Justice is Blind

I get riled up about the news on a fairly regular basis. Max still finds it entertaining when I shout at the TV, radio or newspaper in the morning - frustrated at the headlines, or sometimes the person presenting them. Someone recently reminded me of the bumper sticker expression "if you're not outraged, you're not paying attention." Well I'm paying attention, trust me.

But yesterday was a different kind of anger, because to me it hits upon so many emotive issues for me; racism, violence, love, gun-control (or lack there of), and judicial failure. I was reminded of the story of the man who was gunned-down by police on the early morning of his wedding a year and a half ago. He was unarmed, coming out of a strip-club with his friends at the end of his bachelor party. There were no weapons found on any of the men who were shot, yet Sean Bell and his friends were fired upon more than fifty times by NY police officers. On Monday, those police were acquitted of any blame.

This is not the first time a case like this has sullied the American Criminal Justice system, and each time I've been hurt and outraged at the incidents. But this, a man murdered hours before he was to get married? A man taken away from his fiancee and child as their family prepared themselves for what should have been the happiest day of their lives. And now, after all of the pain this family has endured, they are told that the justice system believes no one was at fault. Instead of getting answers, the family has watched helplessly as Bell's criminal record and alleged behaviour at the club was used to justify his death - his past mistakes dragged out for the world to look at and judge. Just another black man with drug convictions and threatening behaviour. We can all sleep soundly knowing that it we're not racist, he was just a criminal, and the police were just doing their jobs.

Playing devil's advocate, let's say that the police were justified in being afraid for the safety of their own lives and the lives of others. I realise there were allegedly (although refuted by the defense) events leading up to the shooting that could have indicated one of the men had a weapon. But fifty shots? Fifty? Am I the only person that thinks this exceeds minimum force? How are we going to ensure that those officers won't react with the same level of violence on another occasion? What message do we send when we say it is OK to shoot four men FIFTY times without even seeing a weapon?

Then there is the issue of race. How often do we hear about incidents such as these happening to white people? Perhaps I am misinformed, but this whiffs of racial profiling to me - and isn't racial profiling just institutional racism at its worst? During my undergraduate degree in America I read a study which found that 80% of motorists stopped in New Jersey were people of colour, in spite making up only 13% of all motorists in the state. This is one simple example in a list of many that demonstrates the fact that in spite of equality legislation and the general public's perception that we live in an equal society, the colour of your skin matters. It matters even to those who are employed to protect those equal rights and freedoms we are all so proud of.

Finally, this story is one of many that reinforces my belief that constitution or not - there is no place in a civilised society for guns. If citizens are permitted to carry and have relatively easy to access weapons, how can we expect the police to manage crime without the same weapons? And if those powers who are employed to 'protect and serve' the citizens are faced daily with the threat of gun violence, isn't it only a matter of time before those fears result in an over reaction? When I over react to difficult situations in my job, people get shouted at. When the police over react, there is a body count. And no one seems to be willing to hold anyone accountable.

I am not ragging on the police. The events described here certainly not every day occurrences. Police have a difficult job, and I am sure that the majority of them do it with dignity and respect for human life. But there are greater problems to face, problems that exist in several parts of our society. Problems that will eat us all alive if we don't acknowledge and address them. The powers that be must take tragic events such as these and use them to take a good hard look at what causes them. If they don't, the Sean Bells of the world will have not only died, but they will have died in vain. Who is going to explain that to his daughter? I certainly don't want to have to explain it to mine.