Commentary
Expert perspectives on justice concerns worldwide
Today is Constitution Day. When the Constitution was adopted in September 17, 1787 by 39 of the 55 delegates to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia , those delegates could not have imagined the range of issues and opportunities that lay ahead for this document and for the rights, freedoms, and responsibilities it embodies. Nor could they have envisioned how these provisions would shape, be shaped, and applied to our country 225+ years later.
By now many Americans, at least those who access social media or follow the news media, have heard of the controversy over Planned Parenthood’s recent videos that went viral on the internet by capturing conversations by Planned Parenthood personnel about the sale of organs and other parts from aborted babies. No matter what side of the abortion debate one may be standing, the clips of these medical and other professionals talking nonchalantly about baby parts and their availability should rattle everyone, even the most avid abortion rights supporter. The videos depict an exchange that is likened to the illegal organ trafficking that is happening globally. More so, they depict a severe insensitivity to human life and a level of moral callousness that is difficult to comprehend. We need to state, plainly and directly, that what is happening in those videos is wrong. But we also need to go beyond our statements, and do something about it. Afterall, our government funds Planned Parenthood, and we the taxpayer pay for it, in more ways than one.
As a Christian and as a human rights/global justice advocate, I am concerned with a range of issues – war, oppression, disparity, discrimination, etc. Indeed, G.L.O.B.A.L Justice was launched nearly a year ago to help address the severe situations and conditions affecting so many people in so many regions around the world. While I have studied, researched, taught, and advocated for 30 years on human rights efforts such as alleviating poverty, improving child survival, addressing global health and global violence, etc, I did not grapple as deeply with the issue of same sex rights. I considered same sex issues as private, personal concerns more than as broader, societal concerns. Certainly many gay and lesbian individuals have faced societal adversity throughout the years, especially from those who have inflicted hateful acts against them. But outside of those instances of adversity, the same sex rights cause was starkly different than the human rights causes historically and presently around the global. The type of wide scale oppression, stark disparities, and severe violence inflicted by governments, groups, and individuals, such as in human trafficking and terrorism, were of greater severity and immediacy from an advocacy perspective.
Today is International Criminal Justice Day — and my heart is heavy thinking of the victims of the Tennessee shootings–military servicepeople senselessly gunned down yesterday; the families of the victims in the Aurora, Colorado shootings–receiving a verdict of murder but still emotional at the loss of their loved ones; and many others facing violence and oppression around the globe.
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