Delayed accountability for racist violence fails to slow the climate of violence.

Evidence

Shuttlesworth told Baldwin that much more could have been done if the country had held the men to account at the time of the murders. The trial was a bit too late, and the symbolism, even if justice was served, wasn’t enough. “I think, first of all, it’s a miscarriage of justice. Not to have tried somebody at the time….It would have slowed up the climate of violence,” Shuttlesworth told Baldwin as they walked down the steps of the courthouse. — Eddie S. Glaude Jr., Begin Again, 530

Categorization

• DEFINE: Illuminates the ‘after times’ from another angle: post-hoc symbolism without timely reckoning is a form of the lie.