Exhibit ∞

Where is the justice?



This is why.

This is why many of us aren't willing to write Michael Vick off because he killed some dogs.
This is why some of us actually (regrettably) celebrated when OJ got away with murder.
This is why few of us are moved when yet another white woman goes missing.
And this is why, despite criticisms that it was "overkill," tens of thousands of black folks put on black clothes (and many more of us who couldn't make it wore mourning colors in support) moved in on the little town of Jena, LA.


Today, in Panama City, it took an all-white jury 90 minutes to exonerate eight former "boot camp" workers who caused the death of a 14-year-old black boy. The victim, Martin Lee Anderson, died while being detained in a "get tough" children's rehabilitation camp. After being forced to run past the point of exhaustion, Anderson collapsed and was promptly ignored by his captors. He didn't receive the medical help he desperately needed because the group of guards who witnessed him falling to the ground assumed he was "faking" it. They were excused of their criminal negligence because they were simply following the orders of their employers. After a three-week trial, it took only an hour and a half for jurors to conclude that Martin Lee Anderson's life meant absolutely nothing.

When white America informs us day in and day out that our lives, and those of our children, don't matter, we eventually get the point. "Love Us While We Hate You" isn't a slogan that strikes me as catchy.