Advertisement

PLATFORM : Justice for Whom?

Share
<i> KAREN KAY HIXSON is a Los Angeles consultant who specializes in public policy. She comments on a recent case in which a lawyer forfeited his home in return for a guarantee that he would not be prosecuted for suspected ties to a drug-trafficking ring. She told The Times:</i>

Too many young African-American children watch their unemployed fathers being taken away by the police to serve hard time for dealing a small amount of drugs.

Then they hear of the Santa Monica lawyer who turns over his $3.2-million Malibu beach-front house (along with its $2.5-million mortgage) to the Drug Enforcement Administration and never gets indicted, never goes to court and never sees the inside of a cell.

The Santa Monica lawyer goes free and South Los Angeles gets a “Weed and Seed” program.

Maybe what singer-philosopher Gil Scott Heron has been saying for years is true: Justice is for “just us.”

Advertisement

As long as justice is for “just us,” there will be little concern for the rest and their values. As long as justice is for “just us,” there will be collective resentment nurtured by generations of tortured souls. As long as justice is for “just us,” there will be no peace.

Advertisement