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To start, here's the entry from the Oxford English Dictionary:
I. The quality of being just.
1. The quality of being (morally) just or righteous; the principle of just dealing; the exhibition of this quality or principle in action; just conduct; integrity, rectitude. (One of the four cardinal virtues.)
COMMUTATIVE, DISTRIBUTIVE justice: see these words.
{dag}2. Theol. Observance of the divine law; righteousness; the state of being righteous or ‘just before God’. Obs.
3. Conformity (of an action or thing) to moral right, or to reason, truth, or fact; rightfulness; fairness; correctness; propriety; = JUSTNESS 2, 3.
{dag}b. Just claim, right (to something). Obs.
II. Judicial administration of law or equity.
4. Exercise of authority or power in maintenance of right; vindication of right by assignment of reward or punishment; requital of desert.
poetical justice: the ideal justice in distribution of rewards and punishments supposed to befit a poem or other work of imagination.
5. The administration of law, or the forms and processes attending it; judicial proceedings; {dag}in early use, Legal proceedings of any kind (obs.).
bed of j., college of j., court of j.: see BED 7, COLLEGE 1c., COURT 11. High Court of Justice: see quot. 1873.
{dag}b. The persons administering the law; a judicial assembly, court of justice. Obs. (In early quots. difficult to separate from pl. of sense 8.)
{dag}c. Judicial authority, jurisdiction. Obs.
d. In colloq. phrases, as Jedwood or Jeddart (= Jedburgh) justice, trial after execution. Similarly {dag}Cupar justice. justices' justice, an ironical expression for the kind of justice administered by petty magistrates, esp. when marked by disproportionate severity.
{dag}6. Infliction of punishment, legal vengeance on an offender; esp. capital punishment; execution. to do justice on or upon (of), to punish, esp. by death. Obs.
{dag}b. A place or instrument of execution; a gallows. Obs.
7. Personified, esp. in sense 4: often represented in art as a goddess holding balanced scales or a sword, sometimes also with veiled eyes, betokening impartiality. (= L. Justitia.)
III. An administrator of justice.
The name Justitia was applied (in the 11th cent.) in a general way to persons charged with the administration of the law, esp. to the sheriffs; it was subsequently limited to the president or one of the members of the Curia Regis, out of which the courts of King's Bench, Common Pleas, and Exchequer were developed. These judges were specifically denominated justices itinerant, in eyre, of assize, of oyer and terminer, of jail delivery, etc.: see these words. In the Court of Exchequer (which had a peculiar history) they were termed barons.
8. generally. A judicial officer; a judge; a magistrate.
9. spec. In Great Britain and the United States: A member of the judicature. a. A judge presiding over or belonging to one of the superior courts, spec., in England, one of the courts of King's Bench, Common Pleas, and Exchequer; since the consolidation of the courts in 1875, a member of the Supreme Court of Judicature; formerly applied also to various officers exercising special judicial functions, as the commissioners who governed Ireland during the absence of the Lord Lieutenant or the vacancy of that office.
High Justice (in quot.2 1297) = JUSTICIAR 1. Chief Justice or Lord Chief Justice, formerly, the title of the judges presiding over each of the courts of King's Bench and of Common Pleas; both offices are now merged under the title of Lord Chief Justice of England. The judges of the Court of Appeal are called Lords Justices, and have the style of Right Honourable; a judge of the High Court of Justice is called Mr. Justice, and has the style of Honourable. In the United States Chief Justice is the designation of the presiding judge in the U.S. Supreme Court, and in the supreme court of each state. So elsewhere in places formerly or still under British influence. See also JUSTICE-CLERK, JUSTICE-GENERAL.
b. A justice of the peace (see next) or other inferior magistrate; esp. in pl. the Justices.
10. Justice of the peace ({dag}Justice of peace): an inferior magistrate appointed to preserve the peace in a county, town, or other district, and discharge other local magisterial functions. Abbreviated J.P. Hence {dag}Justice-of-peaceship.
Justices of the peace were instituted in England in 1327, and are appointed by the sovereign's special commission, directing them, jointly and severally, to keep the peace in the area named. Their principal duties consist in committing offenders to trial before a judge and jury when satisfied that there is a primâ facie case against them, convicting and punishing summarily in minor causes, granting licenses, and acting, if County Justices, as judges at Quarter Sessions. See also QUORUM.
IV. Phrases and combinations.
11. Phrase. to do justice to (a person or thing): a. to render (one) what is his due, or vindicate his just claims; to treat (one) fairly by acknowledging his merits or the like; hence, To treat (a subject or thing) in a manner showing due appreciation, to deal with (it) as is right or fitting. to do oneself justice, to perform something one has to do in a manner worthy of one's abilities.
{dag}b. To pledge in drinking. Obs.
12. attrib. and Comb.: attrib., as justice-box, -business, -day, -hall, -height, -hill, -parson, -room; objective, etc., as justice-maker; justice-dealing, -like, -loving, -proof, -slighting adjs.; justice-broker, a magistrate who ‘sells’ justice; {dag}justice-court, a court of justice; spec. the Court of Justiciary; justice-eyre (-air): see EYRE ; justice-seat, seat of justice, judgement-seat; spec. (see quot. 1641).
51 comments:
Twista- Hope, lyrics, 2004
(Verse 3)
Wish the earth wasn't so apocalyptic,
I try to spread my message to the world the best way I can give it,
We can make it always so optimistic,
If you don't listen gotta live my life the best way I can live it,
I pray for justice when we go to court,
Wish it was all good so the country wouldn't have to go to war,
Why can't we kick it and just get em on,
And in the famous words of Mr. King “Why can't we all just get along?",
Twista may be known for his fast rapping skills with his songs, "Overnight Celebrity" and "Slow Jamz," but this political song stands out from other songs he has done, alluding to many issues from civil rights, war, and of course justice. Justice is used in context with the court, the judicial branch of the government. He prays for a fair trial.
