Soul Force

some thoughts on social justice

Note: I bring up the topic of sexual violence below, but not in any specific instance.

I'm not sure whether it's a good idea to write about this or not, but it's something I've been thinking about for nearly ten years, and only in the last few weeks did I get to something that felt like clarity. I'm a little afraid to tap the “publish” button because, in this tinderbox of a country, anything I say that could be misconstrued might be, and people might get mad at me. But I also believe that my heart's in a good place, and if it's not then I welcome a course-correction. And I've been noticing that it's the things I'm scared to say that seem to benefit others the most. Maybe I should take the anxiety as a good sign.

So, what I've been wrestling with is that the recent movement that's been called “social justice”, or “wokeism”, has always troubled me somehow. And this has been confusing because I'm very much in favor of equity for all beings. I didn't like the public shaming, the calling out, but on the other hand I felt that people did have a right to speak, and that silence could be toxic too. I didn't like the exclusion, the “cancelling”, but then again I believe every group has the right to exclude, to enforce its boundary, otherwise it could easily cease to stand for anything at all. I also noticed that so many people involved in the movement seemed joyless and unhappy, but that's both a more widespread problem and none of my business. But there was something else that felt uncomfortable to me about it, something I couldn't put my finger on. I really hoped it wasn't just sour grapes from a privileged middle-aged white man, but how could I be sure without understanding the source? Maybe you've had this feeling too, and if so, then that's why I'm sharing this, in case it helps.

To be honest it seems kind of obvious now, but what I've recently realized is that the social justice movement is largely a doctrine of not-doing, in other words, it's concerned with how people should not behave. John McWhorter says it's a religion (or you could say a cult if you're being less charitable), and if he's right, what would the enlightened disciple look like? Well, they wouldn't do or say anything racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, ableist, or ageist, and they wouldn't slut-shame, fat-shame, harass, molest or rape anyone. But there's not much else we can say about our imaginary disciple; if they were turning their beliefs to action it would only be to try and stop other people from doing these types of things, in other words it would be anti-racist, anti-sexist, and so on. Yet our perfect disciple might be greedy, hard-hearted, meanspirited, manipulative, or rude, and as long as they weren't directing their ill treatment at a marginalized group, none of these would go against their doctrine. None of these would be grounds for excommunication.

I would contrast this with similar movements of the past. Courageous leaders like Sojourner Truth, Gandhi, MLK, and Malcolm X were all deeply spiritual people. They were all fighting against something, but also for something. I Have a Dream was not just a speech but a sermon, infused not just with the style of the powerful oratory tradition of the African American ministry, but with its substance:

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

Dr. King wasn't just talking about an end to mistreatment, he had his eyes firmly on redemption. He knew the temptations that would cause people to stray from that path, and he had a warning:

Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.

But the temptations are strong, and the warning has gone ignored. In fact in social justice circles it's not considered problematic to hate someone, as long as it's for something they are by choice, for example I've never heard of anyone being called out for directing ridicule, bitterness, or hatred at racists, rednecks, or Trump supporters¹. And Dr. King followed up this warning, this statement about not-doing, with one about doing:

Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.

Soul force. To me that suggests more than a righteous tweet, more than just chanting at a protest march. America is deeply wounded and suffering, it needs medics more than soldiers, needs guides more than critics, needs friendly neighbors more than cops. We need to see that both x-ism and anti-x-ism can spring from the same root of alienation. If our goal is unity, if our goal is peaceful interbeing, then no amount of not-doing or punishing-for-doing can accomplish it. We need something else, something bigger than that, whether you want to call it God or the universe, Christ or Tawhid, or—that overburdened mule of a word—love, anything that helps us break out of our comfy shells and commune with our fellow beings would be welcome. To take an extreme example: yes I stand against rape, of course I do, but I want to take it further than that. Difficult as it is, I want to strive to love the rapist as much as I love the victim, to weep for both of them, trapped in this culture of ours that objectifies and dominates, and teaches its children to objectify and dominate. It's our culture, our inheritance, our commons, and we're all responsible for it. We can't indict the leaf without indicting the root as well, and if we nourish the root, we can't help but nourish all the leaves.

So what to do? If I had it figured out I would tell you, believe me, but I think it might start on the inside, at least for me. I've been practicing opening my heart to everyone and everything, especially those I find it hardest to love. What's in me that's standing in the way, I ask myself, what part of my own humanity am I trying to separate and push away? I don't believe my soul is any purer than anyone else's, and a simple twist of fate could have put me in their shoes. We're all so small, and we can see so little and understand even less. What business do we have judging each other? And even if our judgement happens to be right, the act of making and holding it pushes us farther apart, just when we most need to pull closer together. I'd already stepped away from the news cycle, and bowed out of “the conversation”, but now I feel a sense of closure because I can honestly say that I haven't left in fear or rejection, I just want to add my fuel to a different fire.

petroglyph of a heart by the C&O Canal Towpath

P.S. I'd like to signal-boost the work of my friend Dr. Sunjiata Soon-Jahta on the Theory of Indivisibility and my fellow North Carolinian William Barber on the Poor People's Campaign. This doesn't imply that they would agree with the opinions above or with each other, I just think they both have good ideas for how to get us out of this mess.

1. Which I can tell you from personal experience really are three distinct groups even if they overlap.