The idea that those in law school are in law school for one of two reasons: the love they have for justice or the hate they have for injustice, made me realize that my hate for injustice inspired me to go to law school. As an African American Muslim woman living in North Carolina during the presidential election, it is not hard to see why I decided to come to Columbia when I did.

I believe that the notion of justice is subjective. Two people can have similar definitions for what they believe is just, but individual experiences shape the application of how circumstances are perceived as being just. Which brings me to the main point that I struggle with: justice for whom. How can justice movements such as “Black Lives Matter” be deemed domestic terrorist organizations by the FBI? How can we reconcile this fact when white supremacists, responsible for twice as many deaths in the United States than Islamic terrorists considered “very fine people” by the president? How can there be justice when students at the University of Virginia are told that there is “blame on both sides” in response to the white supremacist rally on their campus? Is it just when a person who has grown up in the United States for basically all of their life is deported? Is there truly justice when Muslim countries can be banned regardless of their involvement with any terrorist organizations?

What then is justice? The profits that private prisons generate for states at the expense of persons of color? The death of young children of color, unarmed people of color, people of color who die at the hands of enforcement meant to protect them? A “color-blind” constitution that deemed black persons 3/5th of a man?

What then is justice? And where can I find it

-- NadiaYusuf - 27 Jan 2018