This song was on the original soundtrack for "Coach Carter," a movie about the Richmond High School Basketball team right across from my high school Salesian High School College Preparatory. Please take some time to listen.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3puD1nJCzJQ
My last entry on Twista's "Hope" was found Saturday February 13, 2010 on Satellite radio at Hercules Gym.
This entry was found yesterday at Hercules Gym on Satellite radio as well. (I'm surprised by how many songs have the word "justice")
Cake- Short Skirt/ Long Jacket, lyrics, 2001
I want a girl who gets up early
I want a girl who stays up late
I want a girl with uninterrupted prosperity
Who used a machette to cut through red tape
With fingernails that shine like justice
And a voice that is dark like tinted glass
I don't know much about Cake but this song has one catchy groove all due to the bass line. The line "nails that shine like justice," is a difficult simile to grasp if one doesn't find justice as fair. Justice must be seen in a positivist outlook. To me this statement is not saying, "Nails shiny as the judicial branch giving equal rights to both parties." This is more of an allusion to justice as one of the many idealized fine freedoms of America.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/19/nyregion/19judge.html
Ex-judge Michael Corriero Tries to Keep Qing Hong Wu in U.S.
"Judge Keeps His Word to Immigrant Who Kept His"
Quote from the article:
"'Here was a young man who did everything we expected of him,'he [Judge Corriero] said. 'It really cries out for some kind of justice.'"
This article was brought up in my Asian American Studies class on Asian American politics with Professor Michael Omi. The young man in this article, Qing Hong Wu, is an illegal immigrant from China and had a criminal history as a teen. Aftter attending a reformatory and working his way to becoming a vice president of an Internet company, when applying for citizenship he was immediately deemed ineligible and faced deportation due to his criminal covinction. Justice is used in this article in the judicial sense. Judge Corriero wants Wu to have the proper rights and punishment, which is in this case, full citizenship and the right to stay in the U.S.
General definition of Justice
Justice is a word that has caused much controversy amongst many theorists all around the world. This word brings social norms to question, in regards to what the people of the community seem to agree as just, consequently expects all men to abide by the norm. In other words, this social order controls the behavior of men in a way that satisfies every man’s happiness. In a reading for my Criminal Justice class back in community college, Plato identified justice as juxtaposition with happiness. This however, is not the only place in which men seek to find justice. Justice is searched for in the area of natural resources, socioeconomic status, education, health, immigration, life/birth, at an individual/State/Nation level, job position and everywhere a man believes to have rights to live content. Justice thus can be applied to every area thinkable because its primary goal is to look critically at societies and determine from those who have to those who have not. Consequently, contrast the level of just available to the individual/community/state/nation.
Are borders Just? The answer depends on who you ask. However, what is definitely true is that borders are not only physical divisions (walls, fences, rivers) they are also geopolitical and metaphoric borders. According to Anzaldua, the reason why borders are evil and unjust, is because they have the potential to produce, rapes, murders, land grabs, and brutal police detentions that are largely ignored. Borders also create binaries with exclusionary force (p.31); these divisions are found in race, citizenship, gender, religion, society, economy and sex, amongst others. Moreover, borders “mapped the violence of U.S. colonialism, patriarchy and capitalism" (p. 31) This can be seen by exploring current death rates at the Texas-Mexico border. Additionally, borders have existed for hundreds of years, some scholars such as Berestein, choose to document violence that arises around the border but ultimately he fails to build awareness, because he minimizes the affect. Furthermore, borders have been centers for violence, some of the most notable incidents erupted around WWII; East and West Germany, North and South Vietnam and later Mexico and U.S., according to Mary Pat Brady on her article “borders.” But the question still remains, do borders cause injustice , per the level of border friction created by interest groups such as anti-gay and lesbian, anti-social welfare programs, anti-free education etc. etc. Are all actions undertaken by exclusion of another group racist in nature? Should we include rather than exclude to prevent unjustifiable actions?
Justice in Gender Issues
Justice amongst genders has been identified as a marker of social difference, a bodily performance under normative challenges. (p.118) In fact, it was not until the early 1900 that white women were allowed to vote. Even worse, Black femininity was focus on the distinctions between Black and White with it's core on the idealization of white femininity. Concurrently, stereotyping of black women as having strong features almost masculine, prevented them from being seen as females. Furthermore, African American men were ratified by congress to “be allow to vote” since late 1800 hundred, but were not allow to exercise their vote until 1964. These gender and race histories were only the beginning of the complexity of human oppression based on human bodies that would need to rise out of, political movements, ideological shifting and perceptions about to take place. In 1968, however, the shift went to drag-kings, queer, gay, lesbian etc. who gender change the roles of men, by dressing like women and vice versa. Drag-kings/queens also well begun acting like the opposite sex, thus confusing the social roles, set to distinguish job responsibilities etc. What is important to point, is that this new social infliction is focus on excluding, border building around the choices these individuals take. Society seems to always have a focus point, an issue. Anzaldua mentions that inclusion can help us understand what exclusion cannot let us see beyond the arch of our bias blindness.
JJustice in Education
Education is seen as a disclosure to obtaining knowledge (general or specific awareness or possession of information, facts, ideas, truths, or principles) through the process of learning (informative experience) from a teacher (trainer in a particular subject) who has recognizable experience with a theory subject which is usually transmitted to students under a public or private education system. In recent years autonomous schools have begun to emerge. In these systems, degrees are used as evidence of knowledge. Assuming that this is so, having the access to getting the degrees, under affordable (families with low incomes should be able to send their kids to school without a worry re fees) circumstances and obtaining an equitable knowledge from the instructors, is the key to Justice in education. Since education has been use as a form of segregation. Those who are able to pay astronomical fees for receiving the knowledge are facing no challenges. However, the problem with affordability is that low income people and medium earners cannot afford this knowledge, which then affects the labor market they will be able to work under, and then, and then. You can see the consequential latter. As mentioned before, degrees are measures of knowledge as well as indicator of socioeconomic status. For example, all “minorities” through the process of discrimination “White peoples”-Europeans superiority beliefs/manifest destiny, created this labor cast structure which still resonates today in the education system; especially in terms of who should have access to it. Thus, the people in power write policy such as Prop 209 which prohibited race-based discrimination or preferences "in the operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting." (http://aad.english.ucsb.edu/docs/kervin.html) But the whole point of it was to return to rational equity! Even when people of color are allow into the higher education system, living expenses, class fees etc. leaves them no choice but to drop out. What’s in question then is, won’t equally educated communities create stronger societies?
