In November on 1915, Swedish-American Labor Activist Joe Hill was framed on a murder

charge and wrongfully executed by the Salt Lake City Sherriff’s department.

In March of 1933, Ernst Thalmann, a German Communist leader was arrested by the Nazi party
given no proper trial and having committed no real crime, he was sent to Dachau concentration
camp where he spent the last decade of his life, until he was executed in 1944.

In 1969, Black Panther leader Fred Hampton was killed by the Chicago Police Department.

In 1971 the British Army began Operation Demetrius in Northern Ireland, arresting hundreds of
Irishmen on the claims of them being terrorists, despite most being innocent, all because of a
continued resistance to continued British colonialism in the 6 counties. None were given trial.

In September of 1977, Steven Biko, an anti Apartheid leader in South Africa died in prison due
to injuries sustained, after having been arrested for organizing against the apartheid system.

There are many more stories of mistreatment of political prisoners I implore everyone to
research yourself, like Ibrahim Kaypakkaya, Abimael Guzman, or Leonard Peltier.

Why do I tell these stories? Because this is an issue that has yet to be solved, yet is continued
to be ignored. For every Martin Luther King, who is released from prison and continues the
struggle, there is a Fred Hampton who is killed. For every Nelson Mandela, there is a Steven
Biko. As Howard Zinn said-“So it is necessary to go outside the rules and regulations of the
state to achieve happiness for oneself and others”, and this is the mindset that I think embodies
many of the individuals I mentioned. Most of them knew the danger they were placing
themselves in, but they continued anyway.

Why did they do this? They came from unjust societies and situations and firmly believed that
change was needed, no matter the risk they place themselves in by doing so. This is something
that I think is beautiful in a way, and also where many views of justice fall flat. To oppose the
injustice in law and government, and not just that but continue the struggle no matter how far it
goes. How can we view the oppressor with compassion when their response to people fighting
against injustice is to commit further injustice? The Dalai Lama mentioned the story of an Irish
man forgiving and befriending a British soldier who blinded him with a rubber bullet, but what
does that do when the British Army is still in Ireland?

To truly achieve a just society, we need solutions to the injustices, and that’s not as simple as
forgiveness and concessions. As Malcom X said, “I will never say, that progress is being made.
If you stick a knife in my back nine inches and pull it out six inches, there's no progress. If you
pull it all the way out, that's not progress. The progress is healing the wound that the blow
made.”

Justice is a complex thing, and to achieve it is a great and difficult hurdle that may hurt the
individual, though a necessary one for the betterment of the entirety of humanity.
Reactions:

I found both Naima and Mya’s monologues to generally be agreeable to me in how the
injustices of society as a whole are recognized, but I am personally somewhat critical of John
Rawls and their use of his ideas, specifically the idea that justice can be achieved through
making institutions equal, while institutions themselves are the source of the injustices they
push, so to solve the injustices requires a much deeper level of change than Rawl’s would say.