Problems in the Halls of Justice

America has a justice problem and we all know about it.

First there is your social class. Face it, rich people are treated much differently and better than the (ever disappearing) middle class and poor. Money talks, so to speak.

Then there is race. There is no argument here that white people are treated differently than everyone else. Asians might get treated better than Hispanics. And everyone gets treated better than African Americans. Jim Crow still exists in the hall of justice, or injustice as the case may be.

Then there is next divider: Gender. Males are treated differently than females and LGBTQ individuals.

Police are sworn to protect and serve. Nice half a sentence. Whom are they supposed to be protecting?

In the case of India Cummings, it seems to be themselves. We are how many months after her death and only now is there being an autopsy on her body. And at that, they are bringing in the coroner from Rochester, NY to do the autopsy because Buffalo and Erie County seem to be drowning in opioid deaths.

Seriously? They have to do a full blown autopsy to determine if an opioid killed someone? I have a student that is in jail and the night he was apprehended after a lengthly police chase (in car and on foot) they determined (by blood test) that he was high on marijuana and that he had been drinking alcohol. Now, why can't the coroner's office do a blood test to see if opioids are in the blood stream and ask the police if fowl play is suspected? Just my rant for a little common sense. Either that or cut some salaries in government offices and hire a few more coroners.

And the Buffalo News reports today (June 16 2016) that prisoners asked the police officer on duty to get India some medical treatment because (in their words) “she needed it.” The officer responded that he “knew how to do his [expletive deleted] job.”

And we still don't know how much of India's incarceration is on video or how many witnesses there are to what happened to her.

Smells like a cover up to me.

Some one is trying to hide something.

Shaun Porter may have benefited from what happened to India. Because of all the negative publicity, press, and protests a lieutenant on duty took action the night Shaun was assaulted while in police custody and he received the appropriate medical care.

Furthermore, charges are pending against the officer that assaulted him and two other officers are on unpaid administrative leave for not intervening when they saw Shaun being mistreated.

A federal prosecutor, William Hochol, is investigating the case and there is a chance that Shaun Porter may see some justice because of what happened to him. The officer that assaulted him could see up to ten years in prison. The two other officers should face some sort of discipline. (I hope.)

The sad part is all three officers are white and I'm not holding my breath for any sort of a long sentence.

The fact of the matter is that we are lucky we are seeing what we are seeing.

And the only reason we are seeing this is because people got loud.

Perhaps we need to get louder so that India can get justice.

Then again, we need another system of justice that sees African Americans whites, Hispanics, and Asians, males, females, and LGBTQ as the same before the law.

That's going to take a revolution.

And it is one that that the system is going to try at all costs to stop.