Access to Justice in Light of Recent Violence Against Black Americans – Statement of the Maine Justice Foundation

8 June 2020 , Posted in: Press Release

Every person in America must have access to the justice system and equal protection under the law. This is not a principle to be conditioned on race, gender, gender identification, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age, financial condition or religion.  We cannot faithfully profess this belief while standing silent and still in the face of so many racist, despicable and murderous acts carried out in front of our eyes. To stand for justice, as a principle, we must demand an open, honest, and vulnerable dialogue about how the privileged have all silently nurtured a broken culture that stands behind the false armor of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness “for all.”

Justice is not a zero-sum game. Justice is something we have only when our most vulnerable have it too.  We must not hold others down so we can rise up. We must help each other, no matter our differences, stand for justice, dignity and equality FOR ALL. We must live it to give it. We must now make a transformative choice to dig in and talk about how the privileged have allowed this culture of hate to thrive. We must stand together in solidarity against racism, fear and bigotry. We must publicly and loudly root out these systemic and insidious seeds of oppression sowed from silence, indifference and white supremacy. We must have the courage to continue this dialogue at all levels of organizations, communities and government so we can all experience the gift of freedom and justice, once and FOR ALL.

The Maine Justice Foundation looks forward to engaging with all Maine lawyers and Maine civic and political leaders in this critical dialogue.

Respectfully,

 

Michelle Giard Draeger                                William Harwood

Executive Director                                         President, Board of Directors