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/53/JMR-Memphis1.jpg
Statue of Iustitia by John Massey Rhind is at Shelby County Courthouse in Memphis, Tennessee.
Photo by Einar Einarsson Kvaran aka Carptrash, 12 October 2006
Three symbols of justice as depicted in this statue are a sword symbolizing the court's power; a scale weighing competing claims in each hand; and a blindfold indicating impartiality.
This lady of justice is sitting outside a courthouse. She resembles a judge waiting and listening to what is going on in the court room patiently. Personally, I don't agree with the elements and how they are positioned on her. Both the blindfold and the scale on each hand are confining and blurring her role as the lady of Justice. Although the blindfold represents impartiality (according to the New Oxford Dictionary it means, treating all rivals or disputants equally; fair and just: independent and impartial advice), it is describing a role of a judge rather than that of "Justice." The blind fold is unnecessary when the scale is there to weigh the arguments of a case. The scale usually does the job of weighing and all the judge has to do in this case is go by what the scale says and not by what he/she sees.
The placing of the scales on each hand is making the lady of Justice appear too busy, making the sword look unattended. Since the sword does represent the court's power, here, that power is perceived as something that can easily be taken. Another perception of this positioning is that the sword (court) is not under control as it is seen when the sword is being held.
Altogether, this statue has the meaning of justice and the role of a judge a little mixed up.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ec/Justicia_Ottawa.jpg
Statue of Justicia by Walter Seymour Allward is located outside the Supreme Court of Canada.
This lady of Justice is very different from the one in Tennessee. To begin with, this one is standing and does not have as many symbols as the one in Tennessee which could mean the difference in the way they perceive and how they carry out justice.
The simplicity, and mysterious pose of this Canadian statue is powerful yet very passive. Instead of holding the sword by the handle, she is embracing and almost protecting the sword. It's a motherly embrace that serves as an assurance of "justice" to anyone that steps into that courthouse.
For the Statue of Justicia in Canada go to:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Justicia_Ottawa.jpg
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/ExNY-bank-president-first-rb-2718680996.html?x=0
The word justice appears in the 9th line down in the article with the quote that begins with " you will be tracked down..."
This news article is about the former bank President of New York's Park Avenue Bank, he was charged with stealing from funds provided to his bank through TARP(Troubled Asset Relief Program) aka money from the government bailouts. He is the first person that has been arrested for stealing money associated with the bailouts. The word justice in this article is used to scare others who have already taken funds or who may be considering stealing money from their banks. It almost reads as a promise that if thief's stick their hands in the cookie jar, the authorities will track them down and bring them to "justice".
Week 5-Justice for the disabled:
To be disable means to be unqualified, capable, able to act or do as “normal” people would. People who are considered disable are often the blind, cripple, or anyone with an illness that impairs them from acting as they should if they did not have this disability. In questioning what justice has to do with disability, I questioned what identifying as disable would do to include or exclude and individual, and thus in either reason becoming unjust. In Anzaldua’s case for example in her essay “Disability and Identity” she refers to identifying as disable would reduce her to an even more partial identity than chicana, feminist, queer and any other genetic/cultural slices of the pie terms do. Also, she mentions that identifying as a disable because of her diabetics would make her a victim. That is not to say that she doesn’t believe that people that suffer from diabetics whom at times are bedbound should not be considered disable. She mentions this because this identity category is a particular form of “otherness;” all such western notions are exclusive and hierarchical and tend to homogenize, deface and compress a large number of people under one particular form; allowing issues of class, cultural diversity, ethnicity, and gender to be ignored. Moreover, she informs the reader that when one becomes group the different experiences of oppression and privilege results in the loss of identity, power and agency. This in term becomes as she refers to the same thing as racial identity, creating inequalities, exclusions and marginalization of the disable group. Even in immigrants and uneducated could be considered then for that matter as disable. If getting a job in communications meant that you physically had to be present, but you were perceive as being disable to attend to those job duties due to the fact that you were in a wheeled chair, so could the fact that you could not get a college degree for being an immigrant and not being able to obtain a degree. Thus, Anzaldua allows us to see disability as another way of polarizing between dominant, normal and denying materials and inequality to those who aren’t. For that matter, health is a social construct analysis of comparison. Meaning, you compare your health status as oppose to others, and then create a sense of where you stand. This then raises questions of binaries such as able/disabled, us/them and how they become tools for discrimination and exclusion
Week 6- Justice in Criminal Law
When I first read wrote about education, I realize how the quality of education would impact the outcome on how far a student would get or not; thus in addressing the not, I turn to the question of the criminal law system. First, the criminal system has created gender marginalization that in terms formed separate path models for male and female adolescents through test which tested the relation between both belief in a just world and authoritarianism and delinquency as measured by the extent of rule-violating behavior. Second, it has created racial division, meaning, that due to the color of your skin, you will either be perceived as a criminal or not. In a personal example, just the other day, I was pulled over, and the officer was yelling at me as soon as he got to the window; assumed a racial profiling, said, I bet that you don’t even understand what I am saying to you or that you have a driver license. This kind of racial profiling happens all the way, in school, when students are trying their best but are left with only their efforts because the teacher will not see past the one “typical of their race” time when in order to avoid getting in trouble when the teacher was yelling at you and you were scare to death, lie. As a harsher consequence though, you were sent to the office, and later became a habit of the teacher while the students made fun of you. I knew friend who through this process, bright individuals became marginalize and later engage in fights which got them suspending, and while wondering the street were incarcerated. Looking into the legal system then as a socially construct marginalize by race, gender and even socioeconomic status is not farfetched. In fact, this is exactly what happens, in the legal system, because it fails to consider ethnic backgrounds that a hierarchical society has created. In a paper call, “Towards a Maori Criminal Justice System” the authors mentions that the problem with the criminal system has is that its analysis of law is founded in the belief that 'one law for all' means 'one process for all' rather than 'one resultant justice for all', the debate becomes confined by monoculture strangulation. Once again, meaning that it fails to see beyond the consequences of social marginalization binaries that have been created in education creating an unjust criminal system. How can we then move forward in decolonizing the criminal system would be a question to ask ourselves?
