COMMENTARY: Bending the arc toward justice begins on the floor

By Jamie Cho

Photo credit: Em Rose, Chinese Information Service Center

Huddled around a wooden bench, kneeling and sitting on the thinly carpeted floor outside the courtroom, seven people, mostly Asian American, try to make sense of the documents that were presented a moment earlier. In a building that was erected to uphold justice, everything about the current circumstance feels oppressive. In our legal system, the innocent, especially when they are people of color or immigrants whose native languages are not English, bear a disproportionate burden of defense. This is not the first time these women have been in this courthouse. With their advanced degrees, substantial legal acumen and other scholarly knowledge, and their impressive jobs and titles, they have devoted hundreds of volunteer hours to defend the innocent from egregious aggression.  

Zhen Jin, an Asian American immigrant who is a school bus driver and caretaker for her Palestinian American uncle, devotes herself selflessly to the caring of others. She immigrated to the U.S. to provide for her parents, taking a risk and a leap of faith that, through her substantial sacrifices, America would allow her family better opportunities. Separated from her parents and siblings, she worked hard in this country, earned a nursing certificate while learning English, and then earned her CDL to drive a school bus to support herself and her family. She spreads goodwill wherever she goes. She is kind, generous, and compassionate.  

Despite her good nature, service to the community and success in purchasing her dream condo, she learned quickly after she moved in that the neighbors across the lanai were aggressive racists. The racist couple have used every classic tool of racism, including their white privilege, to threaten, harass, and intimidate Jin. If it’s not awful enough to have a neighbor that regularly curses and shouts racial slurs at you, or a neighbor that sneers into the Ring camera with her middle finger up as they walk by your front door, a neighbor who threatens to have you jailed, Jin’s neighbors are the HOA president and a member of the police force. And with the support of the supposedly neutral management company who is aware of and complicit in the racial animus, these neighbors have abused the legal system to repeatedly violate an innocent person’s sense of safety.  

These neighbors have unscrupulously wielded the court system as a weapon against Jin. In a courtroom where all parties take the oath to “tell the truth, and nothing but the truth,” this white neighbor blatantly told lies and shed white fragility crocodile tears in an attempt to manipulate the judge’s sympathy without any evidence to support her claims. She tried to argue that Jin’s understanding of English didn’t warrant an interpreter and that her uncle is not her biological uncle. She mocked eating fish and sucking on the bones as “disgusting,” but was adamant that she was not a racist. What this woman doesn’t understand is that she is unequivocally racist. It’s racist to call people of color racial slurs. It’s racist to call the police for the purpose of intimidating a person of color. It’s racist to deny someone their right to an interpreter. It’s racist to slander someone’s character. It’s racist to deride someone’s cultural ways of eating. It’s racist to force a person of color out of their home through constant threats.  

In addition to surviving psychological violence from this neighbor, Jin also is traumatized by the legal system and by judges who shockingly lack racial literacy and understanding of trauma informed practices. In this case, and in all cases involving racial animus, there are power dynamics that make the situation fundamentally unfair. To treat both the victim and the aggressor the same, and suggest that folks be “neighborly” or “stay away from each other,” disregards the pervasiveness of racism and the disproportionate impact on people of color. A protection order for six or 12 months does not protect a person from racism and does not even acknowledge the severity of harm that is experienced.  

One may argue that the court system must treat both parties with neutrality and deliberate with impartiality. Some may posit that judges must give the benefit of the doubt and weigh the evidence presented. However, systems were intentionally designed to advantage white people, which is disturbingly apparent in this case. The burden of “evidence” falls on Jin to not only disprove the claims made by the racist attacker, but also prove the opposite. As a victim of anti-Asian hate, not only does the court fail to protect Jin but has allowed the violence to continue. The court has even encouraged it through rote statements such as “if you have additional evidence, you can come back to court.” In the current system, as a person of color, even a win feels like a loss. To advocate for a verdict in your favor means listening quietly as the aggressor tells vehement lies about you, nodding compliantly as the judge orders you to stay away from the abuser as if it was your fault, and walking away to live another day filled with terror knowing that your tormentor is angrier than before. As a community, where is our collective accountability to prevent folks from abusing the legal system and using their misguided power to oppress others? How many must be harmed by these systems for our community to stand up and say enough is enough? 

This is a call to action. Train judges to recognize systemic racism. Require that judges understand and utilize trauma informed practices that prevent the repeated traumatization of victims in the courtroom. Deny motions from folks abusing their power to harass and oppress people of color. Do not allow for the legal system to be wielded as a weapon against the minoritized. Hold neighbors accountable for racist behavior. And if you are going to unfairly burden folks of color to defend their integrity and fight for justice, at least give them a conference room.

Jamie Cho, Ph.D. is an assistant professor of Justice in Early Learning at the University of Washington’s College of Education.