** People love to say “things are better now.”
But better for who?
And under what definition of justice? **
I grew up in the Deep South.
I’ve lived in it, worked in it, fought through it, and documented it for decades.
I’ve watched generations of people — my father included — confront systems that were never designed to serve them.
And today, when I hear policymakers, regulators, and commentators say things like:
“We’ve come a long way.”
“The system is fair now.”
“Those days are over.”
…I have one question:
Where is your evidence?
Because my evidence — the evidence I have lived — tells a very different story.
THE THEN:
The Southern Justice My Father Faced **
In the 1960s, the justice system of the Deep South was built on:
entrenched racism
economic suppression
selective enforcement
intimidation
decision-making behind closed doors
“who you know” politics
retaliation
gatekeeping
power concentrated in the hands of a few
protection of certain businesses and individuals
obstruction of Black progress
When my father, Wilkie Clark, attempted to establish his funeral home, the State didn’t simply deny him support —
they actively blocked, discouraged, and undermined him.
Justice back then was not blind.
Justice knew everybody’s name and everybody’s color.
And it acted accordingly.
**THE NOW:
The Southern Justice I Am Facing Today**
People love to tell me:
“Things have changed.”
Yes — on paper.
But practically?
Structurally?
Culturally?
Administratively?
Let me break it down:
** 1. The tactics are different — but the intent feels familiar.**
In my father’s time, they used:
overt racism
blatant denials
public exclusion
Today, they use:
obscure regulatory procedures
weaponized technicalities
selective enforcement
paper trails instead of threats
bureaucratic language instead of slurs
silence instead of confrontation
But the outcome?
Often the same.
** 2. The faces have changed — but the mindset hasn’t vanished.**
You can change the names on the doors
and still keep the same culture behind them.
**3. The laws have changed — but loopholes still protect the same interests.**
If justice is a system,
then systems evolve.
They modernize.
They learn how to hide their biases better.
**4. The tools of suppression have upgraded — but the pressure feels familiar.**
Today they rely on:
bureaucratic delay
forced compliance
contradictory instructions
incorrect citations
intimidation by paperwork
sudden enforcement
letters meant to scare, not inform
If you grew up in the South,
you know the “tone.”
You know the “look.”
You know the feeling when someone in authority is trying to put you in your place.
I know it.
My father knew it.
Many of you reading this know it too.
SO HAS ANYTHING REALLY CHANGED?
The answer is complicated.
✔ Yes — some laws have changed.
✔ Yes — we have more rights on paper.
✔ Yes — overt discrimination is less socially acceptable.
✔ Yes — we have more tools to fight back today.
But here’s the part people don’t like to admit:
Systems do not surrender their power just because society evolves.
They adapt.
They shift.
They find new ways to enforce the same old hierarchies.
And in the Deep South — the region that perfected “polite oppression” —justice still wears two faces:
One for those the system trusts.
One for those it wants to control.
AND YET — THIS IS EXACTLY WHY I SPEAK NOW
I am not writing these posts
or filing federal complaints
or establishing this Archive
because I’m angry.
(Though anger would be justified.)
I’m doing this because:
I’ve lived long enough to see cycles repeat themselves
I’ve studied the patterns
I’ve watched institutions evolve but not transform
I now have the tools my father never had
And I refuse to let history erase the truth
I am Wilkie Clark’s daughter — and I understand Southern justice from BOTH sides:
the historical
and the contemporary
the personal
and the systemic
the emotional
and the evidentiary
This Archive is my contribution to a long, unfinished conversation.
** IF YOU WANT SOUTHERN JUSTICE TO CHANGE — YOU MUST FIRST BE WILLING TO SEE IT.**
Not as we wish it were.
Not as nostalgia paints it.
Not as officials present it.
Not as politics spin it.
But as it actually is.
And that is the mission of this Archive.
To witness.
To document.
To preserve.
To expose.
To tell the truth — even when the truth is uncomfortable.
Especially then.
The Southern Justice Archive
Presented By: Charlotte A. Clark-Frieson aka
Wilkie Clark’s Daughter”
“Documenting what happened, Preserving what matters, Protecting what must endure!”