WASHINGTON CO., Ore. (Portland Tribune) — A Washington County prosecutor’s internet post defending racial profiling has some local defense attorneys concerned. Deputy District Attorney Zoe Smith is “on board” with “the anti-politically correct movement to support Trump,” Smith wrote recently on her Facebook page. She added, “If you’re looking for a terrorist, look at a young Muslim male. If you’re looking for a gang shooter, look for a young black guy. If you’re looking for a child molester or a mass shooter, look for a white guy. That’s just common sense.”
In this hypersensitive day and age, where every word and thought can be and often is parsed to the nth degree, it astonishes me that a public official would use a social media account to endorse racial profiling.
Zoe Smith may be a princess of the first order and the finest deputy DA to ever grace the Washington County prosecutor’s office with their presence. She may even be God’s gift to the legal profession. What she doesn’t have is a filter when it comes to her social media presence. For someone in a less public position, Smith’s Facebook post might be passed off as gratuitously offensive and astonishingly ignorant. Even though the privacy level on her Facebook account is set to “private,” she clearly hasn’t grasped the reality that nothing is ever truly private on the Internet. In this case, someone did a screen capture, began circulating it…and there went any pretense of “privacy.”
Asked to comment on the posting, Oregon Criminal Defense Lawyers Association President Edward Kroll shared a letter he sent Sunday to Washington County District Attorney Robert Hermann.
“When a member of your office publicly voices that racial profiling is ‘just common sense,’ frankly, it is terrifying,” Kroll wrote. “Given Washington County’s diversity and future growth potential, I trust this is not a message that your office would support.”
In an email, Hermann wrote, “The Washington County District Attorney’s Office in no way supports any message or opinion that “racial profiling” is appropriate, makes “common sense” or has a place in our Criminal Justice system. Our obligation has been and always will be to insure that our Criminal Justice system treats all victims, defendants and witnesses fairly and justly. Any messaging to the contrary erodes the public’s confidence in all the good work so many people do.
The reaction to Smith’s posting has been swift and in some cases justifiably furious. There are people demanding her resignation, which is a question I’ll leave to those inclined to address it. The people of Washington County and her superiors in the prosecutor’s office will no doubt address that issue, so I’ll leave it to them.
What I find particularly concerning is Ms. Smith’s “apology,” which is a verbal dance around the need to accept responsibility for her words and the offense caused by them.
“I want everyone to know that the comment was intended to further an ongoing political discussion and to make a point. It was not meant to be taken literally or as a comment on what I do for a living,” she wrote.
“For those who know me, you know that I am open-minded and a pragmatist. I usually want to cut to the chase and find a solution. My point was first and foremost that we are all in this together. Every group of people has their stars and those they’d rather disclaim. My point was only, lets acknowledge that and then move on. We don’t have to believe every stereo-type but sometimes they can help frame the issue.
“One of my favorite quotes is by Chimamanga Ngozi Adich, an author,” Smith added. “She explains, ‘The problem with stereo-types is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete.’ That’s how I feel. To ignore race, or education, or background is un-productive. Acknowledge it and move on to a solution that works for us all.
“I hope this helps give some context to my point. I have always tried very hard to give everyone I interact with a fair shake. This was purely an intellectual discussion, not a play-book for law enforcement.”
Nowhere in Smith’s torrent of words is there even a hint of an apology for advocating the use of racial profiling. Perhaps she doesn’t feel that wrote she wrote was wrong or should be considered offensive, but the fact remains that she’s a public servant who wrote something in a personal capacity that may well call her objectivity and willingness to serve all citizens without consideration of race, creed, or color into question. Even if she truly believes what she wrote, why would she want to broadcast it on Facebook?
There’s a very easy solution available to Ms. Smith: just apologize. She should own up to your mistake, acknowledge the offense she’s caused, and ask for forgiveness. She wasted a couple hundred perfectly good words dancing around the need to do what should be patently obvious. If she can’t see her way to doing that, perhaps she shouldn’t be in the prosecutor’s office. Perhaps she lacks the objectivity and generosity of spirit to look past her own opinions and prejudices and recognize that she’s responsible for dispassionately enforcing the rule of law and pursuing justice on behalf of the people of Washington County.
Zoe Smith may be the finest, most capable and professional attorney to ever hang a J.D. behind her name, but she certainly has a tone-deaf manner when it comes to handling mistakes she’s made. Despite what she may believe, White still doesn’t make right…and sometimes the best the thing you can do is to own up to your mistakes and promise to do better.
