Justice for all implies routine systemic success. Now, America works on an exception basis, where once in a great while justice can be found. There is no justice in George Floyd’s murder. But this man gave people a strong spark of hope. We honor George Floyd.
Derek Chauvin showed depraved indifference during the course of his murder trial. His name will be forgotten; not so for George Floyd. George paid the price, sadly. Thinking caring people need to honor George. Make it a substantial step toward real justice for all. Honor the sacrifice and opportunity of George Floyd.
The system can still fail George in myriad ways, at sentencing or on appeal. There is always stretching it out to the point it becomes “justice delayed is justice denied”. Heaven forbid that Chauvin and his ilk take it to a new administration for relief in the form of a commutation or pardon.
It’s an anomaly for a cop to be rightfully convicted of murder. That’s one side of the coin. On the other, it seems increasingly rare for a commoner (someone in or under the dissolving middle class) to achieve basic justice. Disparity abounds.
It’s no small disparity that the rare prosecuted-convicted cop gets every available measure of due process. Contrast that with what gets applied to the masses. In the quicksand of justice, 90% of people charged with crimes are coerced into pleading guilty.
The system is under pressure and has lost its ability to sort out the good guys from the bad guys. So thanks as well to the jury in George’s case – they saw it for what it was.
Justice’s systemic failures reflect the grossly widening income gap, where the controlling money interests reinforce cops and guns on the streets as a militaristic force (not all that different than they do around the world). Sadly, this is bigger than racism, the racism is the most putrid by-product.
On the heels of the Chauvin conviction, Attorney General Merit Garland announced an investigation into the Minneapolis police department because “there might be systemic problems or failures.” This step can help if executed efficiently and they learn and move on to the broader context. But let’s not fall into a tedious expensive pattern of calling out cities in a way that can never really bear fruit in compelling timely fashion.
The requisite context within which justice’s systemic problems must be addressed is national, state, county, and municipal. The justice weaknesses we see and experience are blatant and pervasive. Intervention must be led nationally and oriented to fix things at the national level. Granted, Mr. Garrett’s organization is challenged. And of course many politicians are dead-set against doing the right thing. He deserves our unreserved support.
To be continued.