Just Justice For All Analysis

Glen Loury argues in his essay called “A Nation of Jailer” that the United States is a nation that follows a society that has been affected by racial bias. Loury claims that the people who are targeted by law are racial discriminated. Loury mainly talks about the “poorly educated black and Hispanic men who reside in large numbers in our great urban centers.” (1) Loury has made a clear and strong point. Loury shows his points in three main ways. Loury emphasizes his points by using ethos, logos, and pathos. Loury uses many well-known characters in his writing, and Loury uses strong phrases that impact the reader emotionally and questions to make sure the reader has some sort of connection to Loury’s evidence. Furthermore, Loury gives a lot

Racism in the United States has not remained the same over time since its creation. Racism has shifted, changed, and shaped into unrecognizable ways that fit into the fabric of the American society to render it nearly invisible to the majority of Americans. Michelle Alexander, in her book, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness shatters this dominantly held belief. The New Jim Crow makes a reader profoundly question whether the high rates of incarceration in the United States is an attempt to maintain blacks as an underclass. Michelle Alexander makes the assertion that “[w]e have not ended racial caste in America; we have merely redesigned it” using the criminal justice system and colorblind rhetoric. (Alexander 2). The result is a population of Black and Latino men who face barriers and deprivation of rights as did Blacks during the Jim Crow era. Therefore, mass incarceration has become the new Jim Crow.

In the new proactive book, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, Michelle Alexander dives into the not so complicated racial issues that plague this country that we tend to ignore. In all of history, African Americans have had to constantly fight for their freedoms and the right to be considered a human being in this society. It’s very troubling looking back and seeing where we have failed people in this country. At the turn of the century, when people began to think that we had left our old ways behind, this book reminds us that we are wrong. Racism is still alive today in every way, just in different forms.

In his memoir Just Mercy, Bryan Stevenson shares his experiences with justice and mercy--or the lack there of; be these experiences his own, or the experiences of others which he has witnessed. Unfortunately, because of the color of their skin or their social standing, Stevenson and his clients are often treated with a justice rendered from mercy. An example of this is when the two police officers accosted Stevenson. Had they been calm and clearly expressed that there were concerns of burglary in the area, they could have peacefully come to the conclusion that Stevenson was no threat. Instead one of the officers immediately drew his gun which lead to a hostile treatment of Stevenson, a cruel violation of his rights, and, when the officers rummaged through his files, an unlawful breaking of attorney-client privilege.

The third critical book review for this class takes a look at “The New Jim Crow” by Michelle Alexander published in 2012 by the New York Press. This book analyzes the problem with the incarceration system in the United States today that unfairly affects the African American community. This incarceration system is continuing to separate families, strip men of their freedom, and effectually make them into second class citizens upon release from prison as “free” men. She even describes that those who are convicted of these crimes are “relegated to a racially segregated and subordinated existence” (Pg. 4). Michelle Alexander is not only a published author but is also an active Civil Rights activist all while currently employed as an associate professor of law at Ohio State University. It is a very interesting read that coincides with where our class discussions have recently been. It argues that we as a country have not ended racial discrimination but just transformed it into a new type of caste system. It is an eye opening book that created an uncomfortable feeling while reading due to my level of ignorance on this topic prior to taking this class. I believe that this book will serve as an important narrative into fixing the race problems in this country because it brings to light what needs to be fixed. If any progress is made it will be because of books like this that expose the problems but starting to fix them will be the next step.

The election of Barack Obama as the 56th president of the United States raised many hopes that the “Black struggles” was finally over. For conservatives, Obama victory reassured their beliefs that there was no longer such thing as racism and that every American had equal rights and opportunity to pursue the American dream. While many people have come to believe that all races have equal rights in America, Tim Wise argues in his documentary “White Like Me” that not only does racism and unconscious racial bias still exist, but that also White Americans are unable to simply relate to the variety of forms racism and inequality Blacks experience. This is mainly because of the privileges they get as the “default.” While Wise explores the variety forms of racism and inequality today such as unconscious racism, Black poverty, unemployment, inadequate education system, and prison system, the articles by the New York Times Editorial Board, the Human Rights Watch (HRW), and Adam Liptak further explore some the disparities in the criminal justice system. Ana Swanson points out in her article, “The Stubborn Persistence of Black-White Inequality, 50 Years after Selma” that while the “U.S. has made big strides towards equal rights,” significant gaps still remains between the two races. With the Supreme Court striking down a “portion of the Voting Rights Act that stopped discriminatory voting laws from going into effect in areas of the country with histories of disenfranchisement,” civil

Many people believe the titles of names of places, people, or books have little to no meaning, I can argue there is a reason behind every single capitalized letter and chapter title and every person’s name. In the common read, Just Mercy we can truly test this theory. Throughout the introduction and sixteen chapters that follow, the amount of emotion and strategically placed names of each chapter depict a strong image of struggle or happiness. The title of the book itself “Just Mercy” represents all that America strives to become a civil and lawful society. We can start by dissecting the title “Just Mercy”. If you were to google “Just” the word is defined by having a basis in or conforming to fact or reason. (“Just.” Merriam-Webster). The definition of the word “Mercy” states two different meanings, compassion; or a blessing that is an act of divine favor. (Mercy.” Merriam-Webster). Immediately upon putting these two words together you come to find they balance each other. The correspondence between just and mercy sound like they belong together, it simply means the fact of being kind. Beginning with the rest of the titles, Stevenson parallels Harper Lee’s famous novel To Kill a Mockingbird into his day to day struggles of an unjust court system.

