If you’re a person of color in America living on a normal paycheck, the criminal justice system can be a terrifying machine. It’s a world of overworked public defenders, cash bail you can’t afford, and plea deals you take because you’re scared of losing your job or your kids. It’s a system where justice is often just a calculation of how much you can afford to lose.
Then there’s Carlos Watson.
To watch a multimillionaire fraudster weaponize the language of racism, calling his prosecution a “modern-day lynching”, is not just insulting; it’s a slap in the face to every person who has actually faced systemic bias.
But what is truly outrageous isn’t just that he played the race card. It’s that he had the money to hire high-priced White mercenaries to play it for him.
The Cost of a “Victim” Narrative
Most of us, if falsely accused, would be lucky to scrape together a few thousand dollars for a lawyer. We certainly couldn’t afford Juda Engelmayer, a crisis PR heavyweight who charges monthly retainers that likely exceed the annual income of an average family. We couldn’t hire Frank Parlato Jr., a “media consultant” known for dirty tricks and psychological warfare, to produce a slick, 70-minute documentary designed to manipulate public opinion and taint a jury pool.
These aren’t activists, they’re spin doctors, available to anyone who can cut a check with enough zeros.
For Watson to claim he was a victim of the same system that traps poor Black men is a grotesque lie. Poor Black men don’t get to hire narrative engineers to harass jurors. They don’t get to launch YouTube campaigns calling the judge unethical. Nope, they sit in a cell because they can’t make a $500 bond, while Watson remained free on a $3 million bond, plotting his media blitz from freedom.
Concierge Justice
The ultimate indignity was the ending. Watson claimed his defense “used up all his wealth,” yet when the guilty verdict came down along with a 10 year sentence, he didn’t face the music like a normal person. He reportedly accessed the “pardon market,” where lobbyists charge fees starting at $1 million to get a President’s ear.
Think about that number. A million dollars. That’s freedom money completely inaccessible to 99% of us.
When Watson walked free thanks to a Trump pardon, it wasn’t a victory for Civil Rights. It was a victory for the Golden Rule: whoever has the gold, makes the rules. He didn’t beat the system; he bought his way out of it, using the very racial trauma he claimed to be a victim of as just another asset in his portfolio.
For the rest of us, the fight for justice continues. But for Carlos Watson, the fight was never about justice. It was just another shady business transaction.
