the price of justice
America is trillions of dollars in debt. And I’m not simply talking about financially, but spiritually.
For how long have American companies built empires of exploitation? From humans to the environment, all corners of creation have been destroyed out of a drive for consumption. Labor is simply a cost to bring down to increase growth.
America has not yet paid the price for justice. Every day, it is taking a payday loan on the lives of men and women of color. And it has exacted a toll on those painted white – no one has been exempt from the colonization of the soul.
That house? Built by undocumented and immigrant hands.
The railroads? Laid with the blood of the Chinese laborers.
The culture? Ex-nihilo as black bodies claimed their birthright.
This land? Crafted with the mangled massacres of indigenous.
Every step forward was one borne on the backs of those oppressed; concession by those in power was never reconciliatory – it was always reluctance.
What then is freedom? There is no option for declaration of moral bankruptcy simply to reset the debt clock. It is grace to build the Kingdom; to turn away from the former ways and start walking towards shalom. It is grace to begin paving and paying the way forward.