Imagine …From his high seat, the judge in his all-black apparel looks down at you, literally and figuratively. “Just another black man to put behind bars. Well, at least the streets will be safer,” he thinks as he clears his throat in anticipation to give the verdict.”I find you guilty,” says the judge with a slight sound of satisfaction and arrogance in his voice. His final remarks, “Justice has been served.”The already poorly lit courtroom seems to get darker and darker as the bailiffs draw nearer and nearer, to take you to a cell where you’ll spend the remainder of your life, a life you’ve only begun living. Tears flood your eyes to the point that when you turn to have a last look at your family, all you see are blurs.Your final thought, “It was just an accident.”

Lionel Tate, 14 years of age, was convicted March 9 of first-degree murder for brutally beating a 6-year-old girl. The Florida judge and jury, who seemed to act with no mercy, sentenced Tate to life in prison with no possibility of parole. Was it state law that absolutely required them to act with such relentless mercy, or was it time to make yet another example out of African American youth, who are a target in any judicial system?There’s no doubt in my mind that Tate is guilty of his act. There’s no doubt in my mind that the family of the young girl is grieving heavily now. But can the state of Florida and the entire country say that justice was truly served on the day that Tate’s life was taken from him and handed to the Miami adult jail where he was taken after his sentencing?If so, then I don’t believe we are truly committed to ensuring the best for our youth.If so, then I don’t believe we know the true meaning of justice. Tate’s actions weren’t deliberate. He was simply playing, unfortunately, the incident took a turn for the worse. Where and when will the line be drawn of equal opportunity for the African American youth? I’m not racist, but I can honestly say that had this been a 12-year-old white boy, there wouldn’t be a commentary on the justice this country seems to lack. There wouldn’t be attorneys looking for the help of Gov. Jeb Bush, about whom we will remain speechless. Is this personal? Definitely!Yes, part of it is about right and wrong, but that’s only 25 percent of it. The other 75 percent of this case and the craziness of today’s “justice system,” is about politics and reality. The reality of this case is that there’s no way any government official would let this child have a chance at having a life again.It’s not enough that he has to live with the thought that he’s a murderer, but he’s a murderer for life and so-called justice is being served.I’m not a closed-minded person, and I don’t blame any of my shortcomings on the white man or any man but myself, for that matter. But the reality that 99 percent of our black youth receive the harshest punishment is strictly due to the fact that this country is still heavily racist and segregated. We are continuing to be the guinea pigs in the judicial system’s science experiment. We are continuing to be looked at as the bad race or as bad people.When was it bad to want equal rights? When was it bad to want to be intelligent, to want to excel?Don’t patronize me and say justice was done. Don’t lie to me and say justice was done. Don’t hate me because I make mistakes, just as you do, and say justice was done. Don’t end the life of a child who’s barely old enough to understand what he’s done and what he’s going to go through, and say justice was done. In your cell you wait days, months and years for an appeal that supposedly was to take a week to go through. You’re 18 now, still without an appeal, but your lawyers say to “hang in there, we’re doing all we can.”