Nothing is Absolute

The concept of "innocent until proven guilty" works well in a world either without a social hierarchy or where said social hierarchy is codified and universally accepted. Given that the latter scenario, in our particular world, is inherently unjust and the former does not describe our world, I contend that the concept of "innocent until proven guilty" does not work well for our world.

This does not imply that "guilty until proven innocent" works well for our world. We have a whole history of actual events and libraries of fictional scenarios that clearly demonstrate how poorly that system works for us.

The concerns I have are with the word 'proven', the dichotomy in the statement, and the logical inference that creates an adversarial justice system. The framers of our constitution and the patriarchal societies that have created our justice system did not account for, nor care about a single, sexually active woman bringing rape charges against a man she went on a date with who ignored her obvious rejections at the end of the date, then went ahead and raped her, but with lube and a condom. They didn't care about and probably couldn't comprehend many legal situations like this where our standards of proof will easily let a dangerous person walk free.

What happens here is an adversarial situation where one person has every reason to lie, twist words, and manipulate the legal system in order to continue with the status quo. Without the issue of privilege, this case would be difficult to resolve in an adversarial way. The first hurdle privilege puts in place is that our culture constantly considers women 'liars'. Not only does this woman's prosecution have to prove that the accused is guilty, they have to prove that this woman doesn't conform to this cultural stereotype.

The second hurdle is status itself. Criminals typically go for victims of lower status, which is why men rape women or men of lesser status rather than men that they respect. Rapists often try to increase the status imbalance by picking victims from even lower status circles. Frat boys who are seniors in college get freshmen girls drunk to rape them because those girls are both inexperienced and less likely to have known these boys for a long time. High School sports stars will coerce the social misfit to spend time alone with him, then use shame, superior strength, or drugs/alcohol to rape her. The prosecution in either case will have overcome the third hurdle of proving that yes, this well respected person did do something horrible to a nobody.

More research could find other hurdles to add, but as we see over and over again, these hurdles are enough in and of themselves. The adversarial justice system that presumes a verdict that one side must prove false does not work when someone of privilege commits a crime against someone without privilege. I haven't even touched the effect of money on the whole situation, but it should be obvious.

My proposed solution is to do away with an adversarial justice system and instead set up a system with the goal of ascertaining the truth. The accuser and the accused would have representation, but so too would other stakeholders. No judgement could be made by a single person or body of people, but instead must be demonstratively true based on all possible evidence and probability. Stereotypes and privilege will always be examined in every case, and the rules of logical argument will always apply to the final decision.

Nothing is perfect either, but a system with a goal of determining the truth through collaboration will probably find it more accurately than one that pits people against each other.

The World is a Strange, Ugly, Horrible, Beautiful, Scary Place

I'm not sure what I can do now. There are so many things happening around me right now, so many horrible things going down and so many misconceptions right next to me that I'm lost. I have an opportunity to share the things I've learned with people who need to know them, but I'm suddenly afraid.

The conversations I have online and with my friends come from a place of mutual understanding. We take it as a given that all people are born with rights, with dignity and the possibility to succeed, but they are born into circumstances that might stop them before they start. The circumstances might stop them before they are even born. I know that I'm where I am because of the privilege of my skin and my place of birth, not just because I'm smart and work hard. I was allowed to be smart, and people noticed my work, and now they reward it. There are many more people like me that aren't where I am now.

I see the future and it looks like the past, but which past? I'm afraid of re-living dark days, afraid of shanty towns in my own country, people suffering needlessly. I'm within the top 10% of earners in this country, but I can barely imagine living on less at this point. How do the rest of us do it?

All my hopes are pinned on 2014 right now - Republicans are so far past the light that they think they can read in the dark. I've got money to shield me now, but it is little solace. I can't pretend the world is alright just because I am. I was raised a hell of a lot better than that.

Intolerant Vengeance

I am intolerant, I am angry, I have a thirst for vengeance. When a random person dies because someone has a Rambo complex, all of my compassion for the victims of our draconian criminal "justice" system goes out the door. When bloated, moronic thugs think that violence against protesters is warranted or even funny, I begin imagining the cruel things I'd like to do to them, and it is usually exactly what they are doing. I have no sympathy for Johannes Mehserle, though his show of remorse puts him above George Zimmerman. Both killed someone who did nothing to deserve it, who were trying to build successful lives, who were not threatening anyone.

