Two Murders, Two Colors

Ladies and gentlemen, we live in a country where we are supposed to be equal under the law, where justice is supposed to be blind. But we all know that isn’t the case. Explicitly or tacitly, the law is applied differently based on the color of your skin, or where you live, or your education, or how much you make, or who you know.

We live in a country that spent 100 years defeating slavery, then another 100 years defeating prejudice, and you still want a justice system that decides cases based on the color of your skin?! I want to live in a society where we live together knowing that even though we look different, we are all equal under the law, and thus we are equal in the fabric of society. And make no mistake, laws are the fabric of society. Without law, society cannot exist, civil society anyway. And a society of laws in which those laws are not applied equally is not civil either.

Ladies and gentlemen, we are on a precipice. We are faced with a choice. We can choose civility and harmony. Or we can choose chaos and misery.

We can choose to return to the rule of law, to equality under the law, to blind justice. No more affirmative action, no more discriminatory welfare programs, no more race-based education opportunity, no more racial identity at all.

Or we can choose to selectively enforce the law based on circumstance, to “interpret” the law, to be “sympathetic” to certain people. Though this choice might have the appearance of being “fair” or “right,” it is actually a rejection of law, a rejection of civility, a dissolution of society into chaos where being on the good side of the law is determined on a whim. Where one man determines the fate of another based on nothing but a superficial trait.

That poor black boy murdered that man because he was hungry! He needed the money to buy food! He deserves parole for good behavior!

That rich white kid murdered that man because he’s crazy! Death penalty!

Two murders. Two colors. Chaos. And misery.