Comments on: Ida B. Wells-Barnett and her passion for justice

By: judgingfinger

judgingfinger — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 00:23:15 +0000

The lines blur when we reach out to punish the innocent. This means the innocent of both descendants. Black Americans are suffering that same type of negative thinking in our time from most White Americans. Their logic is " Black Americans are dangerous because they have been treated so badly in the past that must want revenge on White Americans now". This type of thinking is once again casting Black Americans in a negative light due to their own mind set. How about everyone deciding to close the tap on this drain of racism in our society. We stop punishing the innocent, stop blaming the innocent and in general try to take people as individuals and as we find them.

By: morgan

morgan — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 06:14:49 +0000

ida b well -barnett was a beutifuland was strong.didnt care about wat people said.her parents died of yellow fever and so she had to take care of a younger sibbling they died when she was 16-yrs.it was almost like she was a mom be no,no she wasnt she was intaligant.shehad her own office but the low down white people ,back when she had her office burned it down .she had a husband.she is almost lie ''MLK'' Martin Luther King Jr.

By: Hopeful

Hopeful — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 22:17:55 +0000

Seriously? Justice will somehow be served by prosecuting a descendant of a criminal? So why stop there? For every crime ever committed, if the perpetrator gets away, we should punish their offspring instead? Why make it only for THIS crime? Do it across the board… Now wait, lets think for a minute: there ARE places in the world where this does happen – where family members pay the price for those who are found guilty of crimes – we call them TERRORIST nations, oppressive nations – communist nations. There are groups of people who will go after the families of their enemies when they cannot get at their enemies directly: we call them terrorists, mafia, and "organized criminals".
Enough of the rant. And my apologies, but your suggestion rang so ridiculously unjust and ill-conceived in my head that I had no choice but to vent my frustrations from having even read it. Now here is my SERIOUS non-confrontational comment on the matter:
I understand your frustration and passion. A desire for justice is natural – people guilty of the kinds of heinous crimes listed above absolutely DESERVE the ultimate punishment and retribution against them in response. It is natural to feel frustrated about the fact that all these terrible things happened, and the bastards who did it got away with it to boot, and probably died happy and free and even still believing that they were correct in committing those atrocities.
But despite how frustrating it is, there is no escaping the truth that justice is simply not possible in these cases. Both the victims and the perpetrators are long dead and gone – you cannot affect the deceased in any way – they will not feel the pain you wish to inflict on them – and you will not achieve justice by pursuing the punishment of people who had nothing to do with it, based on nothing other than "they are descended from the bad guys". Every person stands on their OWN merit, not on the merit of others. Punishing these people today would be just as gross of an injustice as the original crime was a century ago.
Not only would justice not be served, and new injustices committed – you would also set back even further the relations between races that need to be harmonious in order to truly eliminate this sort of thing… you would be sowing the seeds of renewed hatred, mistrust, feelings of bitterness – and ultimately, setting us up for MORE atrocities to come.
It sucks, it was wrong – but there is nothing that can be done about it. The best thing to do today is to recognize the atrocities for what they were, denounce them, and promote harmony between the people today.
Maybe some day the day will come when everyone can look back and realize how ridiculous it is that all of these horrors and problems stemmed from nothing other than a difference of melanin levels in skin.
Despite all the evil – I still have faith in mankind's ability to ultimately overcome it's flaws. We will attain enlightenment – someday.

By: nikkie

nikkie — Mon, 18 May 2009 03:25:01 +0000

I was sad and disgusted about how justice practically did not exist, and similar situation are still going on in the private schools, where the teachers are trying to be God, and lying and being deceitful, in giving information to the proper people, and making decision without having the proper people their to have a fair decision, and not to take decision into their own hands, I think each one involved should be prosecuted and if they are not alive. They should have someone from their generation or family prosecuted for them in this hanis crime.