In listing all the freedoms we enjoy as Americans, I think you would miss one of the most basic ones, one of the most important ones, and I fear some might even deplore it when they heard what it was.
For this freedom kind of boils down to criminal rights, or more correctly, the rights of those accused of being criminals. And, to me, it seems that when someone is railroaded, it is often the poor who getting railroaded.
I think of two examples tonight. One is Ernesto, a refugee from Cuba. He got off work one day, and rounded up a ride home, only to find the guy who was going to drive him home was intoxicated. Ernesto didn't like that idea much, so he offered to do the driving.. Part way home, the police stopped them, looked in the glove compartment, and found some alcohol. Now, since Ernesto was driving, he got the rap.
Ernesto doesn't even drink. He's a teetotaler.
As he told me his story, and seeing him as a humble, poor person, I almost cried. How wrong is a justice system that would hold him responsible for the alcohol in the glove compartment.
The second story is of George Stinney. You ever heard of him? A black boy, he was convicted of murder about 65 years ago on basis of his own shaky confession. Now, his family wants a new trial. No, I don't know that he wasn't guilty. But I wonder. I wonder if he wasn't railroaded into the confession. His two sisters say he was with them the whole of the day when the murder was committed.
If we, as country and as a people, cannot protect such people, we are not so free. All men and women deserve freedom from injustice.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/11/09/supporters-14-year-old-sc-boy-executed-in-144-for-killing-2-girls-want-new/
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