What is "justice" for the dead negro?

i don’t believe this statement in the tweet. but it makes me remember questions i’ve had for years now about what “justice” looks like for Black families who’ve lost a loved one to anti-Black violence.

in my MSW classes we learned that there are different kinds of justice (specifically distributive justice), which i already sort of knew from organizing work, i.e. restorative, transformative, etc.

freshman year at osu i met Dr. Michelle Alexander and i asked her what does justice look like for folks who’ve had a loved one stolen from them? how do you “restore” what’s been lost— a life?

i’ve since come to believe the only “justice” for this kind of harm that can be received is transformative justice. we must transform the society and the systems and institutions that enabled this harm to occur.

but what really haunts me, disturbs me to my core about this line of questioning/thought is: what good is “justice” without the person you loved? what good is “justice” when you’re alone at night with your grief? what good is it when what’s done is done? when whats been done is too final for you move forward in the new “just” society bc there’s nothing left for you there but ghosts and grief and an empty feeling in your depths?

what is the negro to do in the new “just” world without the folks who made the old world bearable? who brought smiles to their face when wasn’t nothing worth smiling bout? who loved them when wasn’t nothing bout them worth loving (according to the old world)?

we gone need more than just “justice” to survive the new world. we gone need healing too.