Over the past few months, especially the past few days, the word justice has littered my social network pages in response to the various killings of unarmed civilians*. As a career community organizer, whose field of work is often described as social justice, I have given this word justice quite a bit of mental time. Given the recent surge in the word’s popularity, I think it prudent to share some of the insight I’ve gained in deep consideration of the word justice and its implications.
Webster, Wikipedia, et. al. notwithstanding, justice is a dynamic force maintaining equilibrium. I draw this definition from my own experience and more ancient sources related to the idea of justice than the previously mentioned popular Google results. Looking at the Judaic Kaballah or the Ancient Egyptian Tree of Life, the idea of justice is contained within the same sphere of activity, that which follows the law. The law then, is quite simply (well not so simply) the assurance of all things their time in space; or space in time. All laws, as we know them, whether those governing international relations or jay walking, are established with this basic understanding. Justice is the force necessary to maintain the equilibrium necessary for the space time thing I just mentioned.
With this in mind, it becomes readily apparent that justice is not a momentary thing, to be called into action whenever the citizenry gets riled up. No, it is an ongoing process, a vigilance, steadily at work maintaining the law, assuring that all get their time in the sun; as it were. Justice, in this sense, is not achieved via arrests, marches, rallies, or riots. Rather, justice is achieved by radical change – that changing of the root cause which impacts all of us and not just those in the immediate vicinity.
Justice, my friends, is not a quick fix or a short term endeavor, it is an ongoing function. As someone who works in the field of Social Justice, I have come to grips that the fight for justice began long before I came along and will continue long after. Until we as a society decide that the current systems are no longer acceptable, including the benefits we reap as a result of their inherent inequities, we will continue to march, rally and riot for arrests and policy shifts, but injustices will continue.
*I chose purposefully to not racialize this piece as I did not want to unintentionally move the conversation away from the topic at hand.