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Dear Editor;
Wikipedia says, "Social equity is concerned with justice and fairness of social policy." It's being misused by groups like Black Lives Matter, saying it's a Social Equity issue that certain events happen. What we are facing is not a Social Equity issue. It's a Justice issue.
Equity, you see, is the word of the day. Not equality. The Declaration of Independence declares that "all men are created equal ... endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights." Equity means something different. Equity, in the common political parlance, means that each group should receive the same outcome as every other group. "Social Justice" however suggests that your group identity, your identity as a person, relieves you of individual responsibility to be a decent human being.
Let's consider the way life has been since the beginning of time. Instead of Social Justice, let's promote Individual Justice. I am responsible for my actions, YOU are responsible for yours. If those actions violate the laws of our society, Individuals are responsible. Liberals believe Groups or Social Tribes (ethnic, religious or sexual or other divisions) are responsible for actions. Today hard core leftists call themselves Social Justice Warriors (SJWs) and do this because they believe that individual justice is racist and sexist and bigoted and homophobic.
Individual Justice believes we should each be held responsible for our actions. SJWs think that's unfair because we're not just individuals, were part of a group. If it turns out a certain group has more members in jail, it can't be because a lot of individuals in that group have committed crimes. If you think of people only because of their racial or ethnic group or their sexual orientation, THAT'S actually racist or homophobic and discriminatory.
So who are you holding up as examples?
George Floyd "black murder victim" (as your sign says) died while resisting arrest while committing a crime. Between 1997 and 2005, he was convicted of eight crimes. In 2007, Floyd faced charges for aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon; according to investigators, he had entered an apartment by impersonating a water department worker and barging in with five other men, then held a pistol to a pregnant woman's stomach and searched for items to steal. If you're still confused about equality and equity and justice, can you tell your children they should be like George Floyd?
Well, let's look at Equal Justice or, if you prefer, Equity.
On July 15, 2017, Justine Damond, a 40-year-old Australian-American woman, was fatally shot by 33-year-old Somali-American (Notice they don't call him an African American) Minneapolis Police Department officer Mohamed Noor after she had called 9-1-1 to report the possible assault of a woman in an alley behind her house. As she approached the Minneapolis squad car, unarmed, hands in clear sight, Officer Noor drew his weapon and fired out the window, striking and killing Justine Damond. I'll bet you never heard about it? She was not a criminal, was not doing anything illegal but was in fact reporting a possible crime and was gunned down by a "Somali" police officer.
In 2019, Noor was sentenced to 12.5 years in prison. Noor appealed to the Minnesota Supreme Court, and they reversed Noor's conviction on the basis that the state failed to prove that he committed murder with a "depraved mind" which is a "generalized indifference to human life". Noor has been released and is now a free man.
I prefer Justice over Equity.
John Curran
Dodgeville, WI
jcurran516@aol.com