Jury duty is fascinating. Here are some of my observations from my 2 days serving my country.
- I found it funny how everybody was hoping that they wouldn’t get picked, but when they were singled out to be dismissed from the jury as part of an attorney challenge, most people looked like their feelings were hurt. Made me think of that line from that Sting song that goes “how fragile we are.”
- I also found it fascinating to see people wilt under the pressure of direct questioning. Some people had legitimate issues that they needed to be dismissed for, but most people seemed to just panic under the pressure and put their feet in their mouth until the attorneys just wanted no part of them.
- On a serious note, I walked away somewhat concerned about the “fairness” of the system from an ethnic standpoint. I’m more sensitive to this now as I work in the context of an ethnic minority ministry, but for what is supposed to be random or by lot – most ethnic minorities were disqualified because of language barriers, financial, or poverty-related issues. What ends up then is that there ends up being a lot of Caucasian peeps and only a few ethnic minorities who have a solid education.On one hand, I think I can be glad that jury members end up being people with a base level of education given the weight of the decisions they are making, but on the other hand, it left some questions for me because no matter how you look at it large numbers of minorities were being excluded from the process for one reason or another. Obviously, some white people were excluded for financial reasons too, but I would say 12 out of 14 Asian Americans were dismissed because of language deficiencies, lack of understanding about the legal process and basic legal concepts, or financial issues. I’ve been in some other discussions about “ethnic shame” or the kind of shame that gets reinforced consistently as a member of a minority group and this process stood out as one that unintentionally could reinforce that sense of “ethnic shame.”
- On a related note, an Asian American man, got jacked for contempt of court for showing up late after lunch and wearing shorts after the judge told us all not to. On one hand the instructions were pretty clear, but at the same time it raised the question of cultural differences and different approaches to time. I know the Filipino view of time is a heck of a lot different that some others so it was another example of a possible minority injustice issue. The shorts were on him, but he wasn’t so late so as to deserve contempt of court. The judge actually made it a humiliating experience by doing this in front of about 200 people. I didn’t think that was cool.
- I’m glad I’m done. There were some fascinating moments, but I was bored out of my mind since I wasn’t allowed to my computer or read any books in courtroom in which I was stuck for two days.
This is a very thought provoking post. I think one of the problems it highlights is that today’s immigrants are fundamentally different from immigrants prior to the end of World War II, yet our method of assimilating immigrants has not changed.
When I was a kid, immigrants were overwhelming European. They acclimated rather quickly to the prevailing culture, customs and language, while at the same time maintaining the culture, customs and language of their native country. Within a generation, you would never know that your next door neighbor was a direct descendant of immigrants.
And since they, like the early settlers of North America, were European, cultural issues like the sense of time issue you mention were in fact non-issues.
They were also overwhelmingly white.
Today’s immigrants primarily come from Hispanic and Asian cultures which are in many ways dramatically different from our own. They are not pushed to learn English and they are darker skinned than the typical European.
I believe the net effect is multi-layered discrimination. We tend to view them as not-intelligent because of their language problems, which in turn make it difficult for them to get top drawer educations and good jobs. And then there is the issue of skin color and their cultural differences.
For me, one of the messages imbedded in your observations is that as a nation we have to find a new and better way to integrate this new generation of immigrants.
Thanks for this post.