I am doing this at the tail end of a long day of working and writing. I don’t have a lot left in me, and my heart is pretty heavy. I just turned in the first chapter of The Justice Engine for review in my grad program. It is a timely piece right now, given advances in technology and the awful case involving a Texas kid who stabbed another kid at a track meet. That hits me on a number of levels, given the context of the story I am writing, the fact I have black children, and the unfortunate and continual portrayals of young black men as violent thugs.
The more that comes out about this case, the more we learn about who the victim and his twin brother were. Reading a NY Post article about the event did nothing but reinforce my fears. The article speaks lowly of the suspect, Karmelo Anthony, and treats the victim as if he were a saint. This isn’t the case. In fact, the article goes one step further to push opinion by stating the family will, “retain two hot-shot Dallas lawyers with a history of headline-grabbing racial justice cases.”
This is how it is. Justice is often written in the court of public opinion. It isn’t right or just. Let the truth be heard. Once it is, we will all know what happened, why, and what consequences should result. That’s the story I am writing. I don’t know how mine ends yet. Maybe watching this unfold will power me with inspiration.