“I think sometimes, when you’re trying to do justice work, when you’re trying to make a difference, when you’re trying to change the world, the thing you need to do is get close enough to people who are falling down, get close enough to people who are suffering, close enough to people who are in pain, who’ve been discarded and disfavored — to get close enough to wrap your arms around them and affirm their humanity and their dignity. ”

-Bryan Stevenson, author

As some of you may have heard from the worship service, this month we continue our journey with others exploring UU Soul Matters theme: Justice and Equity.  Beyond connecting to topics or themes, I strive to embody the kind of “justice work” described in Stevenson’s quote and I also encourage others to consider justice through that lens. Justice as getting “close enough to people who are falling down, close enough to people who are suffering, close enough to people who are in pain, who’ve been discarded and disfavored — to get close enough to wrap your arms around them and affirm their humanity and their dignity. ”  As a person living in a certain neighborhood in Tallahassee’s Frenchtown, I have often found myself presented with opportunities to get close to a few marginally sheltered folks who have been “discarded and disfavored.” There was a time when I would’ve been uncomfortable with this particular opportunity. I mean, I couldn’t really imagine myself getting close enough to literally wrap my arms around a homeless person to affirm their humanity and dignity, as way of doing justice work. And then, somewhere along my journey of UU ministry, our principles: 1. Inherent worth & dignity of every person, 2. Justice, equity, and compassion in human relations, 7. Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part, and 8. Journey toward spiritual wholeness by building a diverse multicultural Beloved Community through actions that accountably dismantle racism and other oppressions in ourselves and our institutions. To me, Stevenson’s quote contains the action part of our UU principles and is what I consider true justice work.

Prayer for While in The Struggle  by Rev. Margalie Belizaire

Permission Secured by Soul Matters

Spirit of light and love, Spirit of resistance

Spirit of generosity,

That which serves as our conscience in this work

That we do to dismantle white supremacy

To empower the marginalized

To insist that black lives matter, matter

We have been angered

We have been saddened

We have been pushed to the brink once more

We are also inspired and seem resolved to do better this time

To not simply get to the other side of this moment

But to get there morally healthier

To get to a safer space for black bodies

Spirit, help us to understand that we each have a role in justice work For our liberations are tied to one another’s

Give us the clarity of mind to know what

our individual part is in the struggle

That there are many ways to protest injustice

Help us to find our way and commit to it

Spirits, we ask for guidance

Send us strength and endurance

Help us to give our all to this

And hold nothing back

For precious lives depend on it

We will be imperfect

Rest assured that we will mess up over and over again

And we must do it anyway.

May we summon the courage to tear down this system of injustice And get busy creating a “world community with… justice for all.” May it be so.

Amen

On a separate but related note, during my research and drafting to prepare for this month’s Meridian submission, I came across a paper I wrote during seminary that talked about justice pretty deeply. I am including a portion from my (unedited) paper, “Ama-ar-gi, Libertas, and Ma’at: The Ethical Origins of Freedom, Liberty and Justice (2018)” for anyone who may be interested.

On Justice 

Considering the fact that ancient Sumerians were the first people to have a document accounts of a political and social justice reform, one might expect them to also have the first word to mean justice. Instead, according to Abraham Jagersma, author and scholar of descriptive grammar of Sumerian, the name of “the king who established justice in Sumer and Akkad”16 was used to refer to the concept of justice. Beyond abstract examples of “justice,” “fairness,” or “equity,” Sumerians did not seem to create a descriptive word. The English word “justice” derives from the Latin term justita meaning righteousness or equity.17 Similar to the Roman goddess Libertas who symbolized liberty with a wand and a cap, the goddess Justita is portrayed blindfolded with a sword in one hand, and a pair of scales to measure justice in the other.  Rome, however, was not the first to use this particular image as depiction of ‘lady justice.’ In ancient Egypt, the goddess Ma’at was a symbol of justice, but she was not blindfolded, nor did she hold a sword. Ma-at has been portrayed with a scepter in one hand, the Ankh (of eternal life) in the other, and an ostrich feather in her hair as the instrument to measure justice against.  