Week 7-Justice in Human Rights:
Human rights are domestic and international norms that help to protect all people everywhere from severe political, legal, and social abuses. Examples of domestic human rights are the right to freedom of religion, the right to a fair trial when charged with a crime, the right not to be tortured, and the right to engage in political activity. These rights exist in morality and in law at the national and international levels. The rights are subjected to governmental scrutiny, however for the most part governments are required to comply and enforce them. One of the most important documents which address the issue of justifiable human rights is the Universal Declaration of Human rights which were drafted by the UN. Human rights address questions about the existence, content, nature, universality, justification, and legal status of human rights. One of the strongest claims made on behalf of human rights for example, is that they are universal and are justified moral norms. Mignolo, “The Many Faces of Cosmo-Polis: Border Thinking and Critical Cosmopolitanism,” Kent, and Charles Beitz who are political science theorist-of cosmopolitan views argued that borders did not exist and that human rights were to be addressed globally. In fact Beitz/Kent argued that human rights should apply to all humans because we all need minimal rights to survive. However, although their intention might have been seen good, once you dig in, you can see that the universality of human rights was only a façade to continue western hegemonic views of conquest, according to Mignolo. These human rights were once again a divided between us/them who abide by the human rights, but now in an international lever. Thus, allowing the U.S. to intervene in the affairs of countries that are seen to be conducting their internal affairs unjustly, because they do not provide their people with universal human rights. The question then is human rights to whose standards? When the human rights norms are being set by superpower countries and demanding the marginalize countries to abide by them or else, then what so just about that?
Justice demands the protection of the innocent. During war however, the killing of innocent people sky rackets bringing into question the justifiable reason for war or for that matter human rights interventions which is the rhetoric often used for the intervention. Bob Marley’s song about war explicitly tells us that until there is no war there will be no peace. He in facts addresses skin color-race which is used as a superior artifacts in which being white gives you priority and power/rights over the nonwhite; he also addresses global citizenship and how it is only a myth, because even in the international world as Mignolo mentioned in his article, “The Many Faces of Cosmo-polis,” citizenship in many countries are receiving first class and second class treatment. For example, European/western countries are seen as first class citizens while the “third worlds” Mexico, Africa where race once again is the model for distention are seen and treated like second class citizens. As an example of intervention where the second class citizenship that Marley and Mignolo are talking about was applied, I will introduce you to the Rwanda Genocide. Rwanda and the genocide of the Tutsi by the Hutu; the Tutsi a smaller amount with “elite” status, given to them by the Dutch (i.e. who to my view, are to blame for coming into a country to create this hostility among ethnic groups, plus backing away when the conflict begun) had taken over government and rule over the majority of the Hutu. When the conflict of the Hutu who were tired of being rule by a minority and force to live under less than human circumstances raised up to the Tutsi, U.N. troops who where in Rwanda with a mission of peace making decided to bail out. Moreover, All European countries in power who are supposedly pro human rights, saw the destruction of one ethnic group and did nothing about it, in fact pull the troops they had there and allowed all those who were under their troops care to be killed. While the European/U.N. and West/U.S. focus on technicalities of naming the killing as genocide or not in order to intervene, what we should question is whether they even had an interest in helping at all? Did they see this as a ethnic cleansing that would get rid of those who in the first place were not wanted by the European enlightenment period? And one last question addresses, a new economic system that has become a modern way of destroying the pre-colonial history based on the care for land and individuals as a person. I decided to include the lyrics of Bob Marley’s song which follow, because they do not need much interpretation but are strong, right on the point of why wars are unjust and in fact are a continuation but in a modern way, hegemonic capitalist glorification of the white race. The lyrics go as follow: What life has taught me
I would like to share with
Those who want to learn...Until the philosophy which hold one race
Superior and another inferior
Is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned
Everywhere is war, me say war.That until there are no longer first class. And second class citizens of any nation Until the colour of a man's skin
Is of no more significance than the colour of his eyes
Me say war That until the basic human rights are equally
Guaranteed to all, without regard to race Dis a war That until that day. The dream of lasting peace, world citizenship
Rule of international morality
Will remain in but a fleeting illusion
To be persued, but never attained
Now everywhere is war, war. And until the ignoble and unhappy regimes
that hold our brothers in Angola, in Mozambique,
South Africa sub-human bondage
Have been toppled, utterly destroyed
Well, everywhere is war, me say war
War in the east, war in the west
War up north, war down south
War, war, rumours of war
And until that day, the African continent
Will not know peace, we Africans will fight
We find it necessary and we know we shall win
As we are confident in the victory
Of good over evil...
