Yesterday, the National Lawyer’s Guild Chapter of the Washington College of Law presented Americans Who Tell the Truth: Ethics, Integrity, & the Law, “a mixed symposium of artwork and activists.” It featured a series of portraits painted by Robert Shetterly, and discussions by a few of his subjects on “how the law and lawyers can help or hinder the truth.” Overall, it was an outstanding event.
Kate Kelly, who organized the event, began it with an introduction that posed several questions. Among them, she asked:
1. What does it mean to be a U.S. citizen?
2. What does it mean to be human?
3. Given the inequality, violence, and injustice of the world that often derive from U.S. policies, what are we as Americans willing to risk to stop them?
These are precisely the right questions to ask. Without trying to answer these questions, which each person should do for her/himself, here are some brief thoughts on why Kate’s questions are so crucial.
First, the United States is a democracy. Citizens have the ultimate say over who rules this country. As such, each citizen has political power (unless it has been taken away, as it has with almost all prisoners), and arguably correlative responsibilities such as: using your political power, using it effectively to achieve political ends, and/or refusing to use it to enable unjust or unconstitutional ends.
Second, the human being is “the moral animal.” We do not consider dogs, squirrels, cockroaches, or bacteria to be “moral” because we consider it a uniquely human feature to distinguish between what is right and what is wrong, and to do what is right even if it goes against our self-interest. This feature is the crux of a non-biological or non-theological definition of humanity. When we think for ourselves to find the “right” course of action in a particular moment, and we take it even though it involves some greater risk to us than alternative choices, we fully express our humanity. Knowing that, the question then might become, how can we exercise our political power in the most humane way?
This leads to Kate’s final question about what we are willing to risk. Because our biological impulses to be selfish and protect ourselves often conflict with our moral impulses to do the right thing, it is a difficult question indeed. But no significant and positive social change has ever been achieved without great risk – in fact, great sacrifice. If we want to achieve social justice, or at least have a more just society than this one, we will have to take risks and make sacrifices. So, what is it worth to you?
Comments are closed.