“Racism still occupies the throne of our nation,” Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. pronounced just before his assassination. Almost fifty years later, we are still faced with the same unchanged threat that makes the words of Dr. King true. As individuals, communities, and a proud nation we have made an everlasting fingerprint for the children of our future, yet we lack the strength of acknowledgment to alter the course of racial discrimination and conquer prejudice. Has the formation of structural discrimination rooted itself too deeply into our subconscious that hope for rehabilitation seems unattainable? As a nation, we voted a man with a white mother from Kansas and a black father from Kenya as the first multiracial President of the United States. Racism has not been eradicated because of the racial background of President Barrack Obama and we have not accomplished victory because of his African decent because prejudice has been too deeply fixed within our society. Social circumstance and the insinuation of race continue to change over time, precisely because race has become a social construct that serves political ends. The prior and present leaders of our nation organize, generate, and endorse the laws and public policy that ensure racism continues to maintain itself against people of color. Our historically racist foundation, the rising effects of structural discrimination, and the view of modernized racism all actively participate in shaping our structural

Despite changes in the landscape for treatment of ethnic minorities in the United States over the past 200 years, issues with racism has never stopped being an issue and continues to tarnish and tatter the very fabric of our nation. There has been a history of violence against Black people that dates back 400 years, to a time when the first slave was forcefully brought here to the USA (Rogers, 2015). From that time on, people of African descent have been dehumanized and treated as second-class citizens and this has become an ongoing community issue (Diversi, 2016). Racial classification was created as a way to condone slavery and maintain the primacy of the white race (Tolliver, Hadden, Snowden, & Manning, 2016). Aymer (2016) explains that the Critical Race Theory (CRT) provides a way to understand that the violence that Blacks face in America originates from the societal belief in White superiority and, when trying to understand the Black reality, centuries of racial oppression must be discussed (Aymer, 2016). CRT acknowledges that racism is primarily a problem in America and has contributed to the social disparities in the U.S. In addition, it notes other forms of oppression that are important to discuss and work through. CRT does not believe in the legal rhetoric that there is an impartial, equal way of dealing with individuals in the community that has nothing to do with color and everything to do with achievement and hard work. It also takes on an interdisciplinary

Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption is an autobiographical account written by Bryan Stevenson. The book details Stevenson’s trials and tribulations as a civil rights lawyer practicing during the height of discrimination and racism in America. Stevenson founded The Equal Justice Initiative (EJI), a law firm in Montgomery Alabama, to defend minorities and the disadvantaged who were wrongfully convicted or sentenced unfairly. Convictions were often long processes which were filled with setbacks. The trials were often riddled with corruption, injustice and blatant dishonesty. Thus, many innocent people, or those who were simply incapable of knowing right from wrong, were imprisoned or sentenced to death. Despite numerous injustices and reasons to lose hope and perspective, Stevenson is able to evoke change which instills a feeling of hope within the reader as well

Looking at the cover of the book, Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redempt, written by Bryan Stevenson, one could not understand what would be thrown at them after opening the crisp pages. Breaking the title of the book down, we know what ‘mercy’ is defined as the feeling toward offenders through a person with the ability to oversee justice within our system. Furthermore, the two words ‘just mercy’ is implied that our officials that are administering the justice within our system go about it in a conscionable way. Stevenson’s starts off with an autobiographical introduction that sets forth how the context will be delivered to the readers. From the start, Stevenson explains how he got into the profession of defense law.

He acknowledges that the resentments of the black and white communities “aren’t always expressed in polite company,” but these resentments are manifested within our society in destructive ways, like racism (Obama, par. 31). The audience feels that he is knowledgeable and credible on the immediate topics affecting our future and our daily lives.

Have you ever walked into a Starbucks and within two minutes the police escorts you out for no good reason? Can you envision being shot holding a device the cops “feared their lives over”. Imagine being a suspect of interest because a crime was just committed, and you are being just walking home on my regular route but never make it home or even to see another day. “Oppression and discrimination are closely related, as all acts of oppression are also acts of discrimination.” This terror and anxiety occurs every day for African Americans. An individual is set to believe the purpose of the Justice System is to “deliver justice for all, by convicting and punishing the guilty and helping them to stop offending, while protecting the innocent,” nonetheless with the lack of acceptance because the color of their skin it is hard to get by without looking over your shoulder.

“Give me your tired, your poor, you huddled masses yearning to breathe free,” reads the statue of liberty. This is what our country should base our ideals and the way people are treated upon. Based on excerpts from Mark Twain’s “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”, “ The Narrative Life of Frederick Douglas,” “We Treat Racism” “Donald Trump’s Call to Ban Muslim Immigrants,” “Donald Trump’s False Comments Connecting Mexican Immigrants and Crime,” and Ava DuVernay’s “Selma”. It has become very obvious that racism still exists because of social oppression, mass discrimination, and the stereotypes that have been placed on people of color to this day.

The following paragraphs will talk about the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), a private agency that does work on behalf of Human Rights issues. Along with the mission of the organization it will also speak to the work that they have done and the challenges that they encounter in the process.