What is fairness?
What is justice?
From the formation of the United States, justice seemed to define our nation. In the past, justice in America has doled out punishments and verdicts fitting of the crime committed.
Or have they?
Lately, the word “justice” seems to have lost its meaning.
“Justice is blind” is a common phrase repeated in one’s mind over and over again, to act as reassurance that the verdict was fair and justified, and the decision cemented by the gavel is truly objective.
Bang. More than five black men are sent to jail for every white one.
It’s fine. Justice is blind.
Bang. Police have a one percent chance of being indicted for unspeakable acts.
It’s fine. Justice is blind.
But what is the meaning of this ancient phrase, “Justice is blind?” To any person, this means that justice is blind to race, sexuality, gender, or religion. “Justice is blind” is an expression signifying the unbiased nature of the court. Justice is served solely based on the crime committed, not the person’s physical characteristics.
But the question is, should justice be sightless?
The fact is, justice is almost as unseeing as any blind man.
Unseeing to the havoc it has wreaked upon our nation.
Unseeing to hundreds of men and women unfairly sentenced to the steel cage known as jail.
The only thing justice is apparently able to see is race.
Sexuality.
Gender.
The very things the phrase “justice is blind” says that judges are blind too.
But imagine a nation in which the enforcers of justice looked upon the world with clear, sightful, and unbiased eyes.
Not blind to the flaming society they created.
Not blind to the hundreds of humans jailed mistakenly.
Instead, it should open its eyes to comprehend the nation its blindness has created, a nation where men and women alike are sent to the streets to fight for their Constitution-given rights, sent to jail for minor or no infractions.
Justice should widen its scope of sight to everything occurring in their cases, their lives, and their nations. Though justice is “blind” it seems as though the only things they can see are factors that increase the amount of bias they protrude in their lives.
Black men and women are incarcerated at a much higher rate than white men and women.
Women are paid less in the workplace for the same work as men.
The LGBTQ community is hammered constantly for simply living their lives.
If justice officials could see this and process it, the nation would grow and thrive as a diverse land.
“Justice is lame as well as blind among us,” Thomas Otway, an English writer said.
We can change this fact of life. But it starts with the people on top.
Police.
Judges.
The president.
We can open our eyes.
Anirudhha Harsha