Mark Wahlberg seeks to have 1988 conviction wiped from his record.
On the night of April 8, 1988, in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston, a teenager named Mark Wahlberg wanted some beer—badly. So badly, in fact, that he attacked a man carrying two cases of beer, bashing his head open with a five-foot-long stick. A few blocks later, Wahlberg punched another man in the eye, blinding him. After his arrest—during which police found him carrying a small amount of marijuana—Wahlberg called his victims “slant-eyed gooks” and other ethnic slurs. Though 16 at the time of the assaults, Wahlberg was convicted as an adult and sentenced to three months in prison, reports the AP. He was released after serving about 45 days.
His past hasn’t barred Wahlberg (as “Marky Mark”) from a platinum single, or from Times Square beefcake billboards. Nor from becoming an actor praised for his work in Boogie Nights, The Departed, and other films. Wahlberg, now 43, is one of the highest-paid actors in Hollywood, and his company has produced popular TV shows such as Entourage and Boardwalk Empire.
But his criminal record has prevented him from getting restaurant licenses in some states, and made him unable to conduct philanthropic work with at-risk youth. This is why Wahlberg is asking the governor of Massachusetts to pardon his convictions, according to his application
Wahlberg shouldn’t get a pardon.
Not because his crimes were so heinous. Though they certainly were—and the two assaults in 1988 weren’t even the extent of them. As The Smoking Gun reports, a 15-year-old Wahlberg and two friends attacked a group of black schoolchildren, hollering the n-word at them. And in 1993, he and a friend battered a man so severely that the victim’s jaw had to be wired shut.
And not just because people seldom get pardons, even for 25-year-old crimes. If Massachusetts governor-elect Charlie Baker and the Governor’s Council pardon him, it will likely be because of his celebrity, not his contrition.
Not even because, at a time when so many white men seem to be above the law when it comes to violence against non-whites, pardoning Wahlberg would send a message that whites can do wrong with impunity.
He should not be pardoned, because, instead of pardoning him, state and federal governments should ease laws that prevent convicted felons like him from fully participating in society—that let past convictions for which felons have already been punished continue to “legally impact” them, as Wahlberg put it, for the rest of their lives. These laws bar ex-offenders from a whole host of things, from opening a restaurant or obtaining public housing to being eligible for student financial aid.
Around 5.9 million Americans are barred from voting because they have felony convictions, says the Sentencing Project (pdf), a non-profit advocacy group. If Wahlberg lived in Nevada or Kentucky, for instance, he wouldn’t be allowed to vote at all.Jacked from Quartz
3 comments:
I don't think it should be expunged - you almost blinded the man - no money should not be able to buy a clean record - not when you got cops gunning down black men for selling cigarettes but this fool wants to clean up his record for assaulting Asians... #phuckouttahere.....
I knew he was a felony but never had the deets as I was born in 86. I have a nonviolent misdemeanor record, so I get wanting to wipe the slate clean; however, Mark, you have terrible timing because the nation is burning. You should have done this 10 years ago. I see you don't play attention to the news or read the paper. If you do manage to get so you been okay with it all this time. Just deal with itthe pardon, it may cost you big time in the long run
He would fit right in with the racist thug cops. I never liked him or supported his projects fuck Mark's racist ass. Mark is asking for a pardon now because Mass. has a republican Governor taking over in January.
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