Update on 11/19 at 7:43 PM EST: Surveillance video has been released.

My mother raised me to believe that black men are supposed to stand up for black women. Heather Ellis is the woman who now faces 15 years in prison for cutting a line at a Wal-Mart. Based on my knowledge of the Heather Ellis case (and seeing the Wal-Mart surveillance video that has not yet been released to the public), it seems difficult to argue in favor of a conviction.
I accompanied Dr. Christopher Metzler of Georgetown University, Dr. Wilmer Leon of Howard University, King Downing (attorney with the Sean Bell Justice Project) and Elliot Millner (legal adviser for the Your Black World Coalition) to Kennett, Mo. The trip was long but rewarding. You can visit theHeatherEllisCase.com to read more about the rally and how it all happened. The town shut down and took notice, because it had never seen black people come together to fight for their rights, at least not in that way.

There are some who seem to believe that if Heather cut the line, cursed at the cashier or kicked one of the officers, she should go to prison. (The officer's allegations can't be proven beyond a reasonable doubt and don't appear on any video that I've seen. Police reports here have questionable credibility, since King Downing has data that shows that the Kennett police are systematically biased when arresting and convicting black defendants.) After witnessing egregious and illegal behavior on the part of many non-black college students for the past 16 years, though (ever been to a campus frat party?), it's interesting that most of them are let go with a slap on the wrist, but some think it's okay to send a black woman to prison over a minor incident. If I came to most universities (including my own), had a raid on a fraternity house and chose to send students to prison over whatever contraband I found, there would be outrage.

Forgive me for making this into a racial thing, but you only needed to see the skinheads and Klansmen in this town to realize that when it comes to the history of the American justice system, racism has always been a dominating factor. Don't ask me, just take a look at the statistics in sentencing disparities, disproportionate arrests, longer prison terms, marginalization of black men and the devastating impact that mass incarceration has had on the black community. The prison system has destroyed my own family, as my older brother figure was sent to prison at the age of 17, forced to sign a plea bargain on a crime he swore he did not commit, threatened with many years in prison if he chose to fight the charges with his overworked and underpaid public defender. I cried many days and nights after talking to him on the prison telephone and wrote him long letters in my eighth-grade class. I needed a mentor, but he'd been stolen by the system.

The prison system, similar to the NCAA, is a modern-day form of exploitation and abuse that descends directly from slavery. You can't cure a 400-year-old festering psychological disease with 20 or 30 years of affirmative action and a claim that systemic racism is what "they used to do back then." Our society is built upon this system, and our lack of desire to challenge the system effectively implies that those of us who support it are perpetuating the disparities intended by the system's founders. American attitudes and behaviors toward black defendants (you should see some of the angry e-mails I am getting from students and others who think Heather should go to prison) is a direct reflection of the fact that racism still runs deep in America. I guarantee that if Heather were a white female college student, she wouldn't be facing this kind of prison time. The United Nations recently wrote a report stating that the United States remains a two-tiered society, with African Americans receiving the bulk of the abuse. You can't fix racial inequality if you don't discuss it honestly, so I am not here to sugar coat the issue. But I attack the issue out of love for America and a willingness to help our country take the uncomfortable medicine it needs to heal from its racial sickness. If you hate those who stand up for Heather Ellis, that's okay. Your forefathers hated Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., too.

I am following the trial closely (which starts today), and if there is a conviction, I will speak with the Rev. Al Sharpton, who mentioned on the air that he would like to join me in Missouri for the second rally (follow the Web site for announcements). This battle is not over and this is not about Heather Ellis. It is about a justice system that has spent 400 years destroying the lives of black families, and none of us should be willing to allow this to happen.

Dr. Boyce watkins is a professor at Syracuse University. To have Dr. Boyce's commentary delivered to your e-mail, please click here.