“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” – Martin Luther King

“True peace is not merely the absence of tension; it is the presence of justice.” – Martin Luther King

“In such a world of conflict, a world of victims and executioners, it is the job of thinking people, not to be on the side of the executioners.” – Albert Camus. 

“Justice grows out of recognition of ourselves in each other — that my liberty depends on you being free too.” – Barack Obama

“A democracy cannot thrive where power remains unchecked and justice is reserved for a select few. Ignoring these cries and failing to respond to this movement is simply not an option — for peace cannot exist where justice is not served.” – John Lewis

In America justice has always been a complicated concept. The history of our flawed nation, built on misguided ideas of equality, forged through genocide and slavery, is a rickety construct to bear the heavy weight of true justice. Often the systems put in place to ensure justice are exactly those that deny it. For every small and tentative step we take on the path towards justice in America, we’re met with a heartbreaking leap backwards.

But the hope is that people will keep fighting for justice, and that empathy and compassion will prevail in the end. I saw an interview with The Linda Lindas about their song Racist, Sexist Boy, in which these beautiful girls described the incident that inspired them, and they said “We were really angry so we decided to write a song about it.” That’s what we need, really angry people who are angry about actual injustice, to write, sing, paint, and yell about it. And hopefully one day we will have the kind of peace that can only come with justice. So our Magpies’ Mix Tape is on the subject of justice; cries for justice and stories of justice gone awry.