It is no secret that some members of society have more privileges than others. People are marginalized based on their race, ethnicity, and social class. My experience with unjustly treated people was when I saw how an African American woman was not allowed to enter a restaurant due to some unknown reasons. This was a terrible experience as I felt anxious about what was happening in the restaurant. I think people should not be treated badly because of their race. Racial discrimination should be a problem in the modern world.
This minor case suggests the greater problem that is unjustly treating people in the context of the criminal justice system. The criminal justice system in the United States is designed to protect and serve everyone. This concept should be inclusive of all races, genders, and other identifying features. It happens more than what the news channels may bring to light, although it should not. Minorities and people who do not meet society’s “norms” are frequently subjected to unequal treatment by those charged with protecting them. In the book, Stevenson writes about groups of people who are vulnerable to being victimized by the system and how he helped people in prison to bring them justice. It can be said that the system is inherently biased toward minorities, and it makes people suffer without any significant justification.
A prominent example of this is the case of George Floyd. When I first viewed the footage of George Floyd’s killing, I felt a wave of pain and rage run through my body. Not because I was surprised or outraged because Black women and men have been occurring since long before I was born; rather, I felt impotent.
That someone in a position to protect and safeguard chose to do the exact opposite and murder someone so openly and publicly. It’s the same hopelessness that the spectators who witnessed Floyd’s murder must have felt, and it’s the same helplessness that George must have felt as he screamed in his final minutes. The kind of powerlessness that makes you want to take action.
One of the lessons of the Black Lives Matter movement is that being non-racist is not enough; we must all utilize our voices to be anti-racist. Because silence might be construed as consent, we all must fulfill our moral obligations to those who are suffering as a result of the battle. That doesn’t just imply a performative social media post; it also entails asking ourselves how we might assist. We can help the cause by having dialogues with friends and family, giving, being socially conscious shoppers, or writing to elected authorities about adopting policies that will result in change. This is what exactly Stevenson described in his book, calling for rational consideration of each criminal case, not being biased, and helping people.
We can no longer turn our backs on what has happened in the last year. The suffering of the less fortunate is documented and disseminated for all to see. We are obligated to respond because there is no room for ignorance or inaction. The vehicle for change will be our ability to unlock our empathy for others and combine it with action. Even though many of these deaths were captured on film, police personnel is rarely arrested, prosecuted, or convicted for excessive use of force. A popular clamor for justice has erupted in response to the perceived lack of accountability.