And justice for all.
Those are the last four words of the Pledge of Allegiance that Americans take to their flag and the country it represents.
The difficulty is that this noble aspiration of justice for all is not made reality often enough. Those deserving of protection of the law too often don't receive it and those deserving of punishment of the law too often don't receive it.
The first step towards justice for Bill Cosby was taken Wednesday in Pennsylvania when he was charged with aggravated indecent assault against an Ontario woman 12 years ago at his home in Philadelphia.
That is not just a first step for Cosby but a first step for Andrea Constand, today a massage therapist in Toronto who was working at Temple University at the time of the alleged assault. She will have her day in court to state her case, Cosby will be able to state his and a jury of their peers will decide.
The challenge for the jury and for everyone else following the case is separating Cosby the man, a 78-year-old charged with this crime and facing allegations of similar abuse from numerous women over many years, from Cosby the cultural icon.
If he were just a regular old man from Philly, it's certain these allegations from so many women would have been investigated so much more seriously so much sooner. Famous and important people are targets for unwanted attention and unfair accusations. Yet the rich and the famous have also hid behind this belief time and again, dismissing any complaints against them as malcontents looking for money. It is the job of police officers, lawyers and judges to overcome both of these obstacles, separating unstable fans from the wrongfully violated and unfairly accused stars from celebrity sexual predators. As problematic as that iconic status is, it's also irrelevant.
Cosby's status as a groundbreaking 20th century entertainer is untouchable, but it also has nothing to do with the criminal charges before him. He is just an old man from Philly, regardless of his personal and professional accomplishments.
Those accomplishments include helping the artistic careers of Angelique Levac and Kym Gouchie, two Prince George women.
Levac's connection to Cosby started before they even met. He bought some of her work during a visit to Flin Flon, Manitoba, for a show. He was already familiar with Levac from a documentary he had seen about her art.
Their paths crossed directly when Levac appeared on Cosby's show, You Bet Your Life, in 1992. Handpicked by Cosby to come on the show, the $12,000 she won in prize money, along with the attention and the endorsement from Cosby, a well-known collector of indigenous art, jumpstarted her business career. Angelique's Native Arts has been open for business in Prince George since 1994.
Gouchie first met Cosby in 1999 in Penticton. He was brought in for the weekend to do a couple of shows and she was hired by the booking agency to be his chauffeur and personal assistant. When he learned of her aboriginal heritage and her musical background, he invited her with little notice to open both of his shows. He remained in contact with Gouchie for a year afterwards, inviting her to a show in Vancouver and talking by phone. She declined both of his offers to visit him while he was performing in Seattle and Hawaii, due to work commitments, and the calls abruptly stopped.
Clearly, both women benefited from their brief encounters with Cosby. The confidence boost for Gouchie from an artist of Cosby's acclaim encouraged her to keep going in her music career. This summer, her song Sister Rain made it to number one on the Canadian aboriginal music charts.
Gouchie and Levac appreciate his support but they also know the primary ingredients in their artistic and professional careers was their own hard work over many years. Both women say nothing happened to them, although Gouchie says some of his calls made her uncomfortable and she can't help but wonder what would have happened if she had said yes to his invites to join him on the road.
Their stories shed an interesting light on Cosby. While significant to the two local women, however, they bear no relevance to the criminal charges against him.
It doesn't matter now whether Cosby is a good man who might have done some terrible things or a bad man who did plenty of good things for many people.
The only thing that matters now is that an old man from Philadelphia will appear in a courtroom to face a Canadian woman accusing him of sexual assault. And justice for all.
-- Managing editor Neil Godbout
