How can justice be restored?

I am in the midst of reading a manuscript about the persistence of evil. The author of the manuscript is Dwayne Cole. Dr. Cole, a close friend, is a retired college professor. He is a linguist by training, but his interests range through all the humanities. His time is now taken by being a happy grandfather, a thinker and a writer. He does all three very well. His roots are Baptist and Presbyterian, and he holds ordination in both denominations. He has been further influenced by Process philosophers such as Whitehead and Cobb. His favorite words cluster around themes like gentle, kind, peaceful and loving. I gladly sit at his feet.

In his most recent manuscript, he gave me a new insight. He wrote “A paradox is a truth so great that it can never be stated simply.” I held that statement in my mind as I recently read a magazine article by Elaine Enns, a Mennonite social activist, about the tragic invasion and taking of North America by white Europeans. For the invaders it was manifest destiny. For natives, it was disaster. The invaders many times were devout Protestant Christians. They felt fully justified in their actions and were supported by those in power in Washington, DC. Our ancestors gave little respect to the indigenous people of the vast continent. They made treaties with indigenous people and then broke them. They killed indigenous people with impunity. They drove North American natives onto reservations and left them with loss of identity and unbearable poverty.

New leadership is emerging among our continent’s indigenous people. They are demanding that justice be done. There is also an emerging response from the ancestors of the invaders. Elaine Enns is an example. She and her religious cohorts agree. Terrible wrongs have been done, and the call for justice needs to be addressed. In this circumstance justice is difficult to define. Paradox abounds, and understandable anger and guilt is everywhere.

It reminds me of the children of Israel in their taking possession of a land that, according to the Bible, was given to them by God. The story is familiar to Bible readers. Israelites were slave people in Egypt. Under the leadership of Moses they broke free and headed to the land that had been promised to them by their God. Unfortunately the land was already occupied by Palestinians. The Israelites became a warrior tribe. They gave orders to the indigenous people. “Worship our God, or we will kill you.” Many Palestinians acquiesced and bowed down to the Israelite God. Thousands of others were ruthlessly killed. Over three thousand years later, Palestinians and Israelites are arguing and fighting about who owns the land. A case for both sides of the argument can be made. Can justice ever be done?

I have posed this question to friends. They asked that I define justice. My response is too simple. Justice is done when everyone involved is made whole. What does it mean to be whole? The discussion continues.

Paradoxes abound and there is no simple definition. Justice is incredibly complex. The temptation is to walk away and do nothing. However, the bitter fruits of the injustices done generations ago still abide with the indigenous peoples of North America.

I offer possible paths. Some ideas are borrowed; some are from my own ponderings.

1) A new commitment to honesty is necessary. Winners write the history of conflicts.

The winners of wars dress wars up in the clothing of honor and heroism. In history classes in high school I was told lies about the European white settlers taking the lands of the American continent. Historians need to do a rewrite with a commitment to truth. Our ancestors were self-justifying thieves, and we are the benefactors.

2) We must recognize that we (indigenous people and settlers) have one common story. Colonization for the invading settlers was very profitable. For the indigenous people it was socially and economically disastrous. It is still one story. We now need to be joined at one table around which we gather and converse.

3) Housing and living patterns must change. I am a part of the “housing first” movement. Segregation is still an ugly American phenomenon. When people are properly housed in the right places, good things happen. Being physically a neighbor is a step in the right direction in meeting one another’s needs. Reservations and ghettos have never worked for justice for all. Reservations and ghettos need to be put in our American past.

4) Education must be desegregated. When children learn and play together, barriers drop. Americans have fostered desegregated with words only. In fact, privileged people have found ways to segregate their children by calling it something else. Their favorite label is “choice options for excellence.” I believe it is in fact cruel segregation with public money.

Education without discrimination and appropriate housing are necessary to achieve justice for all.

5) Churches remain terribly segregated by race and economic status. Segregated practices peak each Sunday morning. Christians were deeply involved in the atrocities of the past. Their full involvement in the solutions is unavoidable.

Significant efforts are now being made to bring about reconciliation with justice for all. Real progress toward justice is possible. It is long overdue.

The Rev. Howard Bess is a retired American Baptist minister who lives in Palmer. His email address is hdbss@mtaonline.net.