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Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins was the keynote speaker for the NAACP’s Clarence M. Mitchell, Jr. Memorial Luncheon last Monday noon at the downtown Hilton Hotel Americas Ballroom.
A graduate of Prairie View A&M University and Texas Wesleyan University School of Law, Watkins made history in 2007 as the first African-American elected to the position of Criminal District Attorney in Texas.
Watkins told attendees that graduating from an HBCU as a political science major, learning the history of civil rights and having an uncle who was a member of the NAACP gave him a different perspective on many issues when he was elected.
One of the most important abilities that Watkins reminded the luncheon attendees that he had was his subpoena power.
“I choose who will come before a jury or a judge to state their case of a crime they may or may not have committed,” said Watkins. “It’s powerful.”
Watkins mentioned the importance of subpoena power to hone in the importance of having more minorities in the DA position since African American incarceration rate and execution rate are disproportionately high.
“I do realize as a person of color that in Texas and every other state in this country we have disproportionately used capitol punishment to execute people of color to seek justice and sometimes we have done it when they didn’t deserve it,” said Watkins.
Though he was never asked his position on capitol punishment in the United States, his opinion changed after seeing his first execution five years into being DA and realizing that a large number of the inmates in the holding chamber were African American.
According to Watkins, the high incarceration rate for African American men is systematic through the underlying correlation between crime and lack of education.
“There’s nothing wrong with people that look like me but the system,” said Watkins. “Those folks that I send to prison for crimes they actually committed are because they’re not educated.”
Attending the prestigious luncheon included civil rights activist Julian Bond, Tx Rep. Ron Reynolds (D-Dist. 27) and Texas Congressmen Al Green.