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But is it justice?
Episode 14th March 2022 • PowerPivot • Leela Sinha
00:00:00 00:11:18

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Leela Sinha:

Listen, y'all, this is not the way. When I woke up

Leela Sinha:

this morning, and I saw that the Supreme Court had re-instituted

Leela Sinha:

the death penalty, in the case of one of the Boston Marathon

Leela Sinha:

bomber... people, I was horrified. I was horrified.

Leela Sinha:

Either we are for a more humane society, or we are not. Either

Leela Sinha:

we are for justice reform, or we are not. I can't say I was

Leela Sinha:

surprised, given who's on the Supreme Court. But I was

Leela Sinha:

horrified. Believing in people is never easy.

Leela Sinha:

Whether you do it as an act of faith, or a practice of

Leela Sinha:

religion, or a matter of principle, or because it's the

Leela Sinha:

only thing you can do. It's still hard. Believing in people

Leela Sinha:

when people are mean, when people are cruel, when people

Leela Sinha:

are destructive, when people are committing what most of us find

Leela Sinha:

unthinkable acts of violence toward huge swathes of the

Leela Sinha:

population... believing in people becomes an act of

Leela Sinha:

defiance. But that doesn't get us off the hook for doing it, we

Leela Sinha:

still need to do it, we still need to believe in people, we

Leela Sinha:

still need to believe in people because the only way we can

Leela Sinha:

believe in ourselves is by believing in everyone. And that

Leela Sinha:

doesn't mean that we let people do destructive things. It

Leela Sinha:

doesn't mean that we expect that everyone's ethics or everyone's

Leela Sinha:

values or everyone's morals are equal to everyone else's.

Leela Sinha:

Sometimes people lack of conscience. Sometimes people use

Leela Sinha:

that lack of a conscience and their power to wreak havoc.

Leela Sinha:

Sometimes that havoc is cruel, as well as just bad. But if

Leela Sinha:

we're going to believe in people, if we're going to

Leela Sinha:

believe in ourselves, we're not different. That's the important

part to remember:

is that we are not different. I am not

part to remember:

different from you. But I am also not different from all of

part to remember:

those people who are doing those abhorrent things. We are made up

part to remember:

of the same cells, the same flesh, the same blood, we are

part to remember:

the same as our oppressors, we are the same as those we

part to remember:

oppress. We are the same, we are made up of the same stuff. We

part to remember:

are the same species. And the only thing that makes my

part to remember:

behavior different is my commitment to behaving

part to remember:

differently. And that commitment comes from different places for

part to remember:

different people. For some people, that commitment comes

part to remember:

from duty, for some people, that commitment comes from faith. For

part to remember:

some people, that commitment comes out of habit or out of a

part to remember:

kind of begrudging obligation. It doesn't matter. I mean, it

part to remember:

probably matters on the inside. But it doesn't matter on the

part to remember:

outside because on the outside the result is the same, which is

part to remember:

that the people are doing the thing. So that we can believe in

part to remember:

each other and we can believe in ourselves collectively. And

part to remember:

what's been happening in the United States over the last

part to remember:

bunch of years- and that bunch may be a very big bunch or maybe

part to remember:

a little shorter, depending on your level of awareness- what's

part to remember:

been happening in the United States over the last bunch of

part to remember:

years is that people have been floundering, looking for ways to

part to remember:

believe that we're better than that. Pro-tip: we're not better

part to remember:

than that. We're not. We have never been. We have lost sight

part to remember:

of our own potential, of our own honor, of our own capacity for

part to remember:

heroism and selflessness and nobility. And reimplementing the

part to remember:

death penalty in any one case or in any broad set of cases, this

part to remember:

is not the way to bring that back. Yes, we need clear senses

part to remember:

of right and wrong. And yes, that gets more complicated. The

part to remember:

more factors you include, the more people you include in "we",

part to remember:

the harder it gets to know what "we" should do to uplift all of

part to remember:

us. "We" and "us" become very complicated ideas. When we have

part to remember:

different cultural expectations, different cultural values,

part to remember:

different ways of being in the world, it's much easier to feel

part to remember:

united, when you start out mostly united. When you start

part to remember:

out mostly the same. When you start out mostly different-

part to remember:

except, you're not mostly different are you? You're not

part to remember:

mostly different at all, you're the same handful of elements, a

part to remember:

bunch of water. Probably some moderate need for sunlight,

part to remember:

probably need to eat. There are levels of same and levels of

part to remember:

difference. But when we say that it's not okay to kill people, we

part to remember:

can't then go around killing people. To me, this should be

part to remember:

obvious.

part to remember:

We lose not only our own humanity, but we lose our moral

part to remember:

high ground if we ever had it in the first place. Because it's

part to remember:

hypocritical. It's hypocritical to say that it's wrong to kill

part to remember:

someone here, but not wrong to kill someone there. It gets

part to remember:

complicated. Like everything, it gets complicated. If one person

part to remember:

is going to die to save the lives of hundreds or hundreds of

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thousands, is that a worthwhile trade off? It's a hell of a

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trade off. It's terrible. Nobody should ever ever have to be that

part to remember:

sacrifice. Nobody should ever have to look that sacrifice in

part to remember:

the eye and make a decision. Nobody, and certainly not all of

part to remember:

the frontline workers who have had to make decisions like that,

part to remember:

since the pandemic started, but we can't rely on those

part to remember:

exceptional situations to get us out of having to behave

part to remember:

ourselves the rest of the time. And by behave ourselves, I don't

part to remember:

mean constrict ourselves. I mean, blossom, I mean, put roots

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down, and leaves up. I mean, become so much more than the

part to remember:

acorn. The acorn has value in and of itself. It's food, it's a

part to remember:

seed, it's an entire tree in a tiny little cup with a hat on

part to remember:

it.

part to remember:

And when the roots go down, and the leaves and branches go up,

part to remember:

that one tree, that one seed, that one little cup with a hat

part to remember:

on it becomes hundreds of cups with hats on it, becomes food

part to remember:

for entire families of animals, including humans. It becomes

part to remember:

shade, it becomes compost, it becomes soil again. It becomes a

part to remember:

nourishing, nurturing part of a forest community. We need to

part to remember:

become. We need to keep becoming, because it is our

part to remember:

nature. It is how we are. If we are going to move toward

part to remember:

something that is actually just in a justice system. We have

part to remember:

absolutely 100% got to put down the idea that it's ever okay to

part to remember:

kill someone in the name of the State. It may happen

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occasionally. But as a last resort and never, never under

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circumstances where other people's lives are not

part to remember:

threatened.

part to remember:

I'm not a pacifist. I know I sound like one. I wish I

part to remember:

believed in people well enough to be a pacifist. But I am very

part to remember:

close. Not because I believe that people are always good, or

part to remember:

always kind, are always wise, but because I believe that it's

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