For a country to be truly considered free, it needs to be free not only from dictatorship or colonialism, but even from the ills of the society such as racism or corruption, it is important that the judiciary remains independent of the Executive. It’s the independence of the courts of law that keeps a democracy alive.

“Amistad is a 1997 American historical drama film directed by Steven Spielberg, based on the true story of the events in 1839 aboard the slave ship La Amistad, during which Mende tribesmen abducted for the slave trade managed to gain control of their captors’ ship off the coast of Cuba, and the international legal battle that followed their capture by the Washington, a U.S. revenue cutter. The case was ultimately resolved by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1841”

It’s one of the most powerful films I have ever watched and it has left me shaken and inspired at the same time. It is a reminder of the audacity of hope, of the will to challenge evils and do the right thing. And that freedom, something we cherish so deeply, is not truly freedom until it belongs to everyone.

For centuries, slavery was so deeply interwoven into the fabric of the American society, that to destroy it was akin to destroying the social fabric of America. Slavery is immoral and so were the people who practiced it. Thus to end slavery it was important to destroy the mindsets of such people.

Immorality makes you inferior. Having an immoral practice of keeping slaves should make you inferior. But the slave owners felt inferior the other way round. They felt superior to their neighbors by keeping slaves and boasting about them. They felt superior by gaining wealth through the use of slaves on their farms. Texas state wanted to become as wealthy as the other states and the easier route they found was to do bring the economic prosperity by employing slaves on their farms. Slavery was the life blood for them to become rich. Moreover it was the fear of the aftermath of releasing the slaves. The wealthy of Texas, the southerners were afraid that the slaves if released would end up becoming their masters. Thus the slave owners had vowed to fight against ending of slavery at any cost. And for this they were even prepared to bring down their Governor or the US President.

The slave case shown in the movie Amistad was referred to the Supreme Court by the President because he didn’t want to lose elections. Unfortunately seven of the judges of the Supreme Court were slave owners. You can imagine what would have followed next.