TWO weeks from now, Kingston-born attorney Audrey A Thomas will launch her second book, White Men Aren’t Chumps: An Intellectual Discussion on Race Relations in America.

Given the controversial racial incidents which have stained that country in the last three years, another book on this explosive issue is timely.

Thomas is a criminal and civil litigation lawyer who practises in Queens, New York. In ‘White Men Aren’t Chumps’, she points out, among other things, the racial positives in the United States.

“America is 63 per cent white, 12 per cent black, and we’ve managed to see a black man elected president twice. That’s an indication there is a level of fairness some people don’t want to admit,” Thomas said in a recent interview with the Sunday Observer.

Despite the dual election of Barack Obama, the US has had its share of racial animus including the Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown and Eric Garner incidents.

They were unarmed black men killed under questionable circumstances. Martin was shot by a Latino man in Florida in 2012; Brown and Garner were killed in 2014 by white police officers in Missouri and New York City, respectively.

Each sparked nationwide protests and attracted international coverage.

Thomas said a case in which she was involved early in her career helped to shape the way she looks at racial crimes.

“There was this young black man who was given a desk appearance ticket which is the lowest level of police engagement. But it was clear what he did was a felony, and the victim was visibly compromised by his criminal actions, so at arraignment I had him re-arrested and charged,” she related. “The (arresting) police officer involved was white, so sometimes when you’re on the outside and you see a white cop walking away with a young black man, until you know the intricacies you shouldn’t judge.”

Audrey Thomas was only 10 years old when she migrated with her mother to Brooklyn, New York in 1981. Five years later, Trinidad-born Michael Griffith was among four black men beaten by a group of white youth in nearby Howard Beach.

While trying to escape, Griffith was struck by a car and killed.

The special prosecutor in that case, Charles Hynes, convicted the three main defendants who received prison sentences for manslaughter one year after Griffith’s death.

Hynes, who was District Attorney in Brooklyn for 24 years, later mentored Thomas when she studied law at St Johns University.

“He brought a level of closure to Michael Griffith’s mother that will never be realised by Trayvon Martin’s family and others. As DA, he did everything in his power to ensure equality,” she said.

White Men Aren’t Chumps: An Intellectual Discussion on Race Relations in America will be launched March 29 at York College Performing Arts Center in Queens, New York.

— Howard Campbell