Blind Injustice

That the American justice system is worse than broken--dangerous, dishonest, racist--is not news. Some innocent people have been coerced into confessing, others have accepted plea bargains rather than risking decades in prison, and still others have been convicted at trials based on corrupted evidence. Witnesses may lie to protect themselves; they may be forced by police to lie; or they may just be wrong. It has been estimated that 6% of the people in prison are innocent. With an estimated 1.8 million people incarcerated in the US, that comes to approximately 108,000 innocent people imprisoned.

Photo: Erin Baiano

As horrifying as those statistics are, they have the weakness of all statistics, which is that they do not contain emotions, or people, or families.

The brilliant opera Blind Injustice, which received its New York premiere last month in an electric MasterVoices production, is full of emotion and people and families. Based partially on the book of the same name and focusing on six innocent people who were exonerated after spending years or even decades in prison, the opera mixes fact and fiction, often using exonerated people's actual quotes in the vivid libretto by David Cote (dramaturgy by Robin Guarino). The exonerated people are Nancy Smith, Derrick Wheatt, Eugene Johnson, Laurese Glover, Clarence Elkins, and Rickey Jackson.

Photo: Erin Baiano

Scott Davenport Richards's extraordinary scores utilizes jazz, blues, and hip-hop to allow the full expression of emotion of the people depicted. There is something particularly satisfying in seeing these characters being able to express themselves full-voice, full-heart, and loud. I can't think of a better medium for telling this story.

Everyone involved with this production was at the top of their game. The volatile combination of feeling pain from the content and sheer pleasure at the artistry gives the audience the sort of emotional cognitive dissonance that may be felt at the very best art.

Photo: Erin Baiano

I found the audience response representative of this experience in a particular way: people gasped twice. The first time was when the 120 MasterVoices singers, seated in the section of the audience behind the stage, stood to sing. I knew that they were there, and I was thrilled. For the people who didn't realize that they were there, it must have felt magical. The second time they gasped was when one of the exonerees was asked how long he had been in prison, and he answered, "thirty-nine years."

I hope that Blind Injustice is picked up by opera companies everywhere. Audiences deserve to experience the artistry and need to hear the stories.

Wendy Caster