My wife and I share the great joy of overseeing and leading a community of people called the Justice League in my hometown of Concord, CA. Put simply, the Justice League is a community in Concord, CA committed to the work of Justice. Our focuses (or “foci”) are Local Poverty, Public Schools, Human Trafficking/Responsible Consumerism and Global Poverty (with a select group of Global Partnerships). At a recent Justice League gathering, I shared a video of Gideon Strauss speaking at Gordon College on the topic of Justice. His talk was entitled “Justice Is Not Optional,” but I highlighted something I found more intriguing about his talk; the idea that Justice is relational.
During his talk, Gideon defines Justice as “treating creatures according to how God created them; (forging) relationships with God’s creatures in such a way as to give them their due as what they are.” Gideon is suggesting that Justice is relational; that in order to offer justice to someone, I must have a knowledge of who that person is intended to be in full bloom, unhindered by poverty, oppression or whatever obstacle lies in their path.
I find that idea very challenging.
Gideon goes on to say “Justice cannot be reduced to some kind of mute, rough equality.” It is this “rough equality” I generally default to in my thinking about Justice. Most often, even my most sincere emotional response to injustice amounts to something like “Let’s find some surplus money among us and throw it at this ‘situation’ in order to fix it.” It is an easier kind of justice in the long run, since it costs very little.
I’m beginning to realize that the justice I normally envision is mostly a conceptual blanket which only hides the dappled, shifting landscape of creation and particularly humanity, but does nothing to legitimately heal and repair. It’s the kind of justice that emotionally and eagerly responds to distress with the generalized idea that “we” (a word which also lacks clarity) have to make this “right” when we may not have spent the time to orient ourselves in order to know what “right” looks like in a particular place or for a particular person.
The kind of justice Gideon describes includes (in fact, requires) an intricate and even personal knowledge of the systems, cities and persons in need of justice, as well as a keen awareness of the limitations, needs and presumptions of those working for it. A person living in Concord, CA, for instance, would need to know the city of Concord in order to do justice in Concord or for its people. But, knowing a city is an enormous endeavor; requiring great amounts of time and patience. It is not the kind of thing one envisions doing in the moment he or she is moved to action by the sudden knowledge that Concord’s “Monument Corridor” is one of the fastest growing poverty traps in California…
(Continued in part II coming soon. In the meantime… feel free to work on this.)
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I was so glad that the word “dappled” had a link to “Pied Beauty.”
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Okay, I really like this post. Much of it I agree with. I like the concept of justice in context of relationship much more than what the dictionary might reflect. I’m not convinced that one person can decide what is just, let alone offer justice, for someone else unless they are the source of injustice themselves. I’m inclined to believe that justice can only be defined by the parties involved in that particular situation. But, at the very least, it takes a little effort to learn about the individual(s) before deciding if their situation is unjust or what justice might look like.
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Just found this and added link to blog and RSS to my reader, thanks. Glad you have run into Gideon Strauss and CPJ! Good Stuff, Maynard.
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Justin Reply:
April 14th, 2011 at 7:08 pm
@BGR Thanks for the kind words, man. Thanks also for the work you’re doing at HalfWayToConcord.com.
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