By Jamillah “Lila” Finley
If justice was a woman
She’d be a black woman
A pregnant
Full-bodied
Black woman
Carrying low and heavy
She”d be sitting in the waiting room of the emergency
She’d be overlooked
She’d be spotting
She’d get up to ask how much longer
But She’d be dismissed For the patient assumed to have insurance
She would realize this
She would sit down, sift hurriedly through her pocketbook
retrieve her insurance card
return to the counter
By this time
Justice would be hemorrhaging
Justice would bleed down her leg
The barrier separating the gatekeeper at the front desk from justice
would prevent her crisis from being seen
Her legitimate, medical emergency would be as Invisible as her humanity
Justice would plead
Having miscarried before
She would recognize this impending feeling in her body
Justice would feel the contractions, the back pain
She would demand, “I need to be seen Immediately”
Describing her symptoms with medical precision
She would be met with surprise
The front desk would call security
The voice on the other line would ask her to be described
The Front desk would iterate
She’s Female shes Black shes irate she’s yelling
Front desk would state if you don’t leave you're trespassing
She would be torn between her demand for equality and her desire to not be criminalized
She would add
I have rights
I need a patient advocate
This violates the code of medical ethics
1.1.3 to courtesy, respect, dignity, and timely responsive attention to my needs
The front desk would turn and work on other tasks
She would become frantic
She would try to calm herself
But then she would remember who she was
She would present her id
She would demand indignantly
I am Justice
Security would ask her to leave
She would refuse
Security would call the police
Justice would wain
Grow faint
Collapse
Get up again
She would be escorted outside
The police would arrive
She would be relieved
Explaining her plight to the officer through her pain
Knowing that they would be obligated to enforce the law
Hoping that she was not wrong
The officer would walk away
Consult with security
They would get their stories straight
The people would cry for justice
Later that day
When her death is announced on the news
If justice was a woman she’d be a black woman.
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