Week 9- Justice in Immigration
Immigration for the most part is seen as a bad thing, by people like Waltzer, a theorist whose focus is on the Morality of States and communities which according to him, are build inside countries and are impossible to exist in the international arena, because of the lack of communalities. Thus, immigration became a new way of political control over race restrictions. Laurent Berlant article on “Citizenship,” addresses the hidden issues in the word citizenship. An example of the word citizenship has to do with the insidider, outsider rationale. As an insider a citizen partakes in political action-voting, the right to own property, to work—all these however were only applicable to free white man. Thus, black and women were excluded from policy that shaped the politics of the U.S. Thus an outsider, “alien” would be anyone who follows under the category of nonwhite man. Although white women were not subjected to slavery etc., they too were marginalized and perceived as “mentally ill” according to Berlant. Consequently, during the 1930’s-U.S.-Great Depression, a race discrimination against those who looked differently—brown skin, but were also U.S. citizens were seen as “aliens” foreigners due to the color of their skin, and were repatriated to Mexico. These people who belong to a community of their own, due to the social divides which exist today, were ignore by the deportation agencies. By doing so, the public policy then takes a stand to legitimizes only westernize communities and dismantles—outsiders communities on the basics of race, class and culture. The question to ask here then, has to do with the justification for race discrimination? Not with the legality of legal documentations needed for coming in or going out of the country. If citizenship has to do with communities that share communalities as Waltzer points out then, under what reason would the government should make decision of who belongs to the community or not? Along the same lines of unjust use of immigration in the marginalization of color people was the U.S. policy to assigned different quotas in an attempt to control the color representation of the country. Thus, how just is it to assigned immigration quotas based on race?
Week 10-Justice in Society—Public Key word—Bruce Robbins
Society is a term that is use to refer to people who inhabit a region, a section which are believe to share common morals, social solidarity, nationality, and language and sometimes even cultural identities. Society however when designed by hierarchical division that focuses on race, gender, class, and economic backgrounds can become an oppressor to the differences regarding ethnic backgrounds. Thus a society can exclude rather than include when acting as membership. Bruce Robbins article on “Public,” addresses both sides, where the public is excluded under the basics of knowledge and marginalize in the labor market as well as in the reverse side, where inclusion can be a way of decolonizing past wrongs as Spivak calls it. Robbins mentioned that public is use as a central whole, to marginalize the counter-publics which are the one who are not complete. In other words those who cannot be consider part of the public because they do not first of all share race, cultural identification or language. These counter publics are excluded from the vision of modern capitalism. In the public market the word public is use as divider of zones by dividing groups who receive welfare and thus separating the conversations in regards to political involvement and policy initiatives. Thus the world markets are no longer a border line division but rather a division within a country as well. Bringing these two senses of public into congruence with each other means, according to Robbins, resetting the boundaries of the relevant moral community so that those likely to be affected by a course of action were ever they live, are among those invited to debate it. (187) In other words we should question why public officials for example are the ones drafting policy and are often completely unfamiliar to the zone they are representing? Why should policy be made without the consideration of the cultural needs of the community? Why should we be asked to abide by policy that excludes our cultural needs and considers only western values? How can we honor “social justice” norms that are gender, class, race and culturally bound to western ideas?
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE62O4LS20100325
Car and truck manufacturer Daimler AG allegedly earned $1.9 billion in revenue and at least $91.4 million in illegal profits from transactions tainted by bribes, according to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
The word justice is used in this news article when mentioning the U.S. Justice Department. The department is being involved to maintain morality in business transactions.
http://www.jwj.org/about.html
Jobs with Justice is a website that helps find jobs that work towards lifting workers' rights from struggles as a campaign for economic and social justice. JWJ works towards denouncing employee harassment of immigrant workers, secure affordable housing and defend public services.
Justice on this website is used to speak up for human rights and people who can not safely defend their rights.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/25/us/25scotus.html
The word Justice In this New York Times article is used as a name for a job position. Justice is mentioned numerous times to refer to different Judges to ultimately are going to decide if the victims family and friends will receive "justice" for the crime committed.
This is from a book called "The Conquest of the Philippines by the United States" by Moorfield Storey, 1926. He quotes Abraham Lincoln in relation to the U.S. conquest of the Philippines.
"Governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed."
This definition of just reminds me of the imagery of the colonizer and the colonized. The justification of colonization is due to the acceptance of the colonized. All is fair because the colonizers are allowed to. Is justice necessarily fair in the eyes of the colonized?
http://sify.com/news/government-committed-to-speedy-justice-sonia-news-national-kd1tkhbehfg.html
This article talks about "affordable justice," describing justice in a way that I haven't read before in this study, thus I highlighted this reference. With a backlog of multiple cases, Sonia Gandhi, the chairperson of the United Progressive Alliance proposes the gram nyayalayas (act) which would fast track pending cases. The UPA has done much to benefit the young in education, women in government, and health and environment issues. This article defines Ghandi's justice ideally as speedy, effective and affordable. When is justice speedy, effective, and affordable in other notions/examples of justice?
Keyword: Justice
“A Climate of Campus Racism”
Entry: February 24, 2010:
“It's crucial that the budget cuts protest movement make clear its support for a return of affirmative action and for racial justice on California campuses. By incorporating these demands and building solidarity among students of all backgrounds, the movement can turn the tide on the racists and direct anger where it belongs--the politicians, regents and chancellors who have cultivated sewer politics for decades.”
http://socialistworker.org/2010/02/24/climate-of-campus-racism
Analysis: “Justice” in this article is connected to race, legislation and institutional violence. “Racial justice” is linked to overturning structural violence within institutions like California campuses. The use of “racial justice” in relation to institutional discrimination demonstrates the historical continuance of racial injustice in terms of unequal access and the lack of protection of students who do not fit the “white privilege” hegemony or stratification hierarchy. The quest for “racial justice” serves to emphasize that global racism has not been overcome. The linkage of the concept of “racial justice” to the lack of accountability of administration across educational institutions provides a sense of institutional perpetuation of racial injustice.
Keyword: Justice
“Pope, in Sermon, Says He Won’t Be Intimidated”
Entry: March 28, 2010
“Although the cases cited happened long ago, ‘even decades ago, acknowledging them and making amends to the victims is the price for re-establishing justice and looking to the future with renewed vigor, humility and confidence,’ Father Lombardi said.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/29/world/europe/29pope.html?scp=13&sq=justice&st=cse
Analysis: “Re-establishing justice” indicate previous incomplete judicial justice. The article mentions cases from the past in terms of an ongoing process of affirming justice. In context the correlation of “justice” in “cases from long ago” to present day is also indicative of recurring or continuous failure in satisfying society’s sense of what is fair and righteous. The “re-establishment” of justice serves as an example of deviation of and the unaccomplished of justice which then contributes to a sense of lack of legitimacy or commitment to the act of achieving justice. Lack of legitimacy challenges the authority of said justice enforcers.
