How does Stevenson define social justice/injustice?
The thing that stuck out most to me in Steven’s TED Talk was his reference to Germany and the death penalty for prisoners. He spoke about a woman who had told him that the death penalty for prisoners in Germany would be unheard of, especially for a specific group of people, the Jewish, because of the genocides that occurred during the Holocaust. Those same genocides happened here in the United States in the form of slavery, and yet southern states continue to imprison and give the death sentence to more African Americans than any other race in this country. Have we no morals? I am sure that many would be outraged at the thought of allowing a death penalty in Germany, but here’s the kicker, you’re not even in Germany! You live here in the US where hundreds are sentenced to death every year and you have no shame. We have no shame. Nothing gives a murderer the right to murder, so what on earth gives the criminal “justice” system a right to murder that criminal in a chair?
This part of Stevenson’s speech reminds me of the movie Law Abiding Citizen. In this movie, the main character, along with several others get away with murder and all sorts of crimes. Not because they were not caught, but because the law is worded so meticulously that if you are educated on it, you will walk freely… Yet there are people sentenced to life in prison based on a three-strike system for petty crimes such as theft, drug use, and vandalism. How are murderers getting away scot-free and drug dealers stuck in prisons? Why the f*** is Casey Anthony not in jail? I mean, there was clear evidence, released to the public, that she murdered her own daughter. Yet, she walks free today. Why doesn’t our law see a problem with this? Maybe it is all coincidence and fluke. Maybe it was set up this way purposefully. But how could it have been set up purposefully if it has been the same for hundreds of years?
We really do need to talk about an injustice. An injustice of racial and economic inequality. I know it’s been said before, but in the land of the “free” and the home of the “brave” EVERYONE is supposed to be EQUAL.
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