 movie star the people who know me really know me are not the ones the judge and the jury want to hear from it says if they wanted to hear a story about some other kid it says if they wanted to watch a movie about some other kid the prosecutor with his fancy words his hard evidence wrote the script directed the scene cast just the right actor to play this kid from the hood who beat up a white kid really bad so bad that he can't wake up to tell the truth punching the air a story about a ma Shahid a 16-year-old who flourishes in art class and is a very focused in school he suddenly finds himself in a situation where it seemed destined to be convicted for murder seen multiple years in prison all because the society's predetermined mold of the black boy this book reaches deep into today's discriminatory justice system and pulls out the cold and what seems helpless perspective of a regular high school african-americans are more likely than white Americans to be arrested once arrested they are more likely to be convicted and once convicted they are more likely to experience a lengthy prison sentences african-american adults are five times as likely to be incarcerated than whites according to us bureau of justice statistics blind justice his mom thinks it's justice for a son but I know that me and him both walked down the path that was already planned for us I we stepped onto the tipping scales of lady justice but our eyes blindfolded peeking through so it's because that rag is so old worn out stretched thin barely even there I'm also he to the left Jeremy Matisse to the right perfectly in balance because where I come from jailer that were the two options she handed to us because where he comes from the American dream was the one option she handed to them so here we are blind lady justice ICU to hi I'm Jeanine and I will be analyzing blind justice and connect the poem to the criminal justice system blind justice highlights how the system is constantly against black youth preventing them from having a normal childhood we can see this in the second stanza which talks about the systemic racism in the United States but I know that me and him both walked down the path that was already planned for us as we continue to the poem the third stanza uses illusion and talks about lady justice blindfolded lady justice is opposed to represent a criminal justice system that judges the plaintiff and defendant fairly the description of the blindfold especially the words right old and barely even there implies that the blindfold or the fairness of the criminal justice system and a system itself has rarely worked properly for a long time and has never truly defended black youth the state of the blindfold being old can mean that even though the blindfold is deteriorating there's no action to replace or fix the blindfold and this can suggest that no action is currently done to fix the criminal justice system and with a deteriorated right lady justice slash the criminal justice system has never really judged people especially people of color fairly the next line states a mall Shahid to the left and Jeremy Matisse the right here in this line there is a sort of word play of Jeremy Matisse is in the right this sort of implies that in society's eyes white people are seen as the innocent victim we carry on to because where I come from jail or death for the two options she handed to us these lines connect back to the theme of systemic racism in America for example police brutality hate crimes over policing in neighborhoods and schools discrimination in careers and schools are some of the harsh realities that black people experience in America as of 2001 one of every three black boys born in that year could expect to go to prison in his lifetime compared to one of every 17 white boys according to the sentencing project in these lines we can see that black people do not experience the American dream that white people enjoy in the next few lines because where he comes from the American dream was the one option she handed to them even though there's an emphasis on one option the American dream allows white people to have access to more options and opportunities than black youth finally the poem concludes with so here we are blind i see you too lady justice is blind with or without the blindfold but in different ways and this can be interpreted as when lady justice does have a blindfold she judges impartially and without the blindfold lady justice slash the criminal justice system is intentional about their judgment and despite seeing the truth right in front of them they still judge with bias and condemn black youth statistics shows in 2016 black americans comprise 27 of all individual arrests in the united states double the share of total population black youth accounted for 15 of all u.s children yet made up 35 of juvenile arrests in that year a connection between race and crime is in a large part of a function of concentrated urban poverty which is far more common for african-americans and other racial groups although african-americans and latinos comprise 29 of the u.s population they make up 57 of the u.s prison population these policies have produced a dramatic rate of incarceration with a particular disproportionate impact on communities of color in addition to a range of harmful consequences to people of color mass incarceration has been a failed policy regarding public safety outcomes research has documented that the effect of imprisonment on crime rates has been modest and that at the current levels the scale of incarceration is well past the point of diminishing returns for public safety the proliferation of racial disparities in the u.s criminal justice system has a profound impact on the lives of people of color behind each statistic lies the face of a young black man or woman whose potential has been cut short by a heart sentence mandated by draconan drug law behind each percentage points lies the face of a latina child who will only know her parents through herrid awkward visits in prison visitation rooms behind each data set lies a community of color bereaved of hope because its