When reports began to appear – first on social media and quickly followed by traditional outlets – that multiple explosions had rocked downtown Boston, the country held its collective breath. Were the bombings at the finish line of the Boston Marathon a prelude to a larger attack? Was there an even more sinister motive at work? As the manhunt for the surviving suspect, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, finally ended in the backyard of an unassuming house in a suburban Boston neighborhood, the only question that really mattered, was “Why?”
For those of us that remember September 11th, 2001, Boston’s tragedy was a reminder of our tenuous hold on peace in a nation embroiled in oversees military actions. It was also a chance to reflect on the strength and goodwill of the American people. LXBN members were quick to praise the first responders and health care professionals in Boston, and more than one author commented on the innate resiliency that exists within The City on a Hill. While some attorneys felt compelled to respond to overarching legal issues, all of the posts on the LexBlog Network lent their support and heartfelt condolences to Boston.
Nowhere was that outpouring of support more clear than from the lawyers at Mintz Levin. Founded in Boston, the firm’s largest offices are just blocks away from where the explosions occurred. An attorney with the firm, Karen Lovitch took a moment the Tuesday following the bombings to applaud the work done by the city’s health care professionals on the firm’s Health Law and Policy Matters:
“Without the quick, organized response of health care professionals at the scene and at nearby hospitals, the number of deaths would undoubtedly have been higher. The ability of health care professionals to remain calm in the face of this and other tragedies is nothing short of amazing. Even though they do not want or expect praise for what they do, we should all remember to recognize and to thank them for caring for us and keeping us safe. I am sure I speak for everyone at Mintz Levin – which was founded in Boston and which is where our largest office is located – when I say thank you to Boston’s health care professionals for their “calm, heroic response in the face of unprecedented carnage.””
Those sentiments were echoed by Eric Fletcher, the Chief Marketing Officer at McGlinchey Stafford, on his blog, Marketing Brain Fodder. Fletcher also found solace in the hope and strength that can result from these needlessly violent acts:
“But in the midst of the April 15 bombing in Boston, we bore witness to poignant examples of the best of us. The first responders whose only objective was to bring aid. The everyday women and men whose instincts drove them toward chaos. To help.
The story was the same in Connecticut, at Ground Zero, in Oklahoma City, and in countless similar moments throughout history.
In the midst of unimaginable darkness, a source of hope and peace always seems to emerge — in the form of selfless acts, undeniable courage, compassion, and an insatiable need to give.”
Unfortunately, not everyone reveled in those feelings. While these tragedies tend to bring out the best in people, they also can bring out the worst in others.
It’s true that the two suspects, brothers Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, were born into an ethnic Muslim family, but there is no evidence thus far that they entered this country illegally, or that their actions were organized by a larger terrorist group. Moreover, Dzhokhar is a naturalized U.S. citizen and was a student at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. But as Angelo Paparelli, author of Nation of Immigrators and partner in Seyfarth Shaw‘s Los Angeles offices, wrote on Sunday, these facts aren’t slowing down opponents of immigration reform:
“Similarly, long-time jingoist, Pat Buchanan suggested three days after the bombing that the focus should only be on border security. Apparently forgetting that the Brothers Tsarnaev entered the U.S. legally, with the older having become a permanent resident and the younger a citizen, Buchanan slammed undocumented immigrants who aspire to become Americans:
Why do you have to do anything? What is this nonsense that ‘they’re in the shadows’? With due respect, they ought to be in the shadows! They’ve broken the law to get into the country…. Do nothing!… You [the Republican party] don’t have [to] bribe, you don’t have to give up your principled positions… in order to get Barack Obama to do his duty and defend the border!”
Those same facts also aren’t stopping U.S. Congressmen calling for Tsarnaev to be treated as an enemy combatant, and law enforcement officials who stated on Friday that Tsarnaev will not be read his Miranda rights when the FBI questions him. As Emily Bazelon wrote on Slate.com, the rush to judgement and the erosion of our Miranda rights should be cause for concern for all American citizens:
“There won’t be a public uproar. Whatever the FBI learns will be secret: We won’t know how far the interrogation went. And besides, no one is crying over the rights of the young man who is accused of killing innocent people, helping his brother set off bombs that were loaded to maim, and terrorizing Boston Thursday night and Friday. But the next time you read about an abusive interrogation, or a wrongful conviction that resulted from a false confession, think about why we have Miranda in the first place.”
And while Adam Goodman astutely noted on The Atlantic that the federal government was under no obligation to Mirandize Tsarnaev, it’s something worthy of our attention. It’s in these moments that our ideals as a nation are tested. As we found after September 11th, the natural reaction to call for retribution can cause an entire country and its leaders to set aside tenants central to American beliefs. With these thoughts in mind, Victoria Pynchon wrote on her Negotiation Law Blog, that this is the time we must all remember that we are one people, regardless of our ethnicity, religion, or political ideologue:
“No matter who the perpetrator is and why, this magnitude of malice exists inside the human race. Unpredictable. Without a single nationality or religion. Driven by ideological rage. Whoever we find to be the culprit, he or she or they do not represent every member of their race, religion, gender, nationality, socio-economic status, or political party.
They do not have a readily identifiable human face.
We can only mourn, commit ourselves to loving one another all the more fiercely, and forgive ourselves and one another for the smaller acts of unkindness in which we each engage every day.”
As everyone waits for more news on why these attacks took place, we can hope for justice without calling for revenge.
To read more analysis from the LexBlog Network on the Boston Marathon bombings, you can find all of our posts here.
Photo Credit: Pete Tschudy, Flickr.com