Whose Responsibility?
Each time I speak to a government entity about Reparations, I find myself returning to the question, “Who is my neighbor?” Whose responsibility is it to pay for the damages done to the injured stranger?
In Jesus’ famous story of a man who was beaten and robbed and left for dead on a dangerous road, three other men traveled safely on that same path. Each had status or wealth; each had somewhere to go. They considered the dangers and drawbacks of delaying. None of them knew the stranger. By legal parameters, he was not their neighbor. But Jesus answered the lawyer by redefining “neighbor” as the one who stopped to help, at great risk and cost to himself, to right the wrongs that others committed.
But why was the road dangerous? Was it more treacherous for some than others? Did bandits target certain individuals with impunity, while the wealthy professionals passed unmolested? If people keep getting ambushed on that road, whose responsibility is it to fix it? In his 1967 speech “A Time to Break Silence”, Martin Luther King, Jr addressed the issue of the road:
One day we must come to see that the whole Jericho road must be transformed so that men and women will not be constantly beaten and robbed as they make their journey on life’s highway.
As an individual, I am afraid that I would not stop to help the injured person. I would worry more about what would happen to me than about what would become of the stranger. I personally need ongoing transformation. As a fellowship, we are also called to be neighbors to those who have been beaten and robbed. As citizens of the kingdom, it is our responsibility to address the system that looks away from injustice, passes by on the other side, and perpetuates unequal treatment of travelers on the road.
Tonight, I will speak to the Champaign City Council (link here to the text), asking them to investigate the harms that have been done on the “roads” for which they are responsible by joining a commission to study reparations. What wrongs have been committed while the government looked the other way? Where did we provide safe passage for some, while allowing others to be injured? Who was harmed, and by whom, in their jurisdiction?
The City of Urbana and the County Board have already committed to a joint commission to investigate the harms committed against people of color. This lays the groundwork for repairing those wrongs. The Champaign Urbana Reparations Coalition, led by pastor Jeff Trask and joined by people of faith and justice throughout our community, urges the City of Champaign to join this important first stage of addressing injustices. Research, investigate, document. Face the truth in order to begin to be set free from the injustices that plague us.
Reading Dr. King’s speech, I hear the criticisms that he endured for speaking out. People told him that peace and civil rights don’t mix. They wanted him to stay in his lane and keep quiet about everything else. And yet he was compelled by his faith to speak out against injustice wherever he saw it.
I can hardly imagine the courage it took for Dr. King to keep speaking in the face of so much opposition and danger. I would likely have been one of the voices cautioning him to stick to a few wise and winnable issues. But it is not enough to preach about being a neighbor inside the safe confines of our sanctuary. We have to hold our governments with our representatives and our tax dollars accountable. We are paying for the roads; all our neighbors should be guaranteed safe passage. And where harm has been done, we must respond with repair.
I am humbled by Dr. King’s witness of preaching the message outside his own pulpit and challenging the government to change. I don’t imagine myself to have that courage, so I pray for strength to speak at the appointments that God has given me. Tonight at the City Council meeting, may the great commandment to love our neighbor as ourselves be newly understood. May the hearts of leaders be strengthened with the courage to take action. May the voice of justice prevail. May we be counted as ones who have seen the hungry, imprisoned, injured, and robbed- and stopped to help. May we not turn away from the stranger who is our brother. May the Jericho road be transformed so that all may travel safely on life’s highway. -Renée