Does Tanya McDowell's Arrest Make Her Guilty on All Charges?

Commenters are having a field day. Tanya McDowell was recently arrested on charges of selling marijuana and crack cocaine to an undercover officer. Take a look at people's reactions on the internet:

"Why steal someone else's education to get your kid out of a bad, drug-infested school if you're just going to raise him in a bad, drug-infested home? I bet she just sent him there so he could be a dealer to kids with money. Sicko."

"Sad to say, I knew this was coming, trying to turn a thug into Rosa Parks."

"Not surprise (sic) she is involved in drugs...I wouldn't want her or her child in my children's school. Why would I want her in a position to influence my child."

Drug charges are the perfect excuse not to care about Tanya McDowell. After all, many people might think, obviously she deserved whatever trouble she meets - whether it's a $200,000 bond for a drug arrest or a $15,000 fine for "stealing" her son's education. If Tanya McDowell was a saint, then we might be able to excuse her enrolling her son in a nicer school district to get him a better education. But if she's a sinner, she deserves what she gets.

As someone who writes about race and poverty a lot, I see this all the time. If you're a saint, you're worthy of help. But if you've ever made a mistake in your life, you don't even deserve a kind look. Anyone who claims to have been wronged only has rights to be treated fairly if they've never made a wrong themselves.

The lawyer in Tanya's case has said he thinks the charges are false, that police had been targeting Tanya since she attracted the help of national activists after her arrest and charges for putting her son in Norwalk Schools. Although the local police chief denies it, it may be true. Certainly, local cops know politics and public opinion. And I think it's not outside the realm of possibility that cops would target a homeless black woman for criminal charges.

But what if she's guilty? No one who stood up for McDowell wants to say that. But it might be the case. People make mistakes. On one hand, a mother can be really passionately concerned about her son's education, and on the other, wrapped up in trouble. Does the fact that she isn't perfect make her unworthy of help? Does it make what the Norwalk school district did - targeting her and charging her, when dozens of other families were allowed to go free - right?

I don't think so. In the United States, we believe that a person is innocent until proven guilty. And that's not a collective assumption. It means on every charge. So I believe McDowell is innocent until proven guilty on drug charges, and that verdict doesn't change whether or not she is also guilty of "stealing" a good education for her son. I believe people have more than one side. That they make mistakes, even large ones. But making a mistake does not make you exempt from help, compassion, or more importantly, your civil rights.

So before you decide who Tanya McDowell is or isn't, think about your own life. And how you would want to be treated if perhaps the best and worst parts of you were splashed all over the newspaper. Fair and impartially? Or condemned before you even got in the courtroom?