Voice of Injustice

Artist Statement

Voice of Injustice

Mattie

My piece was made with acrylic paint on a black canvas. It shows Lady Justice holding the scales. One scale is painted white and one scale is painted black. The two different colored scales represent African-American people and white people. The white scale is raised up higher than the black scale, showing white Americans have more justice than African-Americans. Lady Justice’s blindfold is falling down so she can see the scales. This is to symbolize the fact that even though justice should be “for all,” it isn’t.

The message I’m trying to spread is how racism is still going on, and it needs to change. In this piece I’m trying to say that more African-Americans are getting wrongfully convicted more than white people. Of the United States total population, 13% are black. But a study I found showed that 47% of the 1,900 exonerations studied were black Americans. Many researchers and academics are looking into this issue. A professor at the University of Michigan Law School, Samuel Gross, says that discrimination and racism play a large role in this issue. Black Americans are also about 12 times more likely to be found wrongfully guilty when it comes to drug crimes. Studies have also shown that white people are often released quicker from prison than black people no matter the case.

I hope when people are looking at my art, they stop and think about racism and how bad it still is. If we ignore this issue, it won’t ever go away. It’s time to make justice truly “for all.”