by Bobby Bostic
Justice sounds fair. It is a good concept. It is a great word, but hundreds of thousands of prisoners such as myself wonder when will we ever find justice. Why does this word allude us? Why doesn’t the Constitution apply to us? All of the so-called “just” laws on the books sound good in theory but we keep seeking justice but she seems to escape our grasp.
The only people that we see getting even a little justice is those who are wealthy or have family connections. The vast majority of us feel like we will never get real justice. Yet I refuse to give up because I know that this universe was founded on justice. So we should never give up on justice although the powers that be seem to go to extraordinary lengths to keep justice from finding us.
I am not just complaining. I was sixteen years old when I came to prison and now I am forty years old. I was sentenced to 241 years for robbing a group of people wherein no one was seriously injured. Now is that justice?
Yet I still believe in justice. I read about justice every day in my fight for freedom. I study justice in the United States Supreme Court precedent wherein they outline how the constitution applies to all citizens in everyday life in every way.
A lot of guys in prison have become so disenchanted with the injustice that they have experienced that they just disregard Court rulings because it seems never apply to us in here. In fact, many people on the streets feel the same way. They feel like the law only apply to us if we are being punished for breaking the law.
But Justice? What is that? They feel like they have never experienced justice. She keeps alluding us. The statute of the Lady of Justice furnished throughout courtrooms in this country is blindfolded. For those of us suffering from injustice the Lady of Justice is blind to the injustice that we are suffering from. Her scales of balance are tipped because justice is unbalanced in our lives.
Where is justice? Where do we find it? We knock on courtroom doors to find it but the only answer that we get is “go away.” So what do we do? How do we get justice? We keep looking for it until we get it. Remember the universe was founded on justice so we will find it. I implore you not to give up. Justice will not be denied. It is said that “justice delayed is justice denied.” Yet we are still seeking justice that was denied to us long ago.
No matter how long justice has been denied, we still want justice. Especially us sitting in these prison cells for many years or a lifetime. Many people are in prison for crimes they did not commit. Where is justice for them? For those of us who are guilty, do we ever deserve a second chance? In the name of justice we should not give up on the humanity of those behind bars.
Justice please quit running from us? We are demanding a reasonable conversation with you. If society of the state say that it is the representative of justice then talk to us about real justice. Restorative justice believes that humanity can be restored. I maintain that justice can also be restored in the world and for the countless people who have stopped believing in the concept of justice. Nevertheless I hear the protest of those who cry out “why does justice keep passing me by?”