Dec 6, 2017
There is no door on the accessible toilet stall in the 2nd floor women’s restroom in Orleans Parish Criminal Court.
A small thing, perhaps, in the grand scheme of the casual brutality I bore witness to in court this week, but a vivid metaphor for our so-called justice system, one that strips as much dignity as possible from those who struggle the most to survive in this oppressive system.
One of the legacies of white supremacy that this nation is being called to acknowledge and atone for is how willing we have been to throw people away, especially people of color, into the prison industrial complex… days, weeks, months, years, decades — lifetimes of arbitrary incarceration.
Two years ago, in an Action of Immediate Witness, Unitarian Universalists committed to courageous encounter with the criminal justice system as part of the faithful work of supporting the Black Lives Matter movement:
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the 2015 General Assembly encourages member congregations and all Unitarian Universalists to work toward police reform and prison abolition
Since then, many have joined in the struggle for prison abolition, for an end to detention, for dismantling systemic racism.
Bearing witness to lives shattered and mutilated by the nonchalant mechanizations of our court systems recalls me to this struggle again and again. It doesn’t have to be this way. We can change it.
Love resists, friends. Love resists.
