When I began applying to law schools I believed I wanted to go into family law to be an advocate for children, who many in society deem should be seen and not heard. I wanted to be their voice. Working with children has been a part of my life for many years, in fact, I had hard time deciding on law as the appropriate avenue to affect change in their lives. I also considered psychology or becoming a counselor.
Most recently I have been exposed to the legal system from the perspective of an accused young black man and my thoughts on my legal career path have changed. There are many short cuts taken in justice process that leave primarily underprivileged young minorities up a creek without paddle. Seeing the process of acquiring spotty information, then obtaining a warrant and holding young men without bail on limited information has lead me to believe the system we are taught “Innocent until proven guilty” is more like “guilty and hopefully your public defender can get you off because otherwise you are going to jail and the police will look good for ‘solving’ crimes.”’
A fire has been lit in my core to fight on behalf of these forgotten young men and women who are constantly being told by this kind of unjustified behavior, on behalf of our government, that they do not matter in our society and that their lives are worth less than others.
We wonder why people commit crimes. It is the self fulfilling prophecy, you call someone something enough they begin to believe it and become it. This is not ok. Who are going to be the attorneys who fight the attacks on our young minorities? If not me, who has this type of fervor, then who? I believe
The changes I seek to make start with the individual and work all the way up to the judges who unfairly sentence minorities at an absurd rate in comparison to their white counterparts, for the same or similar crimes, all the way up to the Supreme Court.
Who agrees with any of these statements? Am I just talking or are these real issues other people are feeling?
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2 comments:
we're gonna have a lot to celebrate in about a month when all of the acceptance letters come in!
and by the way, i clicked on a bunch of random ads on your page.
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