Ranthropologist

Tag: justice

  • Forward March

    Forward March

    This is the first time I’ve posted since the election, but the final night of Barack Obama’s presidency seemed like a good time to write. Tomorrow morning, January 20, 2017, Donald Trump will take the oath of office and be sworn in as the 45th president of the United States. For me and for many others, this will be a dark day. Nothing about Trump’s behavior since election day, or the people he has chosen to surround himself with as Cabinet members and advisors, gives me any comfort about the next four years. That’s why on Saturday morning, I’ll be in San Diego participating in my local Women’s March on Washington. It’s also why I am doing something that many of my friends refuse to do, and watching tomorrow as Trump takes the oath of office.

    The most common reaction I’ve received regarding my intention to watch the inauguration is one of disbelief. Why, people are asking, would you want to watch? I have yet to find another person opposed to Trump who says they will be watching. I understand. But I feel compelled to watch. I wouldn’t put this same burden on others, but for me it feels like a moral obligation. I love my country, and I think Trump is going to do things that will harm many people not just here, but around the world. I’ve always been the kind of person who has hoped for the best but prepared for the worst, and by watching Trump take the oath, I am preparing for the worst. I need to see him make a sacred promise to our nation that I don’t expect him to keep. I need to be clear eyed in the face of the threat I believe he represents. I am prepared to keep watch on him from the very beginning, as hard as it may be, so I can be ready to act when he does harm. Bearing witness to a moment that will be so very difficult will help galvanize me to take action for justice, equality, and truth. I will be standing strong in the face of fear and looking the embodiment of that fear in the eyes. I will not cower or turn away or try to ignore it or pretend it isn’t happening. I will watch.

    I don’t expect others to feel the same way. And I definitely don’t think you have to watch the inauguration to take action against the injustices that I am sure are coming. But for me it will be a moment for steeling myself for what is to come. It will be the first step of my forward march.

  • Daily Read: Ban the Box

    Daily Read: Ban the Box

    Today’s Daily Read covers a topic that I think is very important, but you don’t hear a lot about. It involves the little box on job applications asking if you’ve ever been convicted of a crime. That box was never more than a blip to me as I checked “NO” and moved on – but then I met someone who had a criminal record. This guy didn’t even serve time, yet he had a record, and so he had to check the box… and I have no doubt that it contributed to the fact that he struggled mightily to find employment, in spite of submitting a blizzard of applications over the course of several months.

    In theory, once a person has paid their debt to society for a crime, they should start with a clean slate. Obviously there are certain crimes, and certain jobs, that require more care; e.g. I can’t blame an accounting firm for not wanting to hire an embezzler. And banning the box does not mean that employers can’t ask about criminal records or run background checks. But once a person has served their time, if they are unable to find meaningful employment (by which I mean a way to support themselves, not necessarily a dream job), then what do you think the chances are that that person will stay out of trouble with the law? Obviously, being unemployed is not justification for committing a crime, but based on the experience of my friend, who only had a misdemeanor and yet had the door slammed on him again and again, I can’t imagine what the struggle is like for someone who served time for more serious crimes. If we want the system to be rehabilitative and to serve the cause of justice, then I fully support banning the box and giving folks with a record a better chance of staying out of prison.

    Pressure Mounts for Obama to Ban the Box

  • Daily Read: Mob (In)justice

    Daily Read: Mob (In)justice

    When I saw the reports about the killing of Zimbabwe’s beloved Cecil the lion, I was as disgusted as I always am when I hear about someone taking pleasure from deliberately killing an animal as a trophy. I am not opposed to all hunting, but I do find trophy hunting to be distasteful at best. So as the reactions to this particular lion’s death at the hands of US dentist Walter Palmer made the rounds of social media, I felt the same sense of sadness and moral outrage as many of my friends. Still, it wasn’t long before I became uneasy as news that the hunter’s personal information was being made public began to circulate. Known as “doxxing,” releasing personal details like work and home addresses, email addresses, and phone numbers is a method to exact a perverse form of internet mob justice.

    Writing for Vox, Max Fisher explains why the internet mob outrage over Cecil the lion is something that should make us all uneasy. Whether or not you think Walter Palmer is a scumbag for killing Cecil is irrelevant, since this form of internet vigilantism can be linked to many different controversies, including the nauseatingly misogynistic Gamergate movement, in which doxxing, threats of violence, and horrific personal attacks against women are the norm. No matter how you feel about Palmer, you should take what Fisher says in this article to heart. Internet mob justice is just the modern equivalent of the pitchforks and torches of yore – in other words, it is not justice at all. Fisher puts it well: “What Palmer did was wrong, and he deserves to be punished to the full extent of the law. But it’s easy to forget just how dangerous and unjust ‘mob justice’ is while it’s targeting someone you despise. The more this behavior is normalized, the more likely it is to be deployed against targets who might not necessarily deserve to have their lives destroyed — including, perhaps one day, against you.”

    From Gamergate to Cecil the Lion: internet mob justice is out of control