I've spent some time the last couple of days praying for a loved one that is spending their birthday in a prison cell. Even in the midst of terrible overcrowding, except for their cellmate, they are almost totally alone. A situation that is unimaginable to begin with has become even worse during COVID. Most of us cannot imagine living under these conditions. And most of us rarely think of the thousands of people that do live that way. "They made their bed," is our general philosophy and that makes it easier to forget about them. In this particular situation (and thousands others like it), the crimes committed, non-violent crimes, are rooted in trauma, in abuse, and addiction. None of those things have ever been dealt with in any way as they've sat "paying their debt to society." Lots of bad choices were made. No one forced them to commit their crimes and they will bear the consequences of them for the rest of their life. Long after they've theoretically "paid their debt," they will continue to be held down and back from pursuing the same freedoms we enjoy every day. The system is set up, in the vast majority of cases, to create further punishment and recidivism rather than rehabilitation and return to society.
Loving someone living through this is one of the things that sent me down the rabbit hole of our criminal justice system and it's history. Our society and it's systems, the systems that the majority of us accept as right and good and fair, literally end up creating criminals. We are content to blame and shame, okay with ignoring the roots of poverty, racism, abuse, addiction, mental illness, at least until it reaches close into our home. Then we want those most harmed by these things we've ignored locked up out of our sight. It helps us continue to ignore systemic issues that we have the ability to address, but do not. I can safely say all of this, because it was me, it was my people. Loving someone harmed by all of those things throughout their childhood forced me to look at things from the other side. The roots of much of our systems were created within racist ideologies. Civil rights laws have not changed that - it just forced it to morph into different verbiage. It has ravaged black and brown communities and has stretched into those living in poverty from every category. Being poor, and especially poor and black, has become one of the single biggest hurdles to overcome if you've been caught in this system. I was blind to this, content to believe "justice is blind," until I took the time to read, to talk to people most effected, to walk through it with at least one. Our justice system, at all it's levels, is not blind. It sees color, it sees class, it sees wealth and poverty and it punishes, or does not punish, accordingly.
We know that innocent people are executed, yet are content with capital punishment (and church folk continue to support this at much higher rates than the general population). We know that innocent people still sit on death row, yet do not advocate for their release. We know that absurd numbers of people are held for months, years even, awaiting trial for the simple reason that they are poor, yet we do not care. We know that poor, black and brown communities are targeted, arrested, tried, convicted and sentenced for drug use at much higher rates than white and wealthier communities (though the incidence of drug use is almost identical), yet we do nothing to see this system changed. It is extremely difficult for the formerly incarcerated to get decent jobs, yet get them they must, or they will go back to jail. They are taxed with exorbitant fines, classes they must attend, drug tests they must submit to (that are often only offered during regular work hours, requiring them to miss work). All of this endangers their difficult-to-get livelihood. If they lose their job, they cannot pay their fines. If they cannot pay their fines, they go back to jail - until they can pay their fines (and to add insult to injury, while they're there, they continue to rack up MORE fines). And the cycle continues. It is a modern day poor house that those living in poverty almost never escape. Do you see how easily people with middle class to upper class wealth can step out of this system at almost any point? It is designed to punish those in poverty. We know many of these things, yet we continue to say there is nothing inherently wrong that should be changed.
We can, as a society, continue to ignore this. On my more cynical days, I believe that is likely to be the case. Too many people benefit from the system as it is and therefore have no motivation to work to see it changed. Too many people have no motivation to work for change in areas that do not effect them or their own personal lives. But the Church? What exactly are we here for if it is not to bring the Good News, in all it's various forms, to the society God has placed us in? To bring healing, release, freedom? Is this not our calling? Even at the cost of our own personal comfort? It is NOT to build buildings, grow ministries, amass ungodly amounts of wealth. The Church, and it's individual parts, should be on the front lines of fighting for change, supporting those being consistently oppressed by systems our forefathers created and we now sustain. This is uncomfortable. Even though we claim to follow a Christ that offers grace and forgiveness to all, we have been indoctrinated in the ways of retribution and punishment in our interactions with those different from ourselves. We have to be willing to live in the tension of learning new ways - ways that I believe more fully reflect the Jesus we follow.
Are we content with what is happening around us as long it doesn't directly harm us, our families or those we love? If we are unwilling to support those who are oppressed, why is that? If we are unwilling to educate ourselves about the harm being done or the ways we could alleviate that harm, what is our motivation for status quo? These are questions we need to take the time to consider, take to prayer, ask God what our role is in the culture we live in.
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“When people were hungry, Jesus didn’t say, “Now is that political, or social?” He said, “I feed you.” Because the good news to a hungry person is bread.” – Bishop Desmond Tutu, Anglican bishop and social activist.
