perspective

Blind the jury. Blind the voters.

Wrap white fabric over their eyes, stuff white cotton in their ears. Make them as blind and deaf as Justice herself.

Justice cannot see for a reason, cannot hear the temptation of bribes and false promises that leak from tongues like gasoline from faulty cars.

Leave them in the dark. Let them ponder a world without obvious sense.

Unblind the jury. Unblind the voters. Remove their blindfolds and earplugs and let them hear the screaming of those drowning in the harbor.

Let them be Liberty, watching tall and strong but desperate as the suffering suffer loudly. Let them hear the pain in voices decades too young. Too young is never really a reason, is it. Let them see it on the faces they can recognize as their own.

Let them see it on the faces they can't. Lady Liberty will look with them.

Blind them again. Let them listen only. To the prayers those murdered offer up, to the whispers in the dark, a child comforting a child when there is no comfort for them. Voices will break and crack like concrete against their ears but no flowers will grow from them. These sidewalks won't be repaired.

Show them the worst and then return them to the best they have. Let them realize. 

Blind the jury. Blind the voters. Lady Liberty smiles. Justice grins. 

The scales balance once again.