What Can African Americans Learn from the Amanda Knox Trial?

I wish I had a nickel for every person who has come up to me recently and asked why there have been so many stories about the Amanda Knox murder trial and why a crime that took place in Perugia, Italy has been given such a high profile, here in America. I don't know about you, but I'm getting really tired of watching that same tape of her being led into and out of the courtroom, with that slight, eerie smile on her face.

At the same time, there actually are lessons for us, in this “Knox-obsession,” no matter how unintended they may have been.

The first, in my opinion, is that, even in this post-racial era, with so many black Americans routinely engaging in international travel, there's the lesson that we should “stay on our toes,” if we travel to Italy --and "sleep with one eye open" in almost any other country.

The second, and perhaps most important lesson, of course, is that in the eyes of Western courts and media, the life of a black man still doesn't seem to be worth very much, in relative terms.

Before we get too far into all of that, let me point out that I’m not anti-Italian. I think Italians are fine people, with a rich and glorious cultural history. Add that to the fact that, over a very long period of time, Italian people constituted the dominant Eurocentric power on earth – and you pretty much have to respect most things Italian.

What I don’t respect is what recently happened to a guy named Patrick Diya Lumumba, a transplanted resident of Perugia Italy, who was born in the Congo. Mr. Lumumba, you might recall, was a former businessowner in Perugia, who was falsely accused of murdering Ms. Knox’s British roommate, on November 1, 2007.

The trial has received “Tiger Woods” kind of coverage in Europe and in most Western media outlets, including here in the U.S.

In fact, when the proceedings began early this year, 86 media outlets sent 140 journalists to cover the story. Italian newspapers following the trial began referring to Knox, the 22 year-old co-defendant in the murder trial from Seattle, Washington, as “Foxy Knoxy.” She was even featured on the cover of People Magazine.

As if that wasn't already enough, Ms. Knox was voted “top woman” in an online “Person of the Year” poll by an Italian television channel, receiving more support than Carla Bruni, the Italian-born, French First Lady. One media account said, “The case has given Knox almost pop star status.”

Not bad for a woman who had been charged with repeatedly stabbing her roommate in the neck until she died, and who almost certainly, but very sloppily, tried to shift the blame for the murder to the very innocent African, Mr. Lumumba.

When asked who had committed the murder that took place in her own apartment, with a knife that carried her fingerprints, “Foxy Knoxy,” reportedly scrolled down a list of names on her cell phone and blurted out, when she came across Lumumba’s name, “It was him, it was him, he was crazy, he killed her.”

Largely on the strength of that statement, Mr. Lumumba was promptly arrested and charged with the murder of Amanda Knox’s roommate, Meredith Kercher, a university student from Surrey, in the United Kingdom.

However, under further interrogation, Ms. Knox later admitted: “I know I didn’t kill Meredith. I see Patrick in flashes as the murderer, but I can’t verify the truth the way it appears in my mind, because I don’t remember with certainty if I was there.”

Ms. Knox said she “didn’t remember with certainty” if she had actually been in the apartment at the time the crime was committed. She was able, nevertheless, to be absolutely certain that Mr. Lumumba, the man who owned the pub where she worked as a waitress, was the one who committed the murder, and that he was, in her humble opinion, “crazy.” Remember, this young woman who was calling Lumumba "crazy" was the same one who proclaimed on her Facebook profile: "I don't get embarrassed and therefore have very few social inhibitions."

Then, again, maybe Ms. Knox was confused about the exact details of the murder because, as an Italian judge who upheld her detention noted, “she had smoked hashish that night.”

After digging just a bit into "Foxy Knoxy’s" outrageously contradictory and, perhaps, drug-induced accusations against her own employer, the Italian authorities had little choice but to free Mr. Lumumba, who, by that time had spent two weeks in prison, and had lost his business and his reputation.

Not surprisingly, after being released from incarceration, Mr. Lumumba, filed a lawsuit against Ms. Knox for 500,000 pounds ($800,000), claiming that he had been wrongly accused of the murder, that he had been falsely incarcerated and that his life, as a result, had been ruined, including personal, social and financial losses.

Now, here’s the part to which black readers should play careful attention: After just two weeks of deliberation, the Italian court ruled that Mr. Lumumba, the law-abiding, African businessowner was entitled to just 7, 340 pounds in damages, rather than the 500,000 he had sought. That's the equivalent of $11, 973.89 in American currency.

If you’re black and you’re traveling to Italy, please know that the value of your life and reputation has been officially established prior to your arrival and it is – by determination of the courts-- $11,973.89.

Apparently, a black life isn’t worth much over there; you should remember to conduct yourself accordingly.

Now, compare that to how "Foxy Knoxy’s" life and reputation are being valued.
Immediately after Ms. Knox had been convicted and sentenced last week to 26 years in prison, her family, which has, reportedly, already spent $1 million in legal and related fees to fight for her release, asked the U.S. government to intervene in the Court’s decision, claiming that she had been, believe it or not, “wrongly accused.”

In fact, Knox’s father has called Amanda’s guilty verdict a “flat failure of the Italian legal system."

After being contacted by Mr. Knox, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell, from Knox’s home state of Washington, said that she had “serious questions” about the trial. Cantwell then pledged to seek the support of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and wrote to Italian President Silvio Berlusconi on Amanda's behalf, and contacted the U.S. Ambassador in Rome.

Ms. Clinton said last week on ABC TV that she is “willing to hear any concerns about the case.”
Maybe Western media are still sympathetic to "Foxy Knoxy" because during the trial, an unrelated African man – Rudy Hermann Guede of the Ivory Coast – was also implicated in the murder, along with Knox's Italian, former boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito. While it was clearly Knox’s fingerprints on the handle of the knife that was the alleged murder weapon, and not Guede’s, Guede’s fingerprints were found in the apartment unit and his DNA was “linked (sexually) to Kercher’s body.”

It’s interesting to note also that Knox received a 26-year sentence, while Guede, somehow, got 30 years.

At the end of the day, the Knox trial and its attendant, world-wide media coverage, constitute just one more piece of evidence of the very different and diminished way in which black life is valued, not only here, but also in other Western nations and in their media outlets.

Word to the wise: If you find yourself in a position where you have to, or just want to, travel internationally, and you happen to be black – be really careful.


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