Tuesday, May 11, 2010



Bruce Emery redux

Two people deliberately arm themselves and go out on the streets. They come across a group of people who meet their definition of "enemy" and attack them. In the process, they inflict serious injuries and discharge a firearm. But somehow, they are discharged without conviction. Why? Because they're old and white, "respectable members of the community", and their victims were young (which was enough in their eyes to classify them as "criminals" who deserved a good beating).

The parallels with the case of Bruce Emery should be obvious. Justice has not been served here. The law has not been upheld. Instead, this judge has made it an object of contempt, and rightly so. "Old man's justice" is not justice at all, and not worthy of any respect.