Keyword: Justice
“Guest Column: Roundtable on the Future of the Humanities in a Fragmented World” by Toni Morrison
Entry: “Certain kinds of trauma visited on peoples are so deep, so stupifyingly cruel, that—unlike money, unlike vengeance, even unlike justice, rights, or the good will of others—art alone can translate such trauma and turn sorrow into meaning, sharpening the moral imagination.”
Analysis: Used to contrast trauma, “justice” is exposed as an act or concept that carries a lot of weight in society. In usage, the word implies that justice contains power to impact a person or society. In comparing “cruel” trauma, Morrison creates the image of “the other”, the opposite of such trauma. “Unlike justice” alludes to the fact that it may in some sense serve as a “fix” or band-aid to the effects of trauma, but in this case a fix like that is not the correct outlet, it is art.
Keyword: Justice
“The Many Faces of Cosmo-polis: Border Thinking and Critical Cosmopolitanism” by Walter D. Mignolo
Entry: “It is not difficult to agree with both Vitoria and Kant on their ideas of justice, equality, rights, and planetary peace. But it remains difficult to carry these ideas further without clearing up the Renaissance and Enlightenment prejudices that surrounded concepts of race and manhood. One of the tasks of critical cosmopolitanism is precisely clearing up the encumbrances of the past. The other is to point toward the future.”
Analysis: Mignolo references “justice” as an idea that is multidimensional. In stating that it is “difficult to carry these ideas further without clearing up prejudices”, Mignolo signals the existence of a process of defining and redefining the idea of “justice”. Such complexities highlight the existence of contradicting versions of such ideas. “Ideas” can be altered or adapted and as an idea, justice may also change or remain constant to maintain or reverse or transform an outcome, system, person, society, etc. The use of justice in association with “prejudices” illustrates that the idea of justice is flawed, imperfect, and biased -worthy of alteration. The fact that it is used to explain prejudices dating to the Renaissance and Enlightenment serves as an example of Euro-centrism, a bias and exclusionary act. The existence of exclusion of groups in the explanation of justice embodies injustice.
Keyword: Justice
“Outraged by Glenn Beck’s Salvo, Christians Fire Back”
Entry: March 11, 2010
“Last week, the conservative broadcaster Glenn Beck called on Christians to leave their churches if they hear preaching about social or economic justice, saying they were code words for Communism and Nazism.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/12/us/12justice.html?scp=7&sq=justice&st=cse
Analysis: In this article, justice is divided up into types including social and economic. The use of justice here as different fields serves to illustrate the need for it in various ways in society. Different fields or types of justice also indicate the need for experts or resources on those types. In the article, Glenn Beck mentions that if Christians hear “social or economic justice” in their churches they should leave. By doing so and by saying “social or economic justice” are “code words” for Communism and Nazism he is placing negative connotations on not only Communism and Nazism, but on justice itself. He is displaying his disagreement with the versions of justice being “preached” and as so he is attempting to proliferate his own political and ideological beliefs. He is attempting to become a figure with authority and legitimacy which surpasses that of the churches he is referring to. As “code words” he is also referencing the “true”“hidden” definition of his versions of justice.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iYNNGX8vebjGnghuxfnl99YqgZgwD9F1HEE00
Northern Ireland appoints their first Justice Minister. The position had been a long contested one, it needed to be filled. Northern Irelands catholic and Protestant lawmakers finally came to a decision to a point someone to the position. The way in which Justice is used in this news article is similar to how the U.S. refers to the U.S. Department of Justice. The Justice Minister will over see all of the laws and law enforcement agencies.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hlbrg1KHQi17DL1GHbDtqq-2vMHwD9F1RN1O1
A NV. woman was attacked by a man with a medieval style battle axe. The attack was random which left the woman scared with cuts to her face and the attack also resulted in the death of her child. Justice in the article is used to refer to a Judge who is over seeing this case and will decide how the man that attacked this mother and her child be brought to Justice.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/letters/chi-100412clarke_briefs,0,5595014.story
This news article from the Chicago Tribune talks about the Juvenile Justice system. The article talks about how the corrections systems needs to take responsibility for the youth justice system/youth corrections. The youth in the correction system are treated like adult inmates in adult prisons.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Justice-sought-for-gay-AMU-prof-who-was-found-dead/articleshow/5790013.cms
Professor Rajiv Chowk was found dead in his apartment after being fried from Aligrah Muslim University for being gay. Gays are still looked down upon and seen in Chowk's case can be fired for liking the same sex. Justice in this news article is used to bring light to the mysterious death of the professor, many of whom believed he was killed because he was gay.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/13/world/europe/13vatican.html
In this New York Times article, the Vatican posted online instructions for Bishops to follow when a case of abuse in their church arises. This is the very first time the Vatican has posted rules for their leaders to follow. The Vatican has come under fire for covering up accusations of abuse and obstructing justice.
http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/40558
Justice is being used in this blog as a part of a program that seeks to improve the practice and use of forensic science. A lab tech in San Francisco is under investigation for stealing cocaine from her crime lab and using it for her own recreational use. Many individuals that were arrested on drug charges are having their cases dropped because of the actions of this lab tech.
Keyword: Justice
Title: “Answers From a Hip-Hop Veteran, Part 2”
Date: April 8, 2010
Author: New York Times
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/07/answers-from-a-hip-hop-veteran/?pagemode=print&scp=10&sq=social%20justice&st=cse
Context: “Activists who continue to fight for social justice, self-empowerment and awareness also use art forms within the culture. For the past seven years my wife, Christie Z-Pabon, has coordinated a series of outdoor events titled the “Tools of War True School Park Jam Series.” From June through September you can come to NYC and experience hip-hop in it’s purest form!
