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Social Justice

I remember leaving class one day in college, when a young adult was standing on top of a wooden barrier, yelling to everyone that they were going to hell if they didn't repent. It wasn't as though they were wrong, according to Scripture, but the way they practiced evangelism shocked me. I thought that this kind of preaching was a practice relegated to the past. As a Christian, I was very aware of how sensitive the public was (and is) to condemnation and judgment by evangelical Christians, so this wasn't something I was going to ignore.

I found myself in good company. When I approached, another student was already trying to shout over the message of this fire-and-brimstone preacher. He seemed to let her speak, but continued his message, as well. I wanted, more than most things in my life, to raise my voice and shout that God is a God of mercy just as much as he is a God of justice.

At the time, I was too timid and afraid. I stayed around long enough to see the growing crowd begin to disperse, and the drama begin to dissolve, but the regret--- or rather, the thoughtfulness of why I chose not to speak-- remained.

Now, I'm not often political, because in practice I have behaved as though justice is strictly personal. As it relates to justice, I see my worldview as a set of three concentric circles. The first and most intimate circle is in the center, and encompasses just God and me. To me, justice begins with the self. It begins with obedience to God's word, and in practice, I have believed that personal righteousness keeps me right with God and sets an example for others in my sphere of influence.

Outside this very personal space of mine is a second, broader justice circle. In this circle are those closest to me: my family, my friends, my students, and my colleagues. In belief, anyway, I seek here to act justly toward those in my immediate sphere of influence. Of course, the gravity of the center of this circle influences the shape of this one: I cannot act justly toward those around me if I am not in right relationship with God.

The final justice circle, and the one about which I seem to have the least concern in practice, is the third justice circle. Here lies the rest of the world, the ninety-nine percent (to borrow a term from the recent "Occupy Wall Street" protests). It is here where so much injustice is taking place, and yet it is here where the circle seems to be too far away for me to have any kind of meaningful impact.

I hope to bring this third circle closer. Cornel West once said that "justice is what love looks like in public." Cast in that light, social justice doesn't seem so foreign after all. God expressed his justice with his son's death on the cross, but this act was also one of love.

If love and justice are related, and sometimes synonymous, then there are countless opportunities to be just and loving. It certainly isn't hard to find those opportunities. In Uganda, for instance, an an extra-governmental group called the Lord's Resistance Army has been kidnapping children, forcing the males into their armed service and the females to become soldiers' wives; and in Thailand, prostitution and sex slave trafficking vicitimizes women and children, the latter of whom are often sold by close family members (1). In the United States, there was until recently a disparity between the convictions against those trafficking crack cocaine and those trafficking powder cocaine, resulting in a disproportionate number of African American convictions.*

I'm still not anywhere near my third circle, but a cultural proficiency workshop today helped me see the need to pay closer attention to it. It takes a certain empathy to do that, I know, but what I'm finding is that inviting a shift in perspective to include the rest of the world's plight helps one look at those around you in a different way. It allows you to see that beyond others' polished exteriors are real needs that go unspoken. We're so good at hiding those needs, but choosing not to ignore the pain in the world helps you to see that the need for justice is closer than we'd sometimes like to admit; and so, then is the opportunity to help.

*Until recently, a person caught possessing five grams of crack cocaine (about five Sweet 'N Low packages worth) received the same sentence as someone else caught possessing 500 grams of powdered cocaine (2). In other words, someone possessing five grams of powder cocaine received a much lighter sentence than someone possessing five grams of crack cocaine. To highlight the seriousness of the disparity, blacks were far more likely to be convicted of crack cocaine possession than were whites, while whites were far more likely to be convicted of powder cocaine possession. The rationale of the disparity was that crack cocaine is "uniquely addictive" and is "more associated with violent crime than powder cocaine," but the effect was that blacks were receiving a heavier sentence for possessing an illegal drug, compared to whites (3).

**Invisible Children is an organization that seeks to end Uganda's civil war and end the abduction of children, and I found a jewelry business called Nightlight, which employs women in Thailand by offering higher-than-average wages to work in the business so they do not have to engage in prostitution (4).

1. "Fighting Child Sex Slavery in Thailand." The CNN Freedom Project. 24 May 2011. Web. 4 November 2011

2. Stainburn, Samantha. New Crack Law: 1000s to be Freed Under Revamped Sentencing Guidelines. 1 November 2011. Web. 4 November 2011.

3.Byrnes, Christopher. "Proposals to Eliminate Sentencing Disparities Between Crack and Powder Cocaine Offenses." The New Federal Initiatives Project. 5 Augusts 2009.

4. Dieselberg, Annie. "Nightlight: Putting an End to Human Trafficking in Thailand." 27 August 2007. Web. 4 November 2011.

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