Restorative Justice

Our current justice system works on the principle of revenge. As we saw in the movie Dead Man Walking, both murderers and the families of victims suffered emotional and physical pain because of the death penalty. Although the parents of the children thought that Matt's death would bring them peace, in reality in brought them nothing but more pain. I believe that the idea of restorative justice could be a more healing and reconciling way to deal with crimes like these. Granted, it would be very hard to implement. If a parent loses a child, their first instinct is to hate and wish revenge upon the person who killed their child. Forgiveness will not come easily. Focusing on the victims and victims' families and the personal needs of them as well as the offender offers a better alternative to our current system that only focuses on abstract legal terms and punishments. By implementing a system of restorative justice, we would add a little bit of love into a hateful situation. I believe that this little bit of love would make all the difference.

Dead Man Walking

My own personal feelings on the death penalty have always been vague. On one hand, a part of me appreciates the justice of killing a man who has raped, murdered, and showed no repentance. However, a larger part of me cries that killing a murderer is still murder, no matter what he has done. The film Dead Man Walking has affected my position on the death penalty, because it showed me that every person deserves life. As Sr. Helen said, "People are more than the worst thing they've done in their lives." Although I still see the justice and satisfaction of punishing a murderer and rapist with death, this movie shifted my opinion to be more opposed to the death penalty than I was before. Two new things I learned about the death penalty were, firstly, how often it is used, and secondly, how exactly lethal injection works. I never knew that dozens of people have been executed each year since the 1970s, a fact which shocked me. I also was not aware of how painful lethal injection actually is. I always thought that it simply put the prisoner into a sleep from which he never returned; I never imagined that it imploded first his lungs then the rest of his internal organs. To say the least, watching Dead Man Walking has changed my views on the use of the death penalty in America.

Race in America

Race in America

              I would agree with most of Mr. Smiley’s arguments about racism today. I do agree that black Americans are not treated the same as white people. However, I think that the inequality between the two races only exists on a large scale and that one-on-one racism has almost disappeared. Although I do not have the authority to say that no black people experience racism in person, I do believe that it has become less common. However, as Mr. Smiley said, black people are still held in “the new slavery of poverty.” For many reasons, including slavery and the economic oppression of blacks during the early 20^th century, there is a great economic divide between white people and black people. For example, in the United States in 2011, about thirty-five percent of black people were living in poverty, while only thirteen percent of white people were living in poverty.  However, this economic inequality is not something we can easily solve. Perhaps Mr. Smiley believes that a conversation about race would be difficult because the economic inequality between the races is rooted in such trenchant causes. However, Mr. Smiley seems to think that this economic inequality is a direct result of white people’s racist behavior toward black people. I, on the other hand, think that the disparity between the races is a result of mostly historical factors. To make a conversation about racism easier, I hope that we can acknowledge that there is inequality between the races, but also to realize that this inequality is not white people’s fault. If we can work together as equals, I believe that we can create an America where everyone, black or white or Hispanic or Asian, has the same rights and liberties.

Hotel Rwanda

Hotel Rwanda In the movie Hotel Rwanda, Paul thanks Jack (cameraman for BBC) for risking his life and filming the killing. Paul hopes Jack’s bravery will bring help. Jack replies: “If people see this footage, they’ll say ‘Oh, my God, that’s horrible,’ and then they’ll go on eating their dinners.” 1. Was Jack right? 2. Why do you think people are so indifferent to the suffering we are able to view on the evening news? 3. If Jack was right, would you try to get people to help? How?

When Jack said that people would "go on eating their dinners," he was absolutely right. Although thousands of people viewed the horrific results of the Rwandan genocide on the news, no one intervened. People are indifferent to second hand suffering. We might hear something horrible on the news, but since it doesn't really affect us, we simply go on with our day. Perhaps we are just wired that way. After all, for thousands of years humans only needed to be concerned about themselves and their own survival. However, in the past few centuries, the world has become one large global community where everyone is interconnected. Unfortunately, however much we might want to do the right thing, I think that most of us still have that primitive mindset where we are only concerned about what immediately affects us. In order to get people to help each other, we have to realize that what happens to one person or one country truly affects everyone on the planet. Although the suffering in Rwanda or Syria or China may seem so far away, we have to realize that those people are just like us. They are mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, employees, neighbors, and friends. It may be easy to push suffering and hardships out of our minds, but we have to stand up and protect our brothers and sisters no matter where they live.

Social Justice Issues

     We are faced with many social justice issues in this day and age. Across the world, human beings are denied their rights to education, life, and freedom. However, I consider our two most pressing social justice issues to be the need for women's equality  and the extreme nationalism of many countries and people today.
     In the 21st century, half of the world's population is still oppressed. Even though America is one the best countries in the world for women to live in, we are still paid less than men, sexualized in the media, and kept out of the most powerful positions in business, politics, and medicine. In other countries, women are treated almost like animals. In the Middle East, women are not allowed to drive, wear what they want, love whom they want, or receive an education. In India, women are raped, degraded, and treated as objects. The lack of respect for women leads to other horrifying crimes such as human trafficking, the sex slave trade, and forced prostitution. If the human race cannot respect half of its members, we will never advance far from our primitive origins. 
     Secondly, I consider nationalism and sectionalism between countries, regions, and even people as a social justice issue. Looking at recent conflicts such as the wars between eastern European countries like Croatia, Serbia, and Kosovo, the Rwandan genocide, or the current conflicts between the Alawites and the Sunnis in Syria, all of these conflicts are the result of strong pride in one's nation or ethnic group. If we cannot learn to resolve conflicts diplomatically and rid ourselves of our prejudices and hate, I am afraid that atrocities like the Rwandan genocide and Syrian civil war will continue to occur.