According to Nicolaas Van Blerk, author and scholar of Egyptology, “there is archaeological evidence that Egyptian society was founded on the concept of ma’at.”18 This is attested by “the fact that all of the text and inscriptions discovered speak [particularly] of justice.”  Scholars believe Egyptians were more “interested in ma’at (justice) than hpw (law),” which was in contrast to the legal system ancient Romans created. Most of their documents record all discussions relating to law or liberties first beginning by stating the “importance of ma’at and M3’t –[which was] the divine law of order, honesty and justice, reflected in the human [virtues] of ma’at.” The concept of justice was thought to have “regulated the seasons, the movement of the stars, and the relations between man and the gods.” It was “a golden thread running through their ideas about the universe and their code of ethics.”  Ma’at was not only believed to be essential to daily earthly life, but was considered significant in the afterlife as well. The Egyptian Book of the Dead expresses the idea that, “justice was the measure by which the dead were judged in the balancing scales of Ma’at.” The Book of the Dead uses “vignettes” to illustrate “how the god Horus weighed the heart of the deceased in balancing scales against an ostrich feather, which symbolized Ma’at’s justice.”19  The use of vignettes as a tool to teach moral ethics, transitions to a culture well known for their use of this ‘tool’ in their dramas.  

George G.M. James, author of the controversial book Stolen Legacy, asserts that “Greek Philosophy was the offspring of the Egyptian Mystery System.”20 Although there are many connections, there’s not enough research to completely support his claim. The concept of justice, however, does seem to align with his theory. The Greek word dikaiosune, like ma’at, was intended to convey Greek notions of order of the universe and a harmonious code of ethics. According to Alasdair MacIntyre, author and Professor of Philosophy “the nature of dikaiosune -which we have come to translate as ‘justice’ -is [a] subject of disagreement.” Dikaiosune was a product of two Homeric terms, dike, meaning “order of the universe” and dikaios, meaning “the man who respects and does not violate that order.”21 MacIntyre notes that without any reference to or belief in a moral order of the universe, the concept of ‘justice’ lost its intended meaning. The teaching tool referenced earlier, was Plato’s Republic, which portrayed dikaiosune generally as order and harmony. Through this drama, Plato contends dikaiosune is the foundational virtue, “the virtue of allocating each part of the soul its particular function and no other.”22 In his perspective, in both society and individual psyche, if all the elements are performing harmoniously in order, wisdom, courage, and moderation will flow from society and psyche without conflict.  For Plato, harmony (as justice) was the basis of all other virtues, which again, is similar in concept to the Egyptian’s perspective of ma’at. Interestingly, neither the Greeks nor the Egyptians, make any direct connections of justice to freedom or liberty.  The idea of justice as the mediator of freedom and liberty appears to be a modernized concept. 

Clayton, Matt. Mythology: Captivating Greek, Egyptian, Norse, Celtic and Roman Myths of Gods, Goddesses, Heroes, and Monsters. Matt Clayton Publishing, 2017.

Fischer, David Hackett. Liberty and Freedom: A Visual History of America’s Founding Ideas. Oxford University Press, 2005. 

Hansen, Mogens Herman. “Democratic Freedom and the Concept of Freedom in Plato and Aristotle. ”Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies, vol. 50, 2010, grbs.library.duke.edu/article/viewFile/13041/2081. 

Jagersma, Abraham Hendrik. “A Descriptive Grammar of Sumerian. ”University of Leiden, 2010.”justice” 

James, George G. M.Stolen Legacy. Echo Point Books & Media, LLC, 2016. 

Keenan, James F., et al. “The Preacher and the Virtue of Forgiveness.” Practice What You Preach: Virtues, Ethics, and Power in the Lives of Pastoral Ministers and Their Congregations, Sheed & Ward, 1999. 

Kramer, Samuel Noah. The Sumerians: Their History, Culture, and Character. University of Chicago Press, 2008.Kindle Edition. 

MacIntyre, Alasdair C. After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory. University of Notre Dame Press, 2007. 

Van Blerk, Nicolaas Johannes, and P. S. Vermaak. “The Concept of Law and Justice in Ancient Egypt, with Specific Reference to ‘The Tale of the Eloquent Peasant. ’”University of South Africa, 2006, uir.unisa.ac.za/bitstream/handle/10500/2447/dissertation.pdf.