biden’s family code vs. america’s broken code

My father, who refused to help me pay speeding tickets as a broke college student, is the same man I’d expect to bail me out of jail — especially if it cost him nothing. When I heard President Biden was going to pardon Hunter, it felt like a “no shit” moment — an unwritten family honor code, the morally sane thing to do.

I would totally subscribe to the bizarre right-wing idea of “Dark Brandon” if Biden didn’t pardon his son. What kind of parent would do that to their child? Granted, if it were some heinous crime like child molestation, I’d think Hunter should rot in prison — but that’s neither here nor there.

What actually struck me was seeing a bunch of white men in the media mad about it, as if they too hadn’t skated the system. As if they hadn’t benefited from nepotism, wealth, public servitude, or just the privilege of being white in America. Regardless of party affiliation, white men — even Hunter Biden — often escape the claws of justice. The scariest part of this discourse is that it’s happening among the powers that be — the very people with the ability to change and manipulate the system that dictates the arc of justice.

Right-wing pundits are in a frenzy about Hunter’s pardon, but their outrage reeks of hypocrisy. Trump supporters backed him despite his felon status, with cases conveniently dissolving after his election. Some Republicans were even willing to support a man for U.S. Attorney General (Matt Gaetz), who had been involved in sex trafficking teenage girls — someone Trump appointed shortly after becoming president-elect.

In contrast, Black people are not afforded the same leeway. I’m not saying this because I aspire to be as corrupt or morally bankrupt as the people we’re discussing. Rather, I’m pointing out the glaring discrepancies within our system. To be clear, I’m not implying that the scandals white men get away with are something I wish we, as Black people, could emulate. Whiteness is not, and should never be, the standard for moral higher ground. Justice only feels just when everyone is held accountable for the same shit.

Now, imagine a world where former President Barack Obama moved like Trump and his comrades. Obama would appoint salacious and scandalous Black Americans from high society to powerful positions, and the world would be in complete meltdown. He’d appoint someone like O.J. Simpson to oversee the A.T.F., Bill Cosby to Housing and Urban Development, and somehow, we’d see him ending up in handcuffs — not just walking away like the other guy — and probably shipped off to Guantanamo Bay for his crimes.

But none of these things happened to Trump or many of the people he surrounds himself with, nor will they, based on how the system is shaping up.

As we approach the beginning of this new administration, I’m getting a clearer view of how things might play out. Whether intentional or not, Biden’s pardoning of Hunter acts as a catalyst, exposing the incoming administration’s judicial flaws. We should brace for more disproportionate displays of how our justice system operates.