Slammed into the locker, pushing back with all his strength, he had no chance of escaping. There he was, stuck in the middle of a long hallway lined with lockers and painted a bland grey and green. Everyone in the hallway was watching, yet none of us interfered. Fights were common, and in this case, he deserved it. He initiated the argument, as he had struck first after getting for his remark to Jayvon.
“Jayvon, how’s the family?” he teased, knowing for a fact that Jayvon’s mother had passed earlier that year.
“Where’d you get those? Goodwill?” he said, continuing the verbal assault. “You’re gonna end up just like your brother, you know that?”
To them, and the administration, he was just another black kid from Media starting fights.
Only after getting shoved did Jayvon fight back. Jayvon grabbed him by the shirt, throwing him across the hallway. Jayvon continued walking away, trying to brush off the incident, but his attacker was relentless. He picked himself up and threw his fist into Jayvon’s temple. This is how Johnny ended up pressed face-first against a locker. No one saw Jayvon for two weeks. The security guards took him away; they didn’t want to hear his story. To them, and the administration, he was just another black kid from Media starting fights.
Detentions, suspensions, and expulsions: each school has its own tiny justice system. Students are placed in front of a jury and a judge, forced to advocate for themselves. I wasn’t there, yet I knew as well as anyone else that they wouldn’t listen to Jayvon’s case. The jury had come to a verdict the second he stepped foot in that conference room. Just like the school, bias contaminates the American justice system.
In November of 2017, Robert Williams, better known as Meek Mill, was sentenced to two to four years of jail time for violating his parole. Wiliams was arrested previously for performing a wheelie on a dirtbike in Philadelphia; before that, he had been granted parole in early 2009 after being wrongly arrested on gun and drug charges. Between and his final arrest in 2017, he was continuously found to have violated his parole.
The Reform Alliance is a movement designed to free those wrongfully convicted from jail and parole. Its CEO has stated, “Despite the circumstances of his arrest – and despite never committing a crime – Meek has been on probation his entire adult life, and has been sent back to jail multiple times for minor technical violations, including for ‘popping a wheelie’ on a dirt bike.”
Since the beginning, Williams had argued that the judge was biased. Yet, the same judge continued to handle all of his cases until the very last hearing, without being investigated or examined in relation to Williams’ case.
They had killed an innocent man on the side of the road… yet neither faced consequences.
On September 16, 2016, Terence Crutcher, a forty-year-old African American male, was killed in Tulsa by two white male police officers. Crutcher was having problems with his vehicle, and was unarmed, yet was shot with the police officers claiming they suspected Crutcher was reaching for a weapon. Although both cops were removed from the police force, neither was charged. They had killed an innocent man on the side of the road, with dashcam and helicopter footage showing no signs of suspicion from Crutcher, yet neither faced consequences.
Williams faced two to four years of jail time after almost ten years of parole for doing a trick on a dirt bike. Two white policemen shot and killed an innocent African American who was trying to get away from his dangerous vehicle. Is this what we think justice is? Is this America? Is this who we want to be?
America is plagued. Plagued by prejudice and injustice, run on stereotypes. “The greatest nation in the world” is a lie. America is a trap for those who fall too low in the system. America beats down the Jayvons and Williamses of the world until they become too weak to fight.
Ashamed of my old school? Sure, but I never expected better from them, none of us did. Ashamed of America? Definitely.
I haven’t seen Jayvon since seventh grade. Every once in a while I think about him and this incident. Am I ashamed for standing by? No. Jayvon wouldn’t have wanted help — he could handle these situations on his own. We knew better than to step in.
Ashamed of my old school? Sure, but I never expected better from them, none of us did. Ashamed of America? Definitely.
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