Opinion
Equal justice for Blacks in America – what a wonderful Christmas gift that would be!
By Jeffrey L. Boney
U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson once said, “Until justice is blind to color, until education is unaware of race, until opportunity is unconcerned with the color of men’s skins, emancipation will be a proclamation but not a fact.”
This justice that President Johnson spoke of is something that has for centuries, and continues to this day, eludes Black people in the United States.
For those of you who are not aware, Lady Justice is based on the Roman goddess of justice named Justitia, who is equipped with 3 symbols of justice:
– the double-edged sword symbolizing the court’s coercive power and the power of reason and justice, which may be wielded either for or against any party;
– scales representing an objective standard by which competing claims are weighed;
– and a blindfold indicating that justice is, or should be handed out objectively, without fear or favor, regardless of identity, money, power, or weakness.
Lady Justice is supposed to be symbolic of an America that should be blind of bias and persuasion. Lady Justice is supposed to represent an America where it should not matter what you like; what race you are; where you are from; or whether you are rich or poor. Lady Justice is not supposed to see all of that when it comes to administering justice.
Lady Justice is supposed to be the symbol that represents justice in America, and where justice is supposed to be equal to everyone.
The problem that I, and many others have with the way Lady Justice continues to be administered in the United States, is that African Americans tend not to be treated as fairly and equitably in this country as other people have – particularly White people.
If Lady Justice was truly operating in her traditional role, where she was allowed to administer justice based on her true purpose, I would venture to say that America would not have to worry about hearing the same arguments, complaints and concerns that consistently come from African Americans all across the United States – every day.
If you really take a moment, step back and look at things holistically, you would see the way Black people are racially profiled, indicted, arrested and jailed for a myriad of issues that many White people get to walk away from, scot-free, after having done many of the same things, if not worse.
Take Ethan Couch for example – the now-18-year-old rich White kid, who in 2013 went on trial for killing 4 people after stealing alcohol out of Wal-Mart and driving drunk with 3 times the legal limit of alcohol in his system, he also ended up paralyzing one of his friends who was riding with him.
What bothered so many people, including me, was the fact that Texas Judge Jean Boyd, who has since retired, refused to send this young thug to prison after he admitted to committing all these crimes. Instead, Judge Boyd chose to give this rich, White criminal only 10 years of probation, based off of a lame psychological defense strategy that Couch suffered from “Affluenza” – a condition in which a psychologist for the defense testified made Couch unable to distinguish right from wrong, nor understand the consequences of his actions, due to his privileged upbringing and because of his wealth.
