This is the conclusion of an interview with Judge Joe Brown, host of a syndicated court television show in the United States. The interview was conducted last week by Lifestyle Editor Barbara Ellington and the first part carried in The Sunday Gleaner yesterday.

So many people of all ages with whom I have spoken since Barack Obama won the election, have said they did not expect a black man to win the White House in their lifetime. Do you share this view?

No, I thought it probably would happen. I don't know the young man, so I can't say much about him.

But even if you can't speak about him personally, what do you say about the fact that a black man is going to run the most powerful country in the world?

He is half African, half American; he does not qualify as the typical African American. He has no black-American ancestors; he's a mulatto who spent a lot of his years living in another country. So, I don't know anything about him, he does not match any of my background and he does not have any relatives who have anything in common with mine, so I don't know him and I don't know what to expect.

So aren't you excited at all about the prospect of a black president in your country where anyone not totally white is regarded as black?

I might be, but I am too sophisticated. I've known too many US presidents or candidates personally, I have been in politics for more that 45 years, so I'll wait and see what I get. Thurgood Marshall was a fraternity brother of mine and he was on the Supreme Court bench, but Clarence Thomas was too and is a disgrace; so I don't know what I am going to get.

You have no expectations at all?

I hope for the best, but I don't know what in the world I'm going to get. He is a good role-model type for people, but people in public life have a public persona and a personal reality, and they don't always mesh. He has some good people around him, I just hope they don't overwhelm him or it could be a case of too many chiefs and not enough Indians.

I have been curious about shows like yours on television, when you do them are the verdicts accepted in law?

We do our business under the California Arbitration Statutes buttressed by a California Supreme Court written opinion. We do arbitration and I am an arbitrator. The United States Arbitration Act of 1928 was ruled upon by the Supreme Court last year saying that when you have contractual arbitration, which we do, it supersedes general state law. So, the verdicts are binding and enforceable. Sometimes we have cases sent to us by the California Department of Motor Vehicles for resolution of problems with titles.

We have cases sent to us by lawyers who feel that the victims would have no other form of redress. One of the requirements I have is that these cases be filed in a small claims court before I hear them, so that they are authentic. I am a retired criminal court judge.

One of the conversations I have heard on American television stations since the Obama win is that now American black women will see in Michelle Obama, another ideal of their race to emulate because of years of them being stereotyped as loud, angry and overall negative.

Yes they have been, but they have not done anything to counter that image, and it seems to have been popularised because it sells. Some black entertainment icons perpetrate that. The voice of the village that would have something to say about raising children has essentially been dysfunctional. Our news and entertainment media has been a disgrace. Those running the news are astonishingly ignorant for what they have elected to do; they are more concerned with their make-up.

It's all about the sound byte when the process took years of study. I met Walter Kronkite and Ed Bradley and these were very educated men, walking encyclopaedias. Nowadays you run into reporters and they know more about make-up than what's going on in the world.

As a resident of California, how would you rate Arnold Schwarzenegger as governor of the state?

He has surprised me. I was surprised to discover that he wrote three serious books on economics over 15 years ago and he keeps a 22-16-hour work day starting from as early as 4:30 in the morning, many times going through to midnight the following day.

Would you go back to being a judge on the bench and what are you most disappointed about?

No I would not. I had enough of that. What I am disappointed with is the inability of the citizenry to get involved enough to take control of their lives. Too many people tend to be lacking in knowledge but think they are equal in achievement to a doctor and, on top of that, they tend to glory in ignorance and stupidity rather than seek to elevate and educate themselves.

I would like you to respond to these names with the first word that comes to your mind:

Bill Clinton

The first black president

Sarah Palin

Embarrassment

Al Sharpton

Preacher

Jessie Jackson

Preacher

barbara.ellington@gleanerjm.com

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One of the conversations I have heard on American television stations since the Obama win is that now American black women will see in Michelle Obama, another ideal of their race to emulate because of years of them being stereotyped as loud, angry and overall negative.'