The Prologue
Phyllis Aluko, Chief Public Defender
Two thousand twenty - the year of perfect vision - has brought a kind of clarity that has stunned us to attention, motivated us to act and reminded us of our shared humanity. Shared humanity is a truth that too often has been denied throughout our nation’s complex history. As evidenced by the recent tragic killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Rayshard Brooks, Elijah McClain, Botham Jean, Philando Castile, Sandra Bland, Alton Sterling, Atatiana Jefferson, Tamir Rice and so many others, it’s a concept on which our criminal justice system has trampled too many times.
Early in my career I found myself often invoking the truth of our shared humanity by arguing to a seemingly skeptical court that “there are no throwaway people.” Recently, my heart sank as I saw how the COVID-19 pandemic was eroding the justice system’s understanding of this most basic principle. As the community spread of the virus became obvious to us in March, defenders raced against time to convince our courts to find safe ways to release those pretrial detainees who remained locked up solely because they were too poor to purchase their freedom. This new bail initiative asked our courts to reconsider prior bail decisions that had resulted in our clients remaining detained pending resolution of the criminal charges that had been lodged against them. We understood that there was precious little time before the coronavirus entered our detention and incarceration facilities. We also understood that once it entered these facilities, it would be difficult to keep our clients from being infected with a virus that could be fatal. However, our new bail initiative would face some old, intransigent obstacles.
Although these were exigent circumstances for defenders, we were disappointed to read and hear comments that seemed to suggest that our clients might not be deserving of a better chance to avoid contracting the virus. One influential op-ed writer from the legal community wrote that “this is no time to compromise public safety by giving criminals a pass…” Such a sentiment seemed to suggest that efforts to give accused people a better chance to avoid catching a deadly virus were the same as giving them a pass. Defenders couldn’t have disagreed more.
Then we received a report that one of our judges wore a face mask decorated with an apparent blue lives matter symbol during part of a teleconferenced court session held the same day as Mr. George Floyd’s funeral service in Minneapolis. It was again disappointing to see that the worth of a black person who many believed was murdered by police officers would not be acknowledged even on the day of his widely-broadcasted funeral. After all, there’s no shortage of proof that our justice system already values the lives of our law enforcement. Few will dispute that they and their work are very important. However, the children whose destinies lay in the hands of the judicial official who reportedly wore the blue lives matter mask were denied the opportunity to see that the justice system likewise values the lives of black people like Mr. Floyd.
Although these and other events have been disappointing, we have refused to become discouraged. So, when one of our attorneys, Meigan Thompson, suggested that we find a way to publicly share our clients’ experiences and offered to lead our efforts, I knew that we needed to call the endeavor, The Humanity Project. Over the coming weeks, we will present the inaugural series of The Humanity Project. These are the stories of the humans whom we have represented during the COVID-19 pandemic. Their names have been changed to protect their identities, but the narratives are their own.