Analysis: In this context, “social justice” is considered world wide and is used in a way that refers to a social justice culture. Considering the political, justice as a tool, uses cultural aspects of society to educate. Justice takes on an educational form as it is used in a relevant manner within society. It uses identity since many culturally identify with a love for hip-hop. Justice connected to art forms as a tool of education contrasts the cut and dry lecture style of information giving.
Keyword: Justice
Title: “Freedom and Justice in the Modern Middle East”
Date: May/June 2005
Author: Bernard Lewis
Link: http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/60796/bernard-lewis/freedom-and-justice-in-the-modern-middle-east
Context: “Freedom and Justice in the Modern Middle East”
Analysis: The keyword justice is used in the middle of a title of an article on the Middle East. Used in the tile, justice placed along with the word freedom conveys a sense of balance and rightness or fairness. But, when placed nex to the “Modern Middle East,” the tone changes due to a sense of political turmoil within the region. A positive connotation that can be abstracted from the title is the sense that the Middle East is undergoing positive steps towards those goals of “freedom and justice”.
Keyword: Justice
Title: “From Copenhagen to Cochabamba”
Date: March 31, 2010
Author: Franz Chávez
Link: http://www.globalpolicy.org/component/content/article/161-politics/48908-from-copenhagen-to-cochabamba.html
Context: “The main aims of the conference are to organise a world people's referendum on global warming, draw up an action plan to create an international climate justice tribunal, and agree new commitments to be negotiated within United Nations scenarios.”
Analysis: Justice in this article is used to describe what should happen internationally. It is used to emphasize the need for accountability of international law through enforcement. It reveals the need for the enforcement of human rights. The keyword intersects the political, economic, environmental sectors of society and of the international community. A climate justice tribunal is associated with exploitation of resources. In this international arena, a justice tribunal weighs heavy with power dynamics within the international community. Power dynamics can be observed over the need for accountability and transparency through a justice tribunal.
Keyword: Justice
Title: “Justice at Nuremburg”
Date: 1983/84
Author: Fritz Stern Winter
Link: http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/38158/fritz-stern/justice-at-nuremburg
Context: “Justice at Nuremburg”
Analysis: The book title “Justice at Nuremburg” is loaded with historical significance. The city of Nuremburg is symbolic of injustice that took place in Nazi Germany in regards to Nuremburg laws which revoked German citizenship for Jews and anti-Semitic rallies. “Justice at Nuremburg” relates to the criminal justice system and the international community. In context, “justice at Nuremburg” connotes justice against Nazi crimes.
Keyword: Justice
Title: “Lebanon Looks for Cover as Tribunal Takes on Hezbollah
Date: April 6, 2010
Author: Ya Libnan
Link: http://www.globalpolicy.org/component/content/article/163-general/48923-lebanon-looks-for-cover-as-tribunal-takes-on-hezbollah.html
Context: “The new concern in Beirut is that any indictment of a Hezbollah member, let alone an improbable extradition or sentencing, could lead to destabilization, but that refraining from an indictment on those grounds would mean that blackmail triumphed over justice.”
Analysis: Justice here is used as a binary, the opposite being corruption. Justice here is stressed as needing to have integrity and honesty preserved. Justice in the criminal justice sense is emphasized as needed to remain impartial to produce just outcomes. Justice is expressed as needed to be applied.
"It’s official: 2009 was the worst year for the record labels in a decade. So was 2008, and before that 2007 and 2006. In fact, industry revenues have been declining for the past 10 years. Digital sales are growing, but not as fast as traditional sales are falling.
Maybe that’s because illegal downloads are so easy. People have been pirating intellectual property for centuries, but it used to be a time-consuming way to generate markedly inferior copies. These days, high-quality copies are effortless. According to the Pew Internet project, people use file-sharing software more often than they do iTunes and other legal shops."
Illegal downloadING is not just. It is AGAINST the law yet many continue to do it, easily. What kind of measures have the government done to implement copyright laws? This is definitely unfair to artists.
The above is from : http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/03/the-freeloaders/8027/
"While we raised the money to license about two-dozen songs and some footage, our film nevertheless contains over 400 brief-but-unlicensed uses of copyrighted material. When I can't sleep at night, I sometimes count how much we'd be liable for: up to $150,000 in statutory damages, per infringement. 400 x $150,000 = $60,000,000. Sixty. Million. Dollars."
Sampling in Hip Hop is part of the culture. Songs and sound bites are copyrighted material and with this documentary we will see how there is injustice in artist creativity. Artists being sued for their creativity is interesting. Think about the original artists and how would they feel having their music "stolen." Where is the justice in sampling?
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/11/theater/11tupac.html
"Johnathan Jackson, 19, who plays Shakur in “Eclipse,” admits that the rapper’s music appeals more to his mother’s generation than his own. Still, Shakur’s commitment to social justice — and his dramatic life story — distinguish him from most contemporary hip-hop artists."
Wow. A Tupac play, what could get better than this? Tupac is one of the most influence figures in the west coast, especially in the West Coast. His music speaks to many people regardless of race and strives for social justice by depicting the life and injustices as an black man from the ghetto.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/11/theater/11tupac.html
"Johnathan Jackson, 19, who plays Shakur in “Eclipse,” admits that the rapper’s music appeals more to his mother’s generation than his own. Still, Shakur’s commitment to social justice — and his dramatic life story — distinguish him from most contemporary hip-hop artists."
Wow. A Tupac play, what could get better than this? Tupac is one of the most influence figures in the west coast, especially in the West Coast. His music speaks to many people regardless of race and strives for social justice by depicting the life and injustices as an black man from the ghetto.
Hundreds protest deportation of foreign workers` children.
"Hundreds gathered in Levinsky Park in southern Tel Aviv Saturday evening to protest against the possible deportation of 1,200 children of foreign workers at the end of the current school year.