young people have been left away statistic the entombment to the middle door slamming shut behind me makes my inside sink to the bottom of my feet to the bottom of these chief sneakers to the cold concrete floor to the basement of this place to the soil to the bedrock to the middle of the earth i bury myself way more than six feet deep this cell is a tomb i left my notebook up there i left my pencil up there down here in the dungeon of my mind i write anyway i draw anyway the pen and pencil are my thoughts and memories the paper is my soul and amani's voice echoes and bounces off the bedrock lingers in the heat repeating repeating mistakes and misgivings mistakes and misgivings mistakes and misgivings i learn about the thing called the butterfly effect not in school but from the guys on the block it was this one dude who said that's why we're always messing up we're always making mistakes because ain't no butterflies in the hood see if there were butterflies we would have what's it's called the butterfly effect a butterfly's wings can change the path of a storm something so small can change one big thing in the world one big thing in the universe if there are no butterflies here no pretty little wings flapping in the hood then we can't change a thing he said it is a metaphor i said ain't nobody asked you he said we are the butterflies i said and the things we do are like wings we do things every day he said how comes things ain't change nah i said everything is changing something every day even this conversation i draw a vertical line on the wall with my finger i can't see it but it's there to the left i outlined the word mistake to the right i outlined the word misgivings mistakes i should have stayed with omari that night i should have just went home that night i should have just went on the ps4 that night umi should have been home that night i should have never met omari that night i should have shooted my shot with zumbia that night i should have went with lucas that day i should have just walked away that second misgivings something wasn't right about those guys on the basketball courts i felt it in my gut so i turned back and left omari with his boys to deal with it something wasn't right about that night the way the air felt around my body as if it was trying to warn me trying to keep me away but i skated all the way to the other park where i knew it was a where people knew my name and my face but by the time i got there they were leaving and skating out of that park and onto the streets like we usually do we were home we knew the twists and turns of every block in our hood we knew the faces the music the grandmothers calling out of the windows we knew the kids and we knew the lines but that night the air was just right and just wrong at the same time one of them said there's this hill over on the other side there's these steps with a handrail where we could skate and where we knew there was a line and we didn't even know that they were following us no chasing us out of the parts of the town where the hood stopped being the hood and became a town they came on bikes and skateboards and we didn't run we stopped i stopped and waited this time this time i stayed and it wasn't even for anybody for no friend for no homie i stayed to defend myself even though everything about that night that moment was telling me what they told us to get the heck out in myself i cracked i break i split in half down the middle i shattered into pieces and bang and bang and bang and bang and bang and bang and bang on that door on those four walls at those four corners yelling shouting screaming calling to get the heck out to get the heck out the following is a poem from the book punching the air titled pipeline we walk one behind the other with our hands clasped behind us our towels rolled up in our fist i used to line up like this in kina garden except with a finger on my lips walking buddy next to me if i turned around or spoke or stepped out of line i got in trouble i always got in trouble because i always had a friend in front and back and next to me there was always something to say to ask there was always a joke to tell to laugh at but here and now it's not a classroom it's a cell block it's not a restroom it's open stalls and showers it's not a lunchroom it's a mess hall it's not friends it's inmates felons and delinquents if i squint i almost can't tell the difference in conclusion with all of our poems combined the one message that we have been conveying is that the american judicial system was not made for us specifically people of color especially black people for so long unlike our white counterparts the government has tried to make us feel that our rights don't deserve to be upheld and defended equally we are always marginalized and watched at so that we can just become another story or statistic or hashtag we made this video to bring light to the bigger issue and highlight a key form of systematic oppression within america and although things seem that they are getting better or that they are going to get better we truly won't progress until we see a total change within the system primarily focusing on teachers and making sure that children are being treated fairly with kindness and respect not just by peers but by school administration as well along with reinforcing belief within black and brown children to let them know that their dreams are attainable but before that more funding needs to be diverted into low income communities and schools which are mainly filled with children of color and along with this prison systems need to be reformed we need institutions that focus on therapy and rehabilitation rather than punishment americans shouldn't be leaving correctional systems worse than how they came in only to return as a group we shed light on this issue not only to get the ball rolling on this topic but to hopefully see real change in the future for too long things have been the same we need reformation and growth now until my black and brown children in school i believe in you the dreams are attainable and you can do anything thank you to all those who watched