Social Justice Crisis

What does it mean to work for social justice?

I have been bearing witness to some tragic events on both a global and local level. Yesterday I was riding my bike from my home up to Mt. Plesant. When I reached the intersection at U st. and 16th, the biker in front of me rode through the intersection going north on 16th(he had a green light) and a car coming south on 16th took a left onto U st., unfortunately the car turned left directly into the biker... who wasn't wearing a helmet! He flew up over his handlebars and sort of tumbled onto the pavement. Fortunately the car had tried to stop and so the impact wasn't at a very high speed. The young biker was very dazed. He got up and came to the sidewalk, the driver pulled over and got out of the car with his pregnant wife and showered him with apologies, took down his info and offered to put him in a cab or drive him home (his front tire was bent to hell).

I was sticking around because I thought I might be helpful as a witness, but the family who had hit him was taking complete ownership of their error and the biker was so dazed he wasn't really registering the fact that I was trying to help. Meanwhile, everyone else who had witnessed was moving on with their lives and thinking of how they were going to tell this story to their friends.

I rode away.

As I was riding up 16th (on the sidewalk), my mind drifted through some of the more tragic things I have been hearing of and facing over the past couple of months. The issues I face everyday, Global AIDS, Iraq, Darfur, and the disgusting detainee policies of the US, are the stories of lives ruined. So much death, so much destruction, so much pain. It does not make sense, at least not to me.

From what I gather, life makes sense to some people. At one point I think it made sense to me. Some people believe that everything happens for a reason, that there is a destiny, a plan. I am not there right now. When someone can explain to me why fathers and mothers, sons and daughters are dying everyday in Iraq or Darfur; why a helicopter flying over Nepal carrying eight World Wildlife Federation scientists had to crash killing all eight of them; why my friend's father was shot and killed while standing on his front steps; why those who already struggle daily with the plaugue of poverty must also bear the brunt of disease; why that man riding in front of me had to be hit by a car; when someone can explain those things to me, then maybe I will begin to see that there is some sense in this world, some reason behind the happenings that terrify me.

I was able to ride away from that accident on the side of the road because I saw the driver taking responsibility for his actions and trying to right the wrong he had committed. But I stopped dead in my tracks after a few blocks when I realized that I had no way of knowing that he would follow up on his initial good intentions and trully ensure that the young man got a new bike, got checked up on medically, etc. I should have slipped him my card, I should have done my part to ensure that justice comes to be.

Working towards social justice, for me, begins with confronting the ugly, confronting the injustice, confronting the tragedy in the world. Part of that confrontation is accepting that what you are currently bearing witness to or facing is unjust, but I unfortunately think that in order to be an effective justice worker, you must also anticipate and even expect injustices to come. I saw the man being nice to the victim and assumed he would continue to be so... that makes it easy to walk away. Who wants to expect bad things, to anticipate injustice? I don't. But I don't see any other way to engage with the world around me at this point. I want to work towards social justice, a large part of that is accepting and understanding injustice.