This Issue Matters

People ask why this issue – of all the issues – is so important. This issue really matters because tens of thousands have been murdered and tens of thousands more are starving. Every single one of these lives is just as unique and precious as me and you. But there’s more to ponder. 

This issue matters because it pulls back the curtain on ways that U.S. wealth and power perpetuate and profit from very oppressive situations. Both political parties, corporate media outlets and a multitude of Christian pastors are implicated in all this death and destruction. 

Once again, well-meaning Americans are being scripted into a racist narrative of good guys against bad guys. It’s no different than the myths, lies and biblical proof-texts justifying awful conditions on the plantation, the frontier, the reservation, the border, and the ghetto. 

What will we do when we realize, once again, that the same old characters are blowing the same old smoke? Will we side with wealth and power - or be compelled to act with compassion? Will we seek protection in civility, cynicism, neutrality or niceness - or will we muster the moral courage to tell the truth? 

This issue matters because it is a litmus test for our capacity to love.