Everyday Justice: The Global Impact Of Our Daily Choices
Everyday Justice: The Global Impact Of Our Daily Choices
I’m a bit of a policy wonk so I tend to engage at times in wonk-speak and unknowingly at the time communicate “over the heads” of some that I’m attempting to mobilize on an issue. Thus, only those who pour over legislation, watch C-Span, check in on British Parliament debates for fun, or browse the Library of Congress know what I’m talking about.
It’s NOT been my experience that those who seem to “miss it” don’t have the intellectual capacity to understand what I’m saying or the moral sensibilities to support. It more so points to my failure to communicate in such a way that is passionate – yes, but also clear and digestible. I’m always good on the passion side of that equation, but on the being clear part and showing how people’s daily lives are impacted by whatever issue I’m talking about, I tend to have a low batting average. I struggle with this and am trying to do better. In the past, I would get my kicks off of “being prophetic” (whatever that means) so it didn’t matter the reaction of those listening. I was just going after the shock value. I was big, bad, and Black enough to say whatever I wanted to say…in the name of Jesus of course. But thank God for growth! Now I realize not only how narcissistic that approach was, but how counterproductive it was as well. I get the sense that many people over the years in which I’ve been blessed to have audience eventually walked away from me with the question in mind: “Why should I care?”
Enter Everyday Justice.
Julie Clawson (Blog: One Hand Clapping) brings it home – no really…all the way home to our daily decisions. Every purchase. Every deposit. Every outfit. Every meal. Every gas fill up. Julie shows how it impacts some part of the world and its inhabitants. She gives face, voice, and description to those that are hidden from consumers for the sake of convenient ignorance. As she says, “Living justly means understanding the impact of our decisions.” And that impact is most deeply felt in human terms over purely economic or statistical ones.
The movie, Blood Diamonds, really helped me to visualize this and Kanye West’s “Diamonds from Sierra Leone” music video provided my soul the soundtrack for this issue. I think it was courageous of Kanye to engage the Hip Hop community of the issue of conflict diamonds and it will require the same courage of the general public to become more conscientious consumers.
For people of Faith, it is our duty to make sure our daily consumption habits match our professed Faith values. When we read the words of the prophets in the Jewish Bible (Christian’s Old Testament) their passion for justice and “right-ness” toward workers, youth, widows, and immigrants is evident. Julie raises Isaiah 58: 9-12 (but you just have to read from verse 6 through 12!) as an example, but believe me the writings of the Old Testament prophets and the teachings of Jesus are replete with calls for righteousness in community.
It’s easier today to be a conscientious consumer. While this ethic was reserved for the experts in the not too distant past, technology and the 25-lane information highway make this a much more palatable way of life. Not only does Julie provide websites, movies, and books that underscore her book’s core message; but you can even do a simple google search today and find out if a store that you frequent is dealing unjustly with its workers or supporting child labor in sweatshops. You can find out if that diamond ring on your finger cost an Angolese girl her hands. Or if the tires on your car are helping to pollute the environment in Liberia.
The U.S. Department of Labor recently released a list of goods produced by child labor or forced labor (slavery). You can go nation by nation to see if something that you have on the shelf in your kitchen is helping to keep children in slavery. (Check out this CNN online article about Child Laborers along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border) Corpwatch is another great site where you can get the scoop on whether or not a company is dealing unjustly either with its workers, its surrounding community, or the environment. I just found another site as well that provides a great service. It’s called Good Guide and it helps consumers to find safe, healthy, and green products. What’s really cool about them is that they created an iphone application that’s free to download and allows iphone users to scan barcodes while you shop and get an instant report on the ethical or unethical nature of the product you’re considering purchasing.
With all of these resources at our fingertips; it is, in my estimation, imperative that all of us become advocates for justice both in our local community and around the world. The well-worn quote from Dr. Martin L. King, Jr. is that “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” And there is great injustice in the world and we all can do something about it. As Julie Clawson’s former Youth Pastor told her: “Every decision has a pricetag.” And starting today – just a few days before the official start of holiday spending on Black Friday – might we enter the malls and department stores not just trying to find the biggest bargain, but also determined to build bridges that allow justice to blossom around the world – with every swipe of the credit card.
I highly recommend this book!
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