Today's Injustice

I get great, repeated opportunities to hear Congressman John Lewis speak. And one story this past weekend stands out about the distance we've come. It also highlights the difference between injustice a generation ago and the injustice today.

Growing up in rural Alabama in the 1950s, Congressman Lewis couldn't borrow a book from the local public library. After many demonstrations against bus stations and five and dime counters, and the larger civil rights movement, he began a career in politics. Congressman Lewis was elected to Atlanta city council, and then congress (over and over again).

In 1996, Congressman Lewis published an autobiographical book. And at one book signing inside the public library close to his home, he was finally granted a library card...in what must have been an emotional ceremony. This gives us an idea of the distance that he has traveled and that our country has come. With his and others' struggle, we have laid down the burden of overt racial discrimination.

Unfortunately there is still racial injustice in the US. Underachievement in schools, incarceration way beyond the porportion of the population, poverty, and other significant social indicators...all tell us that voting rights, and civil rights even, have yet to yield equality. And without going on too, too long, my secondary point is that now, without overt laws or policies treating people differently, the blame (and consequently the solution) to injustice is more difficult to identify. Inequality must be addressed, and we all must do our part. Some part.