Falling in love with Pyrrhus

Over the last several months, there have been tragic events in the Black community that have taken away our collective breath. What is worse is that there seems to be, first, no end in sight, and second, no interest in even the appearance of justice. It is this latter fact that informs the conclusion I've recently drawn: we must learn to love Pyrrhus.

For those unfamiliar with Pyrrhus or the expression Pyrrhic victory, I offer a brief explanation of this important figure in Greek mythology. He was the son of Achilles and a great warrior. Great though he was, the phrase "Pyrrhic victory" alludes to his battle with the Romans in 279 BC. Pyrrhus won the battle but did so at considerable cost. A Pyrrhic victory is therefore one that comes at a cost almost too great to bear. (The details of Pyrrhus' story are available here.) I find myself these days in the odd position of  being able to apply the term almost on a daily basis. Who would have thought that such a term would find regular use?

When Sandra Bland died in a Texas jail in 2015, and we saw the video of her (malicious?) arrest we thought for sure, there would be some kind of finding of culpability. Nope. Officer Encina however, it has recently been decided, is to be charged with perjury for misstatements about the arrest in his report. Apparently, his statements weren't borne out by the video evidence. Perjury? We'll take it. Score one for almost justice.

When Laquan McDonald was killed in Chicago in 2014, and without even seeing the video, the City Council voted to compensate Mr. McDonald's family, we thought for sure, there would be some kind of finding of culpability. There may yet be but we don't if know yet whether it will be justice of the almost (Pyrrhic) variety. True, a journalist had to sue using a Freedom Of Information Act request to have the dash-cam video released and it wasn't until 24 hours before that video became public, that anyone thought it fit and right to charge the good Officer Jason Van Dyke. Still, he was charged so score one for Lady Justice. Maybe this one will actually look and feel like full-fledged justice and not the almost justice that we're growing accustomed to accepting? We shall see what we see.

When Walter Scott was shot to death in North Charleston, SC in 2015, we knew there would be an indictment (for Heaven's sake the shooting was on video after all) and that justice would be done. So far we've got an indictment and the officer is in jail...but wait! Just this past Monday (January 4th, 2016), a judge released him from jail. Under the conditions of his bond, set at $500,000 on Monday, former Ofc. Slager must reside in South Carolina until his trial. The victim, Mr. Scott is still confined to his new 'quarters', while the former Ofc. Slager is now confined to his home, with his wife and his new baby. And didn't I also hear something about him requesting state funds to support his defense?

Meanwhile, Tamir Rice's grand jury determined in late December 2015, that 2 secs is more than enough time for a child to comply with instructions from police officers so no indictment there either and George Zimmerman has had something like six mug shots taken since Trayvon Martin's death. Pyrrhus ain't even have time for these cases. The Rice and Martin families didn't even have the benefit of a victory that came at a terrible cost. Zimms is free and so is Ofc. Timothy Loehman and we know where Tamir and Trayvon find themselves.

The list goes on and on. Mike Brown? Rekia Boyd? Eric Garner? In these cases, we weren't even able to score a victory at high cost. We got nothing: no justice; no satisfaction.

Quintonio LeGrier & Bettie Jones (Chicago), these two lost on 26 December 2015 in Chicago? We don't yet know who will come calling for these most recent victims; Pyrrhus, Lady Justice or no one at all. The odds don't really run in our favor. Sometimes we've found, the answer to the question, "Justice?" is straight up, "No!", not even a gentle, "Not today honey."

I'm learning to accept these infrequent, if Pyrrhic victories, uncomfortable though they be. God knows, sometimes that's the best we can get. Sure, all those names, and so many more, are still dead. Sure, there will be a new list of names in 2016. That's all true, but on the upside, sometimes families get compensated. Compensation, even without an admission of culpability, is a victory of sorts. And while there's still plenty unhappiness to go around (because the deceased is still deceased after all), we take what we can get because we understand that it's all we're going to get.  Sometimes someone goes on trial for reckless endangerment, or perjury, or some other related thing. And while it's not the Lady Justice at her best, it's better than nothing. Is it enough, no but again, we take what we can get. In many of these cases, no one will go to jail for murder but when the kinda sorta good outcomes come, at least we can console ourselves that we've got something. We know, and have all too often seen, that it could be so very much worse.
 
As for me, I'm going to love me some Pyrrhus. Until real justice for even us becomes available, I'm going to force myself to be comfortable with the almost justice that is often all that's available.

Loving Pyrrhus - the victor whose victories were anything but sweet - is likely to take a lot out of me, but I will struggle to be equal to the task.