In Your Opinion: The Long Road To Justice

By Mayor Phil Kramer.

“These are the times that try men’s souls”, wrote the patriot Thomas Paine during the American Revolution. At the time he penned those words, Americans were struggling to establish the first steps on the long road to the perfection of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Today, we face what may seem like a long, backward retreat on that road; a tragic death that has made us question whether we truly are a nation where all are equal before the law, a conflagration of passions and violence sparked by that death, and a deadly pandemic that has brought into sharp relief the competing ideas of individual liberty and social responsibility. These times are testing our strength and our commitment to justice and peace, like no other I have ever experienced. But I ask you to remain steadfast in your determination to move forward on that journey toward a better society.

Like many of you, I watched in horror the video of the violent death of George Floyd while in custody of police officers. I join that chorus of voices that demand that justice be done for him, and for all others who have suffered at the hands of those who are sworn to uphold that justice but fail egregiously in that duty. I know in my heart what I saw in that video was a grave injustice, but I also believe that justice is administered under the rule of Law and not by street violence.