Well, I reported for my first ever day of Jury duty, and learned a lot about the basic process of it all, which was cool. Unfortunately, I was not chosen to serve on a jury, so I didn’t get to learn anything about the trials themselves. I guess I’ll have to trust whatever I see on TV for how that stuff goes.
But the fact that I was on jury duty (and reported promptly, like a good citizen I might add) is not why I’m writing this post. I’m writing this because something strange happened to me while I was sitting in the courtroom and the judge was trying to disqualify jurors. I’m really not sure what to make of it, but it’s one of those things that make you sit back and go “hmmmm…”
I must first start by saying that the defendant in the case I was being considered for (who, by the way, is innocent, until proven guilty (they drill that into you)) is African-American. That being said, I’ll tell you about what happened:
The judge was asking one of his many questions that basically said “Can all of you consider the evidence objectively without any personal, religious or philosophical bias?” To which everyone pretty much nodded. But one man, raised his hand and asked the judge if he could exercise his right to answer that question in private. After looking him over, I came to the following conclusion (and this is what made me think): Of everyone in here, I would pick that guy to be racist.
Now let that sink in a little. I looked across the room at a man whom I knew nothing about, and concluded that he was very likely to be prejudice against the defendant (we’ll name him Bob) because of the color of Bob’s skin.
In my inward accusation, I proved (beyond a reasonable doubt) that I was guilty of the exact thing I was pointing out to myself. I almost laughed out loud at how ironic the thought had been.
I don’t have a conclusion or application for this… I just wanted to share it. That’s all.