Yesterday, a federal judge ruled the hastily built immigration detention camp in the Florida Everglades, cynically named Alligator Alcatraz, must cease operations and shut down within 60 days.[1,2] This is welcome news and a victory for countless groups of advocates and activists protecting immigrants, the environment, and the humane treatment of others. While the ruling in court was based solely on upholding decades of environmental protection laws in a national park, the decision demonstrates the power of coordinated efforts to secure justice that benefits many over the few.
The pursuit of justice—which is the foundation for peace, respect, care, and dignity of others—regularly brings diverse groups of people together in a cooperative way, especially in matters that overlap with intersecting interest groups. This is worth celebrating because it demonstrates the power of human interconnectedness and capacity for an intrinsic spirituality that believes in moral principles over nihilism, zero-sum games involving human life, and corrupt systems. Those who advocate for true justice believe that humanity is more than self-serving flesh and blood. They recognize how action or inaction today impacts the trajectory of the future for ourselves, our families, our neighbors, and the world.
Justice is the act of blessing and dignifying one another.
The campaign against Alligator Alcatraz is one example of an effort for a greater vision of justice in society. The camp represents a number of integrated issues: immigration, constitutional law, environmental protection, land rights of Indigenous peoples, forced removal, racism, universal human dignity, and religious freedom. Alligator Alcatraz was erected on the ancestral lands of the Miccosukee Tribe now protected by federal law as a cherished National Park and sits less than 10 miles between two reservation boundaries. The strategic placement of this remote detention camp fails to reconcile historical injustices while serving to perpetuate new ones. Regardless of how one seeks to justify the enforcement of existing immigration law, the actions of the State of Florida and the Federal Government portray a distorted interpretation of the constitutional establishment of justice, peace, and the welfare of ourselves and future generations.
Securing justice for others is an act of courage and resistance that chooses to stand with the oppressed against the oppressor; the suffering against the aggressor; the voiceless against the influential; and the meek against the proud. Using the tools and resources available to us, we speak, educate, organize, and march in solidarity with others for what is true, good, and beautiful. Justice is the pursuit of reconciliation and healing. Justice is the act of blessing and dignifying one another. Justice is the act of holding the unjust accountable.
Justice is love in action.
German Lutheran pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer, well known for his bold stance against the Nazi regime in World War II, wrote, “The Christian must treat his enemy as a brother, and requite his hostility with love. …The more bitter our enemy’s hatred, the greater his need of love.”[3] Bonhoeffer believed in a higher and more beautiful form of justice that does not settle for cheap solutions, deal-making, or fragile agreements. He points people of faith and the spiritual alike to evaluate their intentions for a just resolution. If justice is the foundation for equitable peace and the establishment of dignity for all, then love is both the unshakable ground that justice rests upon and the glorious spire of hope that reaches the heavens. Reconciliation is for both the oppressed and the oppressor because their (our) destiny is interconnected.
“There is no deeper distress to be found in this world, no pain more bitter than our enemy’s. Nowhere is service more necessary or more blessed than when we serve our enemies.”[3] Justice is love in action.
[3] Bonhoeffer, Dietrich, The Cost of Discipleship.
Matt Till 