An Injustice Anywhere

Justice by definition is "the maintenance or administration of what is just, especially by the impartial adjustment of connecting claims or assignment of merited rewards or punishments. Historically the notion of justice was rooted in concepts of fairness, moral rightness, and equity. In American, however, "justice" and the pursuit of it, has been used as a thin veil to enforce inequity and oppression of people of color.  

There couldn't be more evidence of this deviation from the historical perspective than in today’s criminal justice system.  An overwhelming majority of the people who sit in our prisons are African American. Harsh sentencing laws enacted to stop illegal drug trade resulted in the mass incarceration of black and brown people.   Predominantly black and brown men spend decades behind bars. Upon release they find it nearly impossible to be free from the grasps of the criminal justice system.  As the prison population continues to grow, retaliatory death and violence among drug dealers are remain a major problem in urban areas. Excessive sentencing laws were not enacted in the interest of fairness, but in the interest of perpetual and unrelenting punishment.

For the past year the nation watched a family in Florida relive the details of their son’s murder. Waiting for the wheels of “justice” to turn in their favor, they sat by while the attorneys for his killer put their son, the victim, on trial. They claimed repeatedly that the shooter had “done nothing wrong” and demanded that “justice” be done.  George Zimmerman is a free man today despite having followed, approached, and murdered an unarmed 16 year-old Trayvon Martin.

Contributing to the acquittal was Florida’s Stand Your Ground Law. This law allows people to place value on material possessions and one’s right to possess them, over a person’s right to live and breathe. The defense played on every possible racial stereotype. The defense chose to argue to the all-white jury that Trayvon Martin was a “racist” and a “thug” who “contributed” to his own death by violently attacking George Zimmerman.  But a reasonable evaluation of the circumstances, as true justice demands, would have recognized the life lost and the lack of justification for such.  A truly just society does not allow for the senseless murder of children without consequence.

The verdict has many, including myself, asking, where is the justice for black and brown people in America?  Statistics show that outcomes for black and white defendants in the criminal justice system are vastly different.  Black and brown defendants are disadvantaged compared to whites with regard to the legal-process even in the most fundamental ways like access to an attorney and resources available for defense.  Further, black and brown defendants tend to be sentenced more severely than similarly situated white defendants for less serious crimes. Black defendants convicted of harming white victims suffer harsher penalties than blacks who commit crimes against other blacks or white defendants who harm whites.

Time after time in America injustices are committed at the hands of a system that is supposed to seek fair and equitable solutions. There are many stories like Trayvon’s in our history and many times in history the system has failed all of the people in this country. Maintaining this system only ensured that  injustice lives and breathes for hundreds of years to come. 

AAR

Father's Day

This Father's Day in New Orleans went off without a hitch. Families poured out of churches and headed to brunches and family cookouts. Surely, there were second line parades, celebrating fatherhood and those who embrace one of life’s greatest challenges. This year however, was bittersweet for many who are currently or have previously been incarcerated.  New Orleans is home to the most incarcerated population in the world, a little less than 70% are African American men. Those men are fathers to many of our children, who this Father’s Day were missing their presence.  Their days were filled with long bus rides through Louisiana country sides, sharing family updates in crowded visitation rooms, or watching longingly at others who spent the special day with their fathers.

Incarceration has a devastating effect on families, leaving generations to hold the weight of one man’s encounter with the criminal justice system.  There are families on both sides, that suffer greatly, when one of their members is taken away.  Countless men and women seek our services, daily at JAC, all of them looking to remove the stain of their arrest or conviction. That stain permeates the bonds that tie fathers and their children together, even after they are released from custody.  One man said it best while speaking to a group of students this past Friday. “You have a kid with someone and everything is good. Then you get locked up and she moves on because she knows she cannot have a good life when you come out, if you ever come out. It makes it hard to be with your child man.”

The existence of a criminal record prevents men from re-entering the family home and repairing what was lost or broken during their time in jail. Establishing strong family bonds prevents recidivism and positively impacts the child, the viability of the family and our community. Children with an active father, whose parents have a healthy relationship, fare better in school, are more likely to be emotionally secure and are more likely to develop healthy social relationships. For the black children  that outcome is far less likely because of the mass incarceration of their father's. 

When thinking of justice and the notion that justice is only done when punitive measures are taken to ensure a man or woman will perpetually pay for their crimes. Be sure to remember the children of those we sentence to that fate, and the lifetime of consequence they suffer as well.  Remember that "justice cannot be for one side alone, but must be for both." 

AAR