The black community in America is dealing with issues within
the criminal justice system that derive from a complex history of loss of every
basic human right; identity, freedom,
the right to protect one’s own family, even self-determination.
Resolving some of the disparities in policing, in sentencing, in ascribing
guilt or innocence, is only a step towards justice. The bigger issues cannot be
disentangled from the daily lives of African Americans without being addressed
at the deepest levels. And the white community, those who show up now as
descendants of slave owners and benefiters from white privilege, can only
really offer opportunities to allow for healing. The healing must take place
from within the abused community, as reclaiming their right to power is one
huge step that must occur through the process.
With that realization we see that healing is already taking
place, as African Americans have demonstrated their undisputed ability to hold
positions of power in this country. And on top of that, they are demonstrating
a heart of overcoming resentment in reaching out to the white community; the
relationship between Joe Biden and Barack Obama clearly demonstrates this
willingness to move forward and leave behind the past. The mutual respect and
even affection are indisputable.
However, the legal system which focuses almost exclusively
in many urban areas in America on the black population serves by its very
nature to separate and hence try to destroy the black community. White
privilege is so deeply ingrained that it is invisible to most white people. It
is just assumed, for example, that following the expected norms within a
company will result in promotion and advancement, and white people do not see
that as privilege. But black people have not been part of that automatic
advancement. Even today the black person who advances in his or her career is
too often seen as something of the exception to the norm, one who has overcome
a disadvantage.
Often advancing in the career world is accompanied by
leaving behind one’s origins in community. Joining the world of privilege has
consequences far deeper than simply economic benefit, because it generally
requires a person to adopt white values, and see themselves as part of the
white community. Giving up one’s own heritage is accompanied by all sorts of
unacknowledged wounds, a slicing away of much of the depth within the self. In
the same way, living as though the natural world is simply a source of economic
wealth has separated those with European ancestry from humanity’s own deep
identification as part of nature. Had
the original settlers embraced the native peoples when occupying this land,
this self-identity could have been preserved and even revered.
The land of opportunity, the land that promises government by the
people for the people, has abandoned some large part of the people. Until
black people occupy enough positions of power within the criminal justice
system as representatives of the black race, so as to transform the system
itself in the direction of community values, reformation that accomplishes real
healing seems left to the community itself. And that entails a clear expression
of the deepest values from the ancestral heritage, and creative analysis and application
of these values to transport them from Africa of hundreds of years ago to
America of the 21st century.
Traditional values must be meshed with western science,
creating a synthesis able to absorb today’s technology without destroying
yesterday’s deep inner self. They must be able to offer help to any people
trapped in today’s shallowness and materialistic value system that leaves us
vulnerable to losing the deeper values of this country itself. And reclaiming
historical depths of character is probably the only way to bring us out of
today’s crises, which leaves us to look within to rediscover ourselves.
The way a country conducts its justice system has a great
deal to say about its values, and we are failing on that very point, how to
handle accusation without losing love. Accusation has taken over this country,
and we need to look at each other without contempt again, to respect each other
and accept that we cannot know another’s thoughts and motivations enough to
simply condemn them. We cannot just follow killing with killing in return. We
cannot impose life sentences without self-examination to determine if we are
not already sentencing people to lives of injustice every day.
We have a very bright future just around the corner, but our
very technological progress can also be what kills us without a healing within
the whole of society itself.
