Justice is not colorblind
17th July 2023 · 0 Comments
Recent actions by politicians and government officials to cover up the injustices heaped upon Black people and other non-whites are clear indications that justice is indeed blind. Justice is blind to the need for justice for Black people, but Lady Justice is also not colorblind.
In fact, in contrast to the complaint by some in power that there is a two-tier system of justice in the United States, the truth is that there is only one system of justice, and that’s for white people.
Current efforts to ban books by Black authors, attempt to eradicate textbooks that document Blacks’ enslavement, lynching, murders, and voter disenfranchisement, and the modern civil rights movement speaks to an agenda by whites to cover up the truth and continue to heap injustice after injustice upon Black people.
Adding insult to injury, they are marginalizing Black people in plain sight. They used to operate under hooded sheets and in smoke-filled back rooms or clandestine meetings in private estates to hatch plans to keep us in our place.
Donald J. Trump Sr. permitted them to be outright, upfront and personal in their efforts to oppress and suppress Black Americans and other people of color.
Fear-fueled, allegedly aggrieved people in positions of power are having a field day talking out of both sides of their mouths in pseudo-intellectual terms to justify their unjust behavior. They are afraid that white children will feel bad if they learn about the heinous criminal acts of their white ancestors.
The Tulsa Race Massacre, which began on May 31, 1921, is a glaring example of injustice inflicted on Greenwood, Oklahoma’s Black residents. As many as 300 Black people were murdered by a white mob in the prosperous community dubbed Black Wall Street. More than 10,000 Blacks were left homeless, and 1,200 homes were destroyed, according to reports. Even worse, thousands of the survivors were placed in “internment camps,” according to the Oklahoma Historical Society:
“By the end of the day—the internment camps held 6,000 African American residents. The next day, authorities moved them to the fairgrounds. The National Guard forced these prisoners, both men and women, to labor. The mayor threatened to arrest anyone refusing work for vagrancy. Authorities required them to clean up the destruction caused by the white rioters. The length of stay varied for most of those imprisoned. Release depended on white employers vouching for their African American workers. After that, the city issued passes, called green cards, for them to carry to show their employment. By the middle of June, the camps closed.”
Last week, Tulsa District County Judge Caroline Walls dismissed the lawsuit of three survivors seeking reparations for the massacre, including Lessie Benningfield Randle, Viola Fletcher, and Hughes Van Ellis, all over 100 years old. Mrs. Fletcher, the eldest, is 109 years old.
Wall agreed with the City of Tulsa’s attorneys, who said, “Simply being connected to a historical event does not provide a person with unlimited rights to seek compensation from any project in any way related to that historical event.”
Unlimited rights? The attorneys claimed that the statute of limitations barred the city from providing reparations. And even if the city disagreed that the plaintiffs should be compensated because the city took their property, built a highway through the community, and profited from tourists drawn to the neighborhood because of the massacre, the legal mumbo-jumbo they put in the dismissal request doesn’t hold water.
The attorneys and Judge Wall clearly chose to ignore the trauma, economic and social losses, emotional and physical distress, displacement, and loss of generational wealth the massacre caused the victims.
Oklahoma school Superin-tendent Ryan Walters continued the Republican agenda of ensuring white students don’t feel “bad” about events like the Tulsa Race Massacre. Oklahoma already has a ban on critical race theory.
“I would never tell a kid that because of your race, because of the color of your skin, or your gender or anything like that, you are less of a person or are inherently racist. That doesn’t mean you don’t judge the actions of individuals,” Walters said. “Oh, you can. Absolutely, historically, you should. ‘This was right. This was wrong. They did this for this reason.’ But to say it was inherent in that because of their skin is where I say that is critical race theory. You’re saying that race defines a person,” the Huffington Post reported.
After his comments went viral last Friday, Walters tried to rephrase his statement, admitting the “events on that day were racist, evil, and inexcusable.” But he still asserted that “kids should never be made to feel bad or told they are inferior based on the color of their skin.”
His belief that (white) kids shouldn’t be made to feel bad ignores the fact that the truth is the truth. What? Should they be spared from hearing the truth?
If justice is supposed to be colorblind in these two instances, pointing out past sins is taboo because it will hurt the feelings of descendants but trying to right an injustice of slaughter for the descendants of those massacred, well, their feelings don’t count?
If that is true, how can you talk out of both sides of your mouth about CRT and AP courses and book bans based on the theory that white children might feel bad? The courts and legislators are ruling that precious white children could be made to feel bad by what their ancestors did, so we have to rewrite history for them. They had nothing to do with what their ancestors did.
But unlike Black folk who can’t be compensated for what was done by white people, the little white faint of hearts have to be taken care of.
If discounting their feelings is good for Blacks, it should be good for whites.
Other groups have been compensated, the Jews, the Asians, and most recently, there’s been talk about compensation for Afghanis who risked their lives to help Americans and were left behind when the U.S. military finally pulled up stakes. Undoubtedly, these groups are deserving, but why aren’t Blacks and other peoples of color, including Native Americans?
Whites in power want to cover up the truth and not pay for their sins. They owe Blacks trillions of dollars in reparations for enslavement, legal apartheid, redlining, and other evil acts. They owe First Nation people trillions and their land. So, all of the hand-wringing over white children feeling bad about American history is just a sorry excuse for avoiding the truth and serving justice.
Black people know Whites will never pay reparations, apologize, or admit wrongdoing. Doing the right thing means first admitting wrongdoing. We won’t hold our breath.
This article originally published in the July 17, 2023 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
