A Sad Tale in Black and White

Another sad tale of death and broken dreams comes to you from Long Island. Another tale of woe to help you escape from the latest celebrity dust up. I bring you a real life tragedy that will likely end up a WE TV special. Two families. One black. One white. One lie. One shot. One dead teenager.

On one side you have the Whites, an upper-middle class black family that moved to their dream home in Miller Place, NY in 2005. By all accounts, John White, 54, and his family integrated quite nicely into this mostly-white, Suffolk County bedroom community.

On the other you have the Cicciaros, a white family that has lived in Miller Place for years. Their home is the epitome of suburban living -- the huge manicured lawns and long stone driveways full of late model vehicles. This was a family seemingly in want of nothing, particularly their 17-year old crown prince, Daniel "Dano" Cicciaro, Jr.

Late on the evening of August 9, 2006, the world of the Whites and Cicciaros collided leaving behind a trail of tears and despair. That night, John White was roused from sleep by his frantic son, Aaron, who told his father, "they're going to kill me." They were Dano Cicciaro and four of his white friends who came after Aaron White after being told a lie by Jessica Herbert (a friend of both Dano and Aaron) that Aaron threatened to rape her.

John White emerged from his house with a gun in his hand and ordered Dano Cicciaro off his property. When he turned his back to walk towards his home, he was pursued by Cicciaro. White mistook this as a threat and shot Cicciaro in the face. He died not long after.

Soon after, a grand jury charged John White with second-degree manslaughter and third-degree criminal possession of a weapon. Yesterday, following a four-week trial, he was found guilty. You can read all about here in Newsday.

Now, here's where I piss more than a few people off. The jury reached the proper verdict.

In my mind, it's a question of culpability. There is no question that John White never intended to shoot Dano Cicciaro, yet the fact remains that he fired the shot. You can't take the bullet back. Someone once told me that good gunmanship teaches that you do not raise or aim a gun at someone unless you are prepared to kill them. That is the risk you take, and according to a Suffolk County jury, that is the risk John White will pay for in years of lost time.

I tip my hat to the jury for deciding how they did because this was a tough case, particularly since race was involved. Considering the number of days it took to reach a decision, and the fact that they asked to see all of the evidence and have all of the testimony read back to them, it says something of the painstaking scrutiny they applied in finding John White guilty.

That's the lawfully right decision, where the critical evidence is parsed and weighed and a verdict rendered.

The emotionally right decision would have been to let John White walk for having to endure the wrath of a bunch of drunk, over-indulged, ill-informed, racist white kids like Dano Cicciaro. But courts and juries aren't supposed to deal in emotions. Just the facts.

But while the facts say John White was wrong to emerge from his house with a loaded handgun and shoot Dano Cicciaro, it was equally as wrong for Dano Cicciaro and his four friends to show up at the White's to menace and threaten Aaron White. Some may argue that Dano's actions didn't kill anyone. Think again. Dano's actions that night got him killed by a man with a gun who did not trust that the law would be on his side.

John White is not atypical of black men living in the United States. He is one of tens of thousands of successful black men who were raised in the deep South and have vividly clear personal memories or have heard first-hand narratives of the beatings, lynchings and killings at the hands of white men; some of them cops. This deep mistrust for whites (especially police officers) is not something one would expect a black man like John White to forget very easily; even after achieving home ownership in the affluent town of Miller Place, NY. It's very easy to see why John White would emerge from his house with a gun, instead of calling the cops. It still doesn't make his actions right. According to my friend Tim, who serves on the SCPD, had John White called 9-1-1, several squad cars would have arrived in less than 5 minutes and would have arrested Cicciaro and his friends. All John White had to do was stay in his home, lock the doors and call the cops. Had John White made that 9-1-1 call, Dano Cicciaro would be alive and John White would not be going to jail.

But the 9-1-1 call not placed is that last of a series of missteps that night. In fact, I'd say it's a tragic confluence of stupidity. Dano Cicciaro, mourned though he may be, was not the aggrieved innocent victim his parents and friends make him to be. Despite the numerous denials of the Cicciaro family and their friends, Dano showed up at the White residence to cause trouble. He rolled up in with his friends in suped-up cars, shouted racial epithets and called for the head of Aaron white. He was drunk. He was stupid, and some might say, got what he deserved. Some like the people in this Newsday message board say that. I won't. No one really deserves to die. Yet I hold no sorrow for his loss either.

What I would say is that there is more to this story than most white folks are willing to admit to. This is not simply a case of racially-charged manslaughter. It goes right to the heart of what's eating this country from the inside out. Speaking as a white person, we like to think that in this day and age we've moved past the issue of race. After all, we now have a viable black candidate running for President in Barack Obama. Many of our favorite musicians, athletes, and actors are people of color. In fact, it would not have surprised me at all if Dano Cicciaro had rolled up to the White residence with the latest from Kanye West of 50 Cent blasting from the sound system in his car. The hip hop industry is built mostly on records sales to young, white males.

Yet ask any white person how they would respond if a black family moved next door to them, and they would be looking for ways to sell before their property values sank. They would say that they do not begrudge a black person any of his or her successes. They would say that they do not mind one bit if their sons and daughters listen to hip hop music or dress in the latest Fubu and SeanJohn fashions. Shit, Marc Ecko (nee Milecofsky) has made a fortune co-opting black, hip-hop, culture. But would they live next to a black man? Not on your fucking life.

The truth is we haven't moved far at all from the world described by Harper Lee in "To Kill a Mockingbird."



We still blame the black community for all that is wrong in this country and John White's conviction will do nothing but perpetuate that lie. He committed a crime. Of that, there is no doubt.

But why is there no one decrying the acts of Dano Cicciaro's friends? Why aren't they being brought up on charges of menacing? Why is so little commentary being offered on the significance of Jessica Herbert's lie? Why is no one outraged by the Cicciaro's raucous celebration after the guilty verdict was handed down? The Cicciaros were celebrating and hugging one another and calling this verdict a victory. A victory of what exactly? A victory of white culture over black? A victory of good over evil? You would think they had won the Super Bowl of trials by jury with the way they were hooting and hollering outside the courthouse while the John White's counsel was holding a press conference. This is the type of utter shamelessness that spawns other Dano Ciccaros into our midst, and will continue to incite good men like John White into committing
senseless crimes.

The sad thing in all this is that neither the black nor the white community will see this as another defeat for American society. Black folks will see this as another instance of justice not served. White folks, like the guy from whom I purchased my copy of Newsday this morning, will see this as payback for OJ being sprung. "It's about time we won one," he said to me. Again I ask, what exactly did we win?

I see it as a re-run of the same old racial bullshit; another sad tale in black and white replete with finger pointing and chest thumping; another emasculated episode of racial discord sanitized and dumbed down for the entertainment pleasure of the viewers of WE TV.