Overwhelming

Today when we visited EJI, Equal Justice Initiative, I was completely overwhelmed by emotion. Seeing the great work they do, seeing all the pictures hanging on their walls, seeing their exhibit to lynching, and most significantly hearing Mr. Henson's story all really touched me and by the end of our time with him I felt like I couldn't move or speak. I have a tendency to think about what I'm thinking, to sort of analyze so I can understand what I'm feeling but in that moment I just couldn't process everything I was feeling. 

I was saddened by what happened to this man, angry at the people and things who made it happen, and his imprisonment being so recent as well as seeing reminders that it's a large scale institutional problem all over the office really just hammered it in. I was also thinking about Prince Greene, a student from my school charged with murder. I don't know exactly what happened that night, and I'll probably never know exactly what happened that night so I can't say who deserves what punishment but seeing all these examples of injustice in our justice system was extremely heartbreaking. The idea of sending someone to die in prison, particularly a child, never really struck me until this moment of hearing how 30 years on death row broke this indomitable man on the inside and seeing reminder after reminder of our justice system failing. 

Not only was I thinking about the present or the last 30 years, but the significance of the justice system as a tool of oppression within the United States since its origin. From vigilante injustice of lynching people, to federal injustice of inequality in sentencing, to slavery through conviction during the late 19th century and early 20th century, these arms of "justice" are some of the most evil things in this nation. All of this really just hit me and came full circle in my mind today, and that was overwhelming.

Brooks Rubin, Baltimore City College