Guilty Until Proven Innocent

Human Rights are something we all deserve since every person in the world is a human. Even though everyone is human there are some who feel as if they can dehumanize others and deny them their basic rights. People all over the world are unfairly detained because the government decided they were guilty until proven innocent. This is in violation of two human rights that we sometimes take for granted.

This is Kalief Browder. Kalief was a black male from The Bronx, New York. In 2010, at 16 years old, Browder was accused of the robbery of a bookbag and its contents including a camera, $700, a credit card, and an iPod Touch. Anticipating his trial, Browder was imprisoned on Rikers Island for three years. He was discharged when the investigator's case had to came up short on any proof against Browder and the case's primary witness was found to have left the United States. Two years following his discharge from jail, Browder killed himself, hanging himself from an air conditioning unit outside of his mom's home. Browder's supporters say his suicide was the after-effect of mental and physical maltreatment at Rikers.

If we are willing to allow injustices like these to occur then we are sending the message that it’s O.K. to treat people however we want, whether that's good, bad, or indifferent. If we are willing to let injustices like these to occur then we are telling mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends all over that they don’t matter.We can’t sit around and pretend this isn’t happening or that it’s not important. We need to be the change we want to see.