people in the media – you have to live with that… . I don’t know if those relationships can be repaired.

“You have become toxic in your own workplace. Your career future is uncertain at the very best. It was on a rocket ship to success and now you have turned yourself from riches to rags and it is so unfortunate. Your very name has become an advert for lying and I can’t imagine what can be worse than that.

“People talk about a situation for someone who is lying and trying to manipulate and maneuver a story and your name comes up – Oh pulling a Jussie or something like that. That is awful. You are the butt of jokes. Comedians, mainstream talk show hosts ,they make jokes about you, they do sketches about you – I can’t imagine anything worse than that. This was all self-inflicted, these are things you did to yourself, this is self-damage.

“Some people may think what you did to yourself was funny and that there is some humour and joke about it, but I assure you the court does not. I don’t think there’s anything funny at all about hoaxing and faking racial hate crimes. I think that is disgraceful. There is no humour about what you did, whatsoever. All because you are selfish, arrogant, narcissistic – at least you have that side to you that came out through this case and you kept doubling down. It’s not funny at all.

“So where are we at? We are at the end. You are convicted of a Class 4 felony.

“Your performance on the witness stand, which can be best described as pure perjury. Somehow you strayed away from your family values, you let that dark, narcissistic, selfish and arrogant side come out and you persisted with it for years and so I am fashioning you the following sentence.”

Lights out, Jussie