Justice Brings Peace

By FRANK LINGO

The conviction of Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd is a big step toward racial justice in America. There are many more steps to go, but the guilty verdict gives us hope that black lives matter in a court of law.

After Barack Obama was twice elected president, we felt some progress in racial equality. Then the election of the openly racist Trump smacked us down from our illusions. Trump’s mission is to separate the races as viciously as possible. He and his enablers in Congress set back the civil rights movement by decades.

I happen to believe in unity. I believe we humans share a collective soul, and that we couldn’t separate from each other if we wanted to. There are those who kill others to prove their separate superiority. But in my beliefs, it’s a futile effort because we all have an invulnerable spiritual bond.

The Old Testament’s wrathful God has no place in my beliefs. The peaceful teachings of Jesus, Buddha and other spiritual avatars do form my belief system.

In my old age, I have re-discovered prayer. I only took a 50-year hiatus after my Catholic upbringing. The prayers I have found now are more about solace and guidance than the penitent prayers of my childhood.

In my daily chanting (in which I find enchantment), I include a mention of my brother from whom I’m estranged. He is so mean and hateful that I wish to never see him again, but I pray for him to be showered in love and light.

I pray for my own sins to be forgiven by those who I’ve harmed, and I pray to be able to forgive those who have harmed me. That feels like the way to unity.

When South Africa emerged from apartheid, they instituted a system of truth and reconciliation, which at the time seemed to go awfully easy on the perpetrators. But maybe that’s really the way to overcome the endless cycle of revenge we humans engage in. Maybe our quest for unity matters more than pursuing punishment.

There are some amazing examples of this thing known as restorative justice. NPR’s Story Corps tells of a mother who has forgiven and become close friends with her son’s killer. CBS has a story of a mother who has figuratively adopted her son’s killer. In each case, the killer was a teenage gang member who later came to feel overwhelming remorse. MSNBC ran a show called “Breaking Hate,” which explores how it’s possible to overcome racial enmity.

In the 2020 election, almost 75 million people endorsed Trump’s racist policies and voted to give him a second term. But most of these folks are not people who would lynch a black person. Their racism is more subtle. If they were bank officers and looked at identical loan applications from unseen persons with the same credit rating, but one name was Brian McElhaney and the other was Tyshaun Jackson, Brian would get the loan.

Hundreds of years of racist ways do not change easily, but they can change. A hopeful trend is that the younger generations now are far more in favor of racial equality and gender equality. Millions of white people have showed up to support Black Lives Matter protests.

We need our institutions to change to meet the need for unity. Our schools and our governments must exhibit a willingness to serve everyone equally, which they are far from doing yet. And our religious leaders must practice what they preach, again a challenge to see and overcome their hypocrisy.

I’m no fan of the Catholic Church, but I don’t want to throw the baby Jesus out with the bathwater of the Church. I must admit that Pope Francis is using his influential role to work for the betterment of mankind. And one of the most pertinent quotes of the 20th century was from Pope Paul VI: “If you want peace, work for justice.”

Frank Lingo, based in Lawrence, Kansas, is a former columnist for the Kansas City Star and author of the novel “Earth Vote”. Email: lingofrank@gmail.com.

From The Progressive Populist, May 15, 2021

Populist.com