All injustice requires satisfaction as a part of the process which reverses and heals the damage which it been done. This is true, not only on an individual basis, but communally as well Those who rightfully accuse society of wrongdoing, asking for and demanding reparations for injustices, have Jesus on their side, for Jesus was clear that all such debts must be paid in full:
Make friends quickly with your accuser, while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison; truly, I say to you, you will never get out till you have paid the last penny (Matt. 5:25-26 RSV).
We might like to think we have no responsibility to those who have been harmed by our society because we believe that we have not contributed to their harm. However, if we have benefited from such injustices, from the system which was established upon and promoted such injustices, we are not so innocent; insomuch as we have benefited from systematic evils, we have incurred a debt which we must pay back due to those evils. Likewise, if we have not done our part to overturn systemic injustices, but instead, have defended the system as it is and the harm which it has caused, our accuser is right to point to us and demand that we contribute our part in the restitution which must be made for such evil to be healed. We cannot say: “The crimes were committed in the past and all who were responsible are dead.” Even if those who are living today have not directly been involved with such evil, if they have benefited from it, or support the system which came out of it and incorporates it within it, they perpetuate the evil and so are at least partly responsible for its continuation. This is why God said that blame and responsibility for evils continue along family lines, because those who inherit all the benefits from those evil also inherit the debts which come out of them too. [1]
A key example of this is found in the Exodus: the people of Israel forced the Egyptians to pay restitution for all they suffered while in Egypt:
And the Egyptians were urgent with the people, to send them out of the land in haste; for they said, “We are all dead men.” So the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading bowls being bound up in their mantles on their shoulders. The people of Israel had also done as Moses told them, for they had asked of the Egyptians jewelry of silver and of gold, and clothing; and the LORD had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have what they asked. Thus they despoiled the Egyptians (Ex. 12:33-36 RSV).
Those who benefited from the enslavement of the people of Israel, those who got wealthy and privilege were the ones who suffered the most when the people of Israel left Egypt. As justice demanded things were made as equitable as possible, those who gain the most from social evils are expected to contribute the most, and if they were unwilling to do so freely, justice allows that such debt to be paid for by force. Thus the notion that past slavery does not require restitution goes against the example set in Scripture. Once we realize this, once we recognize that guilt does not go away merely because slavery is no longer allowed, it becomes clear that society needs to deal with the implications of slavery and how it continues to influence the world we live in today. Many of those who live in and with privilege today do so because they are heirs to all the evil gains attained by those who had slaves in the past (or those who benefited by association with those who had such slaves).
We must help those who have been harmed by injustices of slavery so that they can truly find their own position in society restored to what it could and should have been if their families had been so unjustly treated justly centuries ago. Until we do so, systematic injustice will continue, and it will continue in such a way that those who benefited from such evil, those who are now rich because of it, will grow richer, while the poor, thanks in part to the unjust system itself, will continue to be made poorer. This is also true, of course, with relation to the various countries in the world. Those who gained through the exploitation of others must also pay back those they have exploited. We must change the system, as Pope Benedict XVI wrote, so that the demands of justice (individual and communal) can be met; if we do not do so, the injustices will continue to build up and destabilize the world:
The dignity of the individual and the demands of justice require, particularly today, that economic choices do not cause disparities in wealth to increase in an excessive and morally unacceptable manner, and that we continue to prioritize the goal of access to steady employment for everyone. All things considered, this is also required by “economic logic”. Through the systemic increase of social inequality, both within a single country and between the populations of different countries (i.e. the massive increase in relative poverty), not only does social cohesion suffer, thereby placing democracy at risk, but so too does the economy, through the progressive erosion of “social capital”: the network of relationships of trust, dependability, and respect for rules, all of which are indispensable for any form of civil coexistence.[2]
Sadly, we should not be surprised that the promotion of justice will often bring about conflict in the world. This is why Jesus, the prince of peace, said he did not come to bring peace (cf. Matt. 10:34-36); it is not because he did not promote peace but that he realized the promotion of a just peace will first result in conflict before that peace can be produced. Peace is important, but to promote it, we must promote a sustainable and just peace.
When conflicts are not resolved but kept hidden or buried in the past, silence can lead to complicity in grave misdeeds and sins. Authentic reconciliation does not flee from conflict, but is achieved in conflict, resolving it through dialogue and open, honest and patient negotiation. Conflict between different groups “if it abstains from enmities and mutual hatred, gradually changes into an honest discussion of differences founded on a desire for justice”. [3]
To achieve justice, those who have benefited and engaged in injustices will have to be held accountable: their sins, what they have done wrong, and how they have benefited from such evil, must be made clear. We cannot hide such evil from ourselves thinking that if we ignore it, the injustices will somehow go away. Thus, while we must strive for peace, it should be a peace founded upon justice, not injustice, and that means, we must be clear what was done wrong and what must be done to fix that wrongdoing. We must do so for the sake of justice, and with that, love, love for those who have been unjustly hurt by such injustices, but also love for those who have perpetuated them. For we want those who have done wrong or gained from such wrongdoing to make things right so that they can themselves be restored to a position of justice, making sure they will not incur a greater debt which must be paid in the future.
Our focus, of course, should be for those who have suffered injustice, but justice is not justice if we neglect the foundation of justice is in love itself. Dorothy Day understood this, which is why she said those who defended the system and all its abuses were worse than the Communists, for the Communists at least understood the problems of society (even if they did not understand and realize the best solutions for those problems), while those who defended the system defended the evils which should be rejected:
When people are standing up for our present rotten system, they are being worse than Communists, it seems to me. There is so much positive work to be done that I hate to see people wasting time in this way. I am not arguing for any common front with the Communists – with our voluntary poverty, our works of mercy, the decentralists movement, our fighting of the industrial system, our opposition to war and revolution – it seems to me our position is clear. [4]
Our society has yet to fully deal with the evil of slavery. Though, it be sure, some restitution has been made, some transformation in society has been promoted, it had not been enough. Those who have gained the most from the evil of slavery continue to fight for their privilege, not wanting to give it up. We cannot allow the system to remain as it is. The injustices systematized by society cannot be defended. Society must accept that it has inherited much from the past, including its debts. Though we might think it is difficult, though we might mourn what such restitution means, we must realize if we work for such justice, if we work to change the system, in the end, all will benefit from such change. Likewise, we should not put off for tomorrow what we can accomplish today, for if we do so, we will only add to our debts, and so increase the possibility that they will be so great, we will face a great day of reckoning when the time comes for them to be paid in full. And so, as Pope Francis said, “Let us stop feeling sorry for ourselves and acknowledge our crimes, our apathy, our lies. Reparation and reconciliation will give us new life and set us all free from fear.”[5]
[1] “ The LORD passed before him, and proclaimed, ‘The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.’” (Ex. 34:6-7 RSV).
[2] Pope Benedict XVI, Cartitas in veritate. Vatican translation. ¶32.
[3] Pope Francis, Fraetelli tutti. Vatican translation. ¶244.
[4] Dorothy Day, “Letter to the Claude McKay. November 2, 1945” in All The Way To Heaven: The Selected Letters of Dorothy Day. Ed. Robert Ellsberg (New York: Image Books, 2010), 203.
[5] Pope Francis, Fraetelli tutti, ¶78.
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