Columnist Asks, How Can I Trust the Justice System?
Updated: How can I trust the justice system?
That’s the question Leonard Pitts Jr., a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for the Miami Herald, asks today. And, while prompted by the recent acquittal of New York police officers in the death of Sean Bell, an unarmed black man who died in a hail of bullets as he was leaving his bachelor party, this is far from the only injustice that makes him question the system, Pitts says.
He cites a long list of prior incidents of police wrongdoing against African-American men, ranging from his own son being pulled over because he had a Christmas-tree air freshener hanging from his rear-view mirror to the police beating death of a man stopped for a traffic violation in Miami. It is time, Pitts says, to end the “blithe indifference” displayed by too many who themselves are not adversely affected by this widespread injustice.
His question matters to all of us, he says, because the justice system doesn’t work unless it inspires trust.
“People don’t participate in systems they don’t trust. They don’t come forward, they don’t testify. So criminals go uncaptured and crimes, unpunished,” he writes. While he doesn’t agree with those who refuse to cooperate with police in a system they believe is rigged against them, “before you condemn them, ask yourself: Would you play in a game refereed by someone who hated you? What’s the point?”
Related coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “After Sean Bell Verdict, Critics Call for N.Y. Special Prosecutor in Police Cases”
ABAJournal.com: “18th Innocent Man Freed in 1 Texas County; Officials Vow Change”
Updated at 7:30 p.m., central time, to include link to subsequent ABAJournal.com post.
