Watching Netflix's "Oprah Winfrey Presents: When They See Us Now" made me curious to watch "When They See Us". I can fully relate to every single character in the story. I cannot remember how many times I cried. It is heavy to the heart as it features the true-to-life individual stories of young boys who were incarcerated for many years for the crimes they did not commit. Everything was because of some investigators and judicial persons' premature conclusions which were connected to something deeper than what many eyes can see.
It took Ava DuVernay's creativity, courage and vision to write and direct "When You See Us". Per Wikipedia, it is an "American drama web television miniseries created, co-written, and directed by Ava DuVernay for Netflix, that premiered in four parts on May 31, 2019. It is based on events of the 1989 Central Park jogger case and explores the lives and families of the five male suspects who were prosecuted on charges related to the rape and assault of a woman in Central Park, New York City."
Every story has lessons to teach us, and from their stories, we learn what to do when we encounter the same challenges.
It squeezes my heart every time Korey Wise shouts "Mama", and emotionally says, "I love you, Mama," "You tried to do your best, Mama," and "I miss you, Mama". He is dragged to the case although not in the list of initial suspects, just because he wants to protect his friend, He does not want his friend's mother to worry about her son so when the investigators come to bring him for interrogation he does not leave him. Of all, he suffers the most as he is separated from the rest who are all put to what they called "juvee".
It exposes the cruelty of the world -- from the investigators who squeeze the young boys to fabricate some false testimonies, to legal officers and judge who wanted to close the case. In the jail, some inmates are so brutal to Korey that he almost gets killed few times, and the guards do not care, but there is also one who is kind to him as he says he got a son, too.
It shows also how some family members and the society can be very, very rude and unkind to an innocent person. To balance it, there are also those who support them, being of same skin color and faith.
I cannot understand how educated people who took their oath as public servants to protect the country and its citizens, could do that horrible injustice to those boys. They are like thieves who stole their and their families' peace and happiness, their precious time which cannot be brought back, their dreams, their lives. How can they sleep at night?
If the Goddess of Justice were alive, she would tell everyone in the justice system Mahatma Gandhi's lines --
There is a higher court than courts of justice and that is the court of conscience. It supersedes all other courts.This court of conscience led to the confession of the true criminal. Finally, justice was served to the innocent boys. They sued their city and their state for discrimination and emotional stress and later they were given US$41M in 2014 and US$3.6M in 2016, respectively.
How they come out alive is a miracle. This makes us realize the importance of parental protection and family support. Who will be there when our own children experience the same? I hear parents saying to the boys, "There are many things going..." which means that there are many problems they face, too, aside from their boys' imprisonment without justice.
How many innocent inmates suffer inside the prisons because of premature conclusion and subjective decision? How many testimonies presented to the courts were fabricated? How many are jailed due to mistaken identities? How many criminals who are actually the threats to society, walk freely outside?
We go to a place where we feel safe. Where do we feel safe?
Frederick Douglass said,
Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe.When there is justice denied due to a premature conclusion, no person nor property will be safe.
Am happy to read that "the Numbeo crowd-sourced global database revealed that the safest city for 2019 is Abu Dhabi, scoring top marks on the safety index with 89.3 points, and Dubai, sixth, with 83.34 points". (Read more here.)
I do not know those boys but I pray for them to forget the pain, and if they remember it, may they be passionately motivated to convert the pain to light that will help others to live in hope and faith.
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Photo credits: Pixabay
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