Reading Journal #6

"Equal protection and equal treatment are an illusion."

"The law is a political instrument used by specific groups to further their own instruments."

These two quotes brought some interesting aspects of social justice into light. The ironic thing is that more often than not, social justice is injust. The example of same-sex marriage, for example, where the privileges of the majority status are excluded from a minority population, was particularly striking. Though I am not gay, I personally have no problem with gay marriage. The book brings up an interesting point, however; "Older couples...see marriage as a heterosexual istitution that symbolizes an oppressive system they don't wnat to be part of". It seems that many couples of sam-sex orientation have found a way to live their lives around the law. Instead of being subjugated and compared to the norms of society, gay couples do not commit themsleves to the institution of marriage. The book further states that some older couples find marriage insulting, that their relationship has survived despite not being legally recognized. However, the absence of a legally binding relationship alleviates many of the privileges of recognized marriages. The benefits that heterosexual couples receive is extraordinary in comparison, a veritable social injustice. One facet of the text that stuck out in my mind was that the state we live in, Vermont, fewer couples than expected have taken up the "advantage" of civil unions. It truly does seem that many couples have decided to foresake the institution of marriage becuase it does not fit their needs, nor does it increase their social mobility any.

Another aspect of the text that struck me was the section on crime. It has always been apparent to me that people in positions of power tend to slip their way out of the social justice system, but the extent to which this is true was not revealed until I read the text. The OJ Simpson case is a perfect example of this, and Simpson himself is somewhat of a contradiction of social injustices. On the one hand, he did indeed have some of the legal benefits that whites who stand trial usually benefit from, such as a jury of his race and the ability to buy a good defense. On the other hand, the evidence presented against Simpson cannot easily be denied. If blood from the victim was found in his car, prosecutors cannot take such facts lightly. His acquaittal shocked many Americans, mostly of the dominant white society. As the book explicitly states, "justice has never been blind". And racial profiling and death row sentences are a perfect instance of how minorities suffer from justice that. It did not surprise me when I read that more minorities were pulled over for suspicion of transporting drugs, yet more white people were actually in possession. Though it has been banned in many jurisdictions up to the federal level (excpet when a matter of national security), we shoudl not assume that it is not unpracticed. The death row is another instance in which minorites are vastly overrepresented in an aspect of lawful injustice. Why is it that 50% of those inmates in death row are African American or Latino?There is no question that racism is prevalent in the justice system but what cost do racial tendencies ask for? Someone's life? Simply because keepign someone alive in prison for the rest of their existence is cheaper than killing them makes the death penalty an impractical means of punishment. This furthers racial techinicalities and pushes us further from each other. In so serious a matter as justice, if it is to actually be taken seriosuly, bias an prejudice holds no place.