Nov 22

I woke up and 8 to register for classes, but really I was awake before that, because I have roommates, and they have electronics, and my clock said 6:58 and that is my idea of hell: Any time before seven.
But whatever. I have classes, and they are awesome. (I also maybe have class, but that is not up for debate tonight.)
What's changed in registering while having actual college experience is that I think about meals while making my schedule. What does this mean about my choices to eat things? It's an important question to ask. I am all for thinking with your stomach. My stomach is smarter than a lot of my other parts.
Like the part of me that decided getting a small mocha from Starbucks in Coffman was a wonderful idea. Because my hands were cold, but they are always cold, even in the summer. It's probably poor circulation, and coffee won't do anything to cure that.
It will fuel staying up late and writing, which is what I want to do tonight. Wednesdays are always tiring, but I don't care. I've just deiced to say fuck it, and struggle through tomorrow in favor of kicking back tonight.

"Justice has been done?"

this blog was written for my class Engaging Justice, but I am really happy with it and decided to repost it here. It's not my usual thing, but whatever, whatever.

In class last week we talked briefly about the killing of Osama bin Laden, and how in his speech announcing this development President Obama used the phrase "justice has been done," and how that's just a really odd thing to say. The whole line was, "And on nights like this one, we can say to those families who have lost loved ones to al Qaeda's terror, justice has been done." It's an awkward line, and overall not his most eloquent speech, but he has the excuse of not knowing for sure that bin Laden was dead until after it actually happened. (Unless presidents write these things ahead; maybe he has a drawer of speeches prepared for every occasion, which can be brought out and polished as need be, much like how newspapers have pre-written obituaries for people they think are going to die.)
In saying that "justice has been done," Obama used justice to refer to punishment. It was punishment he referred to in the same speech when he said that he "authorized an operation to get Osama bin Laden and bring him to justice."
However, this punitive form of justice doesn't encompass every nuance of the word. In many cases justice means fairness. It means that everyone gets the respect and resources that they deserve. An argument could be made that because bin Laden was a terrorist getting what he deserved meant being killed by Navy Seals. But for ordinary people, especially minoritized people, justice means being allowed access to resources they've been deprived of and respect they've been denied. It seems that it is this second, social meaning that we're exploring in class.
I don't know if America's killing of Osama bin Laden was just or not. I read a lot, but don't feel that I am informed enough about global politics to pass judgement. My feeling on bin Laden's death are well explained by political commenter Nate Fick (who's name you may recognize from the book turned HBO miniseries Generation Kill). Fick wrote that "His death allows the United States to focus on other core interests - restoring America's economic strength, developing and implementing more sensible energy policies, and reinvigorating America's relationships with emerging powers around the world." Now that bin Laden is no longer a direct concern maybe we could move further away from panic and conflict and refocus our attention on issues like education and the economy. Now that "justice has been done" for those hurt by 9/11 maybe now, a decade later the government can start serving up another kind of justice for the oppressed within America's borders.