Justice is a word that is used differently inside and outside the Christian church. For the person on the street, justice is about the (right) punishment of criminals. For believers, justice is much more about leveling the playing field, opening up possibilities and opportunities for a more equitable distribution of resources.
Paying your workers so little that they cannot eat properly so to maximize your profits and maintain your profits is an unjust system, and for believers, cries out for greater equity. Justice will not eliminate the gap between rich and poor, but it will stand with the oppressed and ask for change.
Yesterday 35 miners were shot by police in South Africa. This disagreement has been boiling up for some time and it has much to do with wages, but also deals with unions trying to expand their membership (often at the expense of the miners themselves).
The mean income in South Africa is $11,000. Miners are paid between $3500 and $6000 annually(according to CNN news). They live in shacks (there is simply no other word to describe them) with educational opportunities for their children few and far between. They want more; they want some kind of equity. They want a wage that reflects the dangers of the work they do and offers some kind of opportunity for their children.
Yesterday it all fell apart. Video shows a nervous and poorly commanded police force using automatic weapons encountering a crowd of miners who were armed with machetes and possibly hand guns. An open area divided them. Then shots rang out and 35 were dead.
Are we humans so greedy that this outcome is acceptable to anyone?
Let justice roll down like water ........AMEN
No comments:
Post a Comment