Vigilante Justice is No Justice at All

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

A jury in Kenosha, Wisconsin, bought into what some are describing the "I was scared" defense last week and acquitted a teen accused of double homicide and a wounding because the boy cried and said that he had feared the protestors would hurt him.  After the jury found him completely innocent, the lad dried his tears and headed out on a nationwide publicity tour that has even taken him to Mar-a-Lago to meet another pure soul, Donald John Trump.

And now the bar has been set and all a future killer has to do is to remember to claim that he acted out of fear.  It would also be helpful if the killer was white, clean-cut, and male.

At least four states have applied, or are in the process of applying, the same criteria to motorists who drive over protestors.  Oklahoma, Florida, Iowa, and Tennessee have laws on the books or soon will have that condone vehicular homicide if the driver claims he was fearful of the mob and trying to get away.

The United States is legalizing the activities of vigilantes, people who think they know what is best for society and are not bashful about acting as police, judge, and executioner in imposing their views on the world.

It is the revenge of the ignorant and the angry as they try desperately to stop social progress.   

A century ago it was called lynching, and its purpose was to intimidate and to stoke fear - just as it is today - but with guns and cars instead of rope.  

It was wrong then, and it's wrong now.

Vigilante justice is no justice at all.