A Sense of Justice :: Law College Admissions Essays

A Sense of Justice   Its midnight, and Im standing in the yard after a authorful speech at Memorial church building just a few hours ago. The night is chilly, and I unravel the sweater from around my waist and place it upon my shoulders. As I stand freezing in the yard, a steady stream of friends and associates pass by me offering congratulations. A short time before, I had delivered the introductory speech for our Black muniment Month campus guest speaker, Johnny Cochran. As I stood freezing in the yard, I was humbled. Cochrans message that night was that vigilant and systemic protest has profound power and can help deliver social justice. His message rang as true as Malcolm Xs call to social action from the same podium more than xxx years before. And, now, as the stars lit the yard electric, Cochrans words took me back to the first time I understood what protest meant to me and my sense of justice.   It was my first year at the most venerable institution in the world, a nd my high-school dreams had been achieved. Yet, that fall, I was feeling empty inside. As I drowned my sorrows in a latte at Au Bon torment near the T entrance, I noticed a large crowd gathering outside. I later learned that a short time before, an undergraduate running to the co-op had carelessly knocked a homeless man to the ground. As I looked up from my latte, I saw a homeless man front crawl around the sidewalk, yelling something about being   unable to see and cursing profusely. Nearby, I saw a woman I recognized as a senior, crawling around on the ground with him. Finally, she stood up, with a pair of broken glasses in hand. You bastard she screamed at the retreating undergraduate. I didnt know what to think. I had neer seen a white homeless person before, and certainly not one being helped by a black woman.   I approached the woman and told her my name. She was still all the way flustered and angry, her brown eyes flashing amid an expanse of curly hair. They jus t dont get it she grumbled angrily. I silently looked down. Suddenly, she turned to me. Sometimes, weve got to sit down and stand up for the dignity of human kind. Sometimes, weve got to do whats right. Silently, I nodded my head.