I am disgusted by the Zimmerman defenders on Facebook today. Disgusted with their inability to grasp that no matter what Trayvon did in his life, he did not deserve to die. I am disgusted with their parroting of the uncorroborated story that Zimmerman told and changed over the ensuing months. To them, it is not good enough that a child is dead, that parents are mourning, and that the person that did it is free. I don't know what would be good enough for them. To me, they are without empathy, without compassion, without character. They will cry up and down that they are not racist, and that I am the one bringing race into the situation, but one cannot bring race into any situation in America, because it is already there.

Race and racism are inextricably intertwined, knotted, in the American story. Race and racism are the American story. You cannot tell the story of the early colonies without telling the story of the conflict between those with slaves and those without. You cannot explain the industrial revolution without examining the textile industry and it's roots in the cotton plantations of the south. Race is in everything we do in this country, it is present in every part of our society, and racism is a part of every single person here. It doesn't matter if you're white or not, it doesn't even matter if you have been a victim of racially based prejudice. If you are an American, it is not a question of "are you racist," but rather a question of "how racist are you?"

From that end, it is important to understand how we perceive race and how we act on it. If all you can do when you hear this is think "well, I have friends who are black, I can't be racist," I assure you that you most certainly are. If you never question your thoughts as you walk down the street and see black people walking towards you, you're probably crossing the street to avoid them. You're condescending to them at work and left wondering why they are getting testy with you. Like the addict who has to admit to the problem before being able to solve it, you have to see your own racism before you can consider rising above it.

I contemplated my own racism this week and it bothers me. I see names from certain cultures associated with projects at work that I would like to be doing and I become jealous and irritated. I assume they are in the position because they are cheaper labor, or because of something else, I don't know what. That bothers me and I am bothered by the bothering, and I'm not sure I will ever be able to control those thoughts. The important thing is that I am aware of them, and aware that they are unjustified and racist, and now I can see if my behavior changes because of them.

But the Zimmerman defenders will not do this. They will swear up and down that they are not racist in the least for this reason or another. They will pedantically bring up the idiotic notion that because Zimmerman wasn't completely white, that he somehow can't be racist. Then tell you that Zimmerman had a "right" to "defend himself" while ignoring the fact that he initiated the conflict in the first place. They can't be bothered to think that maybe Martin should have the same ability to defend himself from a stranger following him. The next step is to ask why the kid didn't call 911, to which I wonder if it is good enough that the boy paid for that mistake with his life.

Mehserle got away with murder, but he had remorse. I have enough reason to believe that he will be haunted by his actions for the rest of his life, but I have no reason to think Zimmerman is anything but pleased with what happened. He strikes me as a sociopath that I can't even bear to look at. He projected his own sociopathy onto a random person walking down the street. A person that fit a profile, one that he probably doesn't realize was racist, and just as the BART cops escalated the situation at Fruitvale because of their own unexamined racial anxieties, Zimmerman pursued an honor student coming back from a store with snacks. He didn't bother to talk to him and ask what he was up to; he followed him like a stalker, ensuring that the boy would be afraid and on the defensive.

My anger at this Zimmerman is overwhelming. The things I wish on him are best left unrecorded. That I am open about that is probably ammunition to the Zimmerman defenders - "hey, look, she just wants to see bad things happen to him, she's bad" - but I don't care. I'm human and I have human anger about the death of a promising 17-year-old boy. I'm angry about all of the promising young men who are cut down, and I'm angry at all of the young people who live in environments that don't allow them to be promising, like mine allowed me. I have this thirst for vengeance, and an intolerance for those who would not sympathize.

I Guess it's Not That Bad

Oscar Grant is scheduled to come back to life in two years anyway.

Update: It isn't even two years, Mehserle gets to count the time served, so he will be out in seven months! Apparently, justice only has compassion for someone if that person is a police officer who killed someone. All I know is that guy better never show his face in the East Bay again.