This week, Joe Biden was inaugurated President of the United States, closing perhaps the most divisive election season in America’s history. This past year, Americans have cried out for Justice. In the middle of the year, people who lean left cried out for Justice for black lives that they believe were stolen by police. At the end of the year, people who lean right cried out for Justice for the election that they believed was stolen by their adversaries. Each side attempted to point out and confront systemic issues that caused these injustices. Each side sought to gather peacefully and make their voices heard, only to find extreme people on their fringes resorting to violence and destruction, which sullied their efforts and caused anger and distrust against their cause. Both of these issues were fueled by anxiety and economic repercussions of COVID-19 and the measures taken in response to it. So now, in the face of broken systems and shattered trust, how do we seek and find Justice? The 12 Core Values offer 4 Practical Methods to seek fair and desirable outcomes.
Opportunities
Opportunities are fair and open chances to participate and succeed in society. There are Opportunities to work, speak, own, rent, go to school, operate a business, get healthcare, go out to have fun with friends, or go to a loved one’s funeral. For hundreds of years, people of color have fought to get even basic Opportunities that white people have taken for granted, from sitting at a lunch counter to getting a mortgage to be able to afford buying a home. Today, in some areas, no one is allowed to sit at a lunch counter due to restrictions for COVID-19 social distancing. Nearly everyone agrees that every citizen has the right to vote and that they should be able to do so in a safe and straightforward manner, and that their vote should be counted once and counted toward the candidate of their choice. The ideal situation is that everyone has the same Opportunities for success, even as we recognize that many Opportunities are competitive, and only some can achieve them. Yet, people have different starting points, different privileges and different strengths. So how do we make it so that everyone has a fair shot, a real chance to win, a level playing field? We need to make systems fair and honest and transparent. We need to remove the dominance of money and influence. We need to invest in preparation of people so that they have the tools, knowledge and experience to be competitive and potentially successful. And we need to remove barriers and restrictions and lockdowns that prevent people from operating their businesses and having the freedom to pursue their passions and desires. As people find that they have fair and open Opportunities to succeed, we will once again build trust in each other and our institutions.
Respect
Respect is mutual admiration and decent interactions even among people who do not agree with each other. Honest competition leads to mutual understanding of what it takes to succeed and acceptance of others’ victories when we lose. However, Respect is difficult to hold for others when we believe that the system was stacked against us, when we were discriminated against or dismissed without serious consideration. Further, Respect for “the other” goes out the window when we see entire groups of people described as racial slurs, deplorables, anti”this”ers or domestic terrorists. Once we dehumanize people we haven’t even met, we can justify unfair treatment of them or the use of any means necessary to achieve our righteous ends. But if both sides firmly believe their ends are righteous and both sides use any means necessary … where does that leave society? A warzone and battleground of hate-filled and nasty factions. We must turn away from bitterness and reproach. We must make efforts to recognize and encourage and respect common ground and treat others with Respect. We must follow rules and norms to achieve our ends, so that we can Respect ourselves, even as we point out the injustices that many laws and systems perpetuate. We must start somewhere! Treating others the way that we would like to be treated is a necessary first step to rebuilding trust, fairness and Justice.
Effectiveness
Effectiveness is the confirmed assertion that our actions resulted in the outcomes that were intended. In manufacturing, it is not enough to produce a large quantity of goods, if they are the wrong size, or they don’t function properly. In social issues it is not enough to “just do something” about it, if it doesn’t solve the problem. We now have two vaccines for COVID-19, but will they be effective at preventing the disease without causing adverse physical reactions? We have highly trained and well funded police forces, but are they disproportionately targeting and interacting with people of color, leading to greater loss of liberty and lives? We have the most accessible and flexible voting system in our nation’s history, but were the votes counted, processed and reported in a fair and legitimate way? In all of these examples, we need more transparency of methodology, more investigation and measurement, more reporting and analysis of results, more open conversation and dissenting viewpoints, more truth and admission of shortcomings. In order to build Effectiveness, we need to openly and honestly review and evaluate our systems and our own beliefs. It is HARD and scary to question our own perspectives and customs that we rely upon. Yet when they are at odds or in direct contradiction with our fellow Americans, that self-reflection is probably the ONLY way that we can arrive at truly effective and just solutions.
Protection
Protection is holding on to what is dear and not allowing harm or foul to come to those and that which we love and cherish. When Protection fails it is devastating. Everyone has people and things that we love and feel the need to protect. These are both tangible and ethereal … real-life things and people as well as ideas and concepts. We can all agree that many things are worth protecting. We just don’t agree on what those things are. We get into real trouble when we perceive that other people are protecting things or ideas or people that we don’t agree with, or that we think are evil, or that we ourselves find threatening. We must begin to understand that in those cases, our Protection is perceived by others as a threat. When one person carries a gun for Protection, people around them may wonder and fear if they will use that gun on them. When one person carries themselves with pride and confidence, people around them may wonder if they will tear them down or attack their own standing. We must not abuse our own power even in the act of Protection. We must not create fear in others in order to compensate for our own fears. Instead, we must be clear and outward about what we seek to protect, and we must honor other people’s needs for Protection of what they love.
In search of Justice, we must build systems and trust. We must protect what we love, while not threatening things that others love. We must evaluate and improve systems so that they are effective in delivering the outcomes that we desire. We must treat other people well and hold positive views of them, just as we hold for ourselves and desire them to hold of us. And we must give everyone their best and open chances to succeed. This has been a very difficult time for our nation. If we continue to act like warring factions, we will all lose. For Justice to prevail, we must find honest common ground.