Demonstrators held signs reading "Israeli children - Israeli citizenship" and "I want to stay", and chanted "There are no illegal children" and "No to deportation". "
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1157680.html
There is no citizenship by birth in Israel. Foreign workers who help the economy of Israel face deportation. Foreigners do not enjoy the same freedoms as citizens. There are similarities when it comes to citizenship in both the U.S. and Israel. Deportation is a serious issue that marginalizes people and silences many.
http://www.workers.org/2010/us/racist_radio_host_0415/
Filipino group demands apology from racist radio host
"Corporate media outlets such as CBS Radio Inc., Clear Channel Communications, Citadel Broadcasting and the media oligarchs such as Viacom that own them, literally profit in the billions annually off one task — disseminating information to the public and shaping public opinion."
In Asian American studies the issue of the lack of Asian Americans in media is addressed. Asian Americans are stereotyped or never seen on screen. The absence and invisibility of Asian Americans leaves them absent and obscured under a lens that discriminates. Racism is the biggest influential form of injustice that many face on a day to day basis. Whether immigrant or citizen, nationality and color has been the point of tension.
Injustice more than justice happens in the educational system that tracks students' success in school. The tracking starts to happens in two forms, by recommendation and through tests. In elementary school, teachers recommend their students for the classes they will take the following year. Usually, a student that is liked has advantage over one that is not because they are more likely to be recommended to a better class. After this stage, in middle school, students are tested and placed based on their test scores to classes that will prepare them for high school classes. By placing students in higher classes, it guarantees that they will be in the college prep track. Those that don't test or fit the qualifications are placed on other tracks that don't necessarily lead to college prep courses and college in the end.
This system is unjust to students who don't do well when tested. It is also unjust because when students are trying to get out of a track that is not preparing them for college, it is very hard. FOr example, an ESL student can't take an AP calculus class because of the language placement.
The book that has this information is Keeping Track: How Schools Structure Inequality by Jeannie Oakes
AB 540 is a law that was passes in 2001, allowing undocumented students pay instate tuition after completing the requirements of graduating from a California high school or receiving a GED, and living in the U.S. for three years or more. Yet, the downfall to this law is that these students are not eligible for federal financial aid or grants. They are to fund their education through scholarships or private funds.
In this scenario, half justice is done because these students are given the opportunity to pay in-state tuition but have to fund their own education through any means which is the downside. The obstacle then becomes finding the money to pay for the cost of attending a university. This is usually what becomes the major hardship to overcome because there aren’t many private scholarships open to undocumented students. The very few that do exist are extremely competitive because there are twice as many students and not as many awards to be given.
What has come out of AB-540 is people complaining that the bill is unfair to citizens who don’t “benefit” from it. The lawsuit, Martinez vs. Regents of the University of California deals with the discrimination to citizens that AB-540 is causing. However, what they choose to ignore about AB-540 is its impartiality to status. The bill does not state that only undocumented students are able to apply. In fact, all citizen students have to do is be eligible under the requirements.
This is where real justice is being done because both citizens and undocumented students must fulfill requirements in order to be eligible to apply to in-state tuition.
65,000 undocumented students graduate from our high schools every year. Unfortunately, only 5 to 10% of undocumented high school students pursue higher education. Even if they apply and are accepted to college, the reality is that most do not continue. It is not because they lack the desire or preparation, but because they cannot afford it. Blocked from all forms of federal and state-based financial aid (including grants, work study, and loans) their families simply cannot pay the increasing costs of college tuition and fees.
One injustice across the board is the increasing cost of tuition. Undocumented students are already having trouble paying for college, and the increases only become another burden and obstacle that deters them from continuing in school.
The immigration system is also unfair because these students are ready to excel and contribute to the American economy, and society but are not able to because they don’t have the proper documentation to work, drive and be here legally. If the immigration system acknowledged the benefit these students would be to society, better laws would be made to support such exceptional students.
Education and learning should be free of boundaries that limit who and what people have access to because learning can only make our society better. A master plan of education was made that among many other things, “established an admissions principle of universal access and choice, assigning UC to select its freshmen students from the top one-eighth (12.5%) of the high school graduating class and CSU from the top one-third (33.3%)” (University of California).
The fact that this is still maintained shows the great need for the government to maintain the hierarchy of classes. Students are not given equal opportunities to succeed because already, there is a certain percentage of each class that will fit the 12.5 percentage to go to UC and 33.3 to CSU. What about the other 54.2 percent? Are there no expectations for them? The community college system is open to everyone, however, the whole 54.2 percent will not necessarily continue. While the UC and CSU percentages are more likely to get a good job after graduation, the ones that don’t make it are maintaining the working class job positions.
Read more about the plan at: http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/aboutuc/masterplan.html
One time, the manager at my house asked me to help her design a logo for our house to be the letterhead. The non-profit to whom the house belongs to had already hired someone to make a logo, however, the designs were not liked and that is why I was asked to create one. I basically made on on the spot and handed her a sketch of it so she could present it to the organization.
It was approved, and I was asked to make it on the computer. SInce I am not technologically advanced, they took it to the person they had hired to make my design. Once it was done, I did not receive credit for my idea, nor did I get paid for it.
Justice was not something that was considered in this case because the designer should have given me credit. Also, the manager was not big help in getting justice done here because all I was told was that I need to learn how to use software so that next time I can do it and get paid for it too.
People need to speak with credentials and particular knowledge on some fields to be taken seriously by academia or other people. This is a form of discrimination toward people who are believed to be ignorant because they are being pushed aside. In reality no one is ignorant, the fact that sometimes we don't know about a certain topic doesn't mean we are stupid. It just means there were no means to explore ideas due to economic status or other social factors.
Equality in the creation of knowledge should not only be in the hands of those with credentials but those with ideas. Those ideas should be considered and researched too with the thought of giving those with the original idea credit as is already being done in academia when one sites someone else's work.
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