“I’m concerned about a better world. I’m concerned about justice; I’m concerned about brotherhood; I’m concerned about truth. And when one is concerned about that, he can never advocate violence. For through violence you may murder a murderer, but you can’t murder murder. Through violence you may murder a liar, but you can’t establish truth. Through violence you may murder a hater, but you can’t murder hate through violence. Darkness cannot put out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
Martin Luther King Jr.
Beyond the Quote (152/365)
“No justice, no peace” shouldn’t be interpreted as a direct call to violence. Rather, it’s a statement that so clearly points out that justice and peace go hand-in-hand and that without one, you simply cannot have the other. It’s a chant that means as long as injustice prevails, acting peacefully is a moral impossibility. It’s a chant that points out that peace isn’t just the absence of war, but the presence of justice. For, how can we live in peace if we know that justice isn’t being upheld? What does unjust treatment mean for the people within a community? How can you feel peace if your sense of security is being directly threatened? If there is no justice, then something is seriously wrong and it is a threat to us all—and how can we live in peace knowing that?
“No justice, no peace” is a statement that exposes the hypocrisy of referring to the quietly oppressed as ‘peaceful’. Peace is not found in the submissive acceptance of oppression, but in the absence of oppression. It is neither a call to violence nor to disruption of the peace of others, but a call to bring justice and peace to all. And it is a chant that fights to make that call LOUD. It’s a chant that works to make that message CLEAR. It’s a chant that states we the people of this society WILL NOT SIT QUIETLY if justice isn’t being upheld within this very society that we have agreed to live in together. It’s a reminder that as long as there is injustice, you will not find us peacefully minding our own business. This IS our business. This is a threat to us all.
So, what is “No justice, no peace” a call to actually do? Rather than revert to violence you can: demand police accountability from your legislators; post loud and clear on all of your media outlets; comment on other people’s posts and open the right dialog; have conversations with people in your circle; make a donation to the front-line organizations; join a protest (if you feel you can do so safely); offer resources to protestors and affected communities in your area; talk to police officers and people in the justice department; or even reach out to and contact the Minnesota Justice Departments and Police Departments and convey to them directly how you feel about the death of George Floyd. This is a chant for ACTION—not violence. My only hope is that the policy makers, system handlers, and people in power hear this chant loud and clear and decide to act swiftly before violence becomes inevitable.
For, how can the protesting stop if nothing changes? How can people live in peace if their security is still deeply threatened? How can our society move forward if all of the people in a society, in our loudest, most clear voices, can’t influence positive change on an integral part of the very society in which we live? We need to stay focused on pointing our energy, efforts, and actions directly at the people who are in control. We need to look out for one another and act to bring security to our neighbor the way we would want them to, for us.
And most importantly, as Dr. King points out above, we need to remember that, “you may murder a murderer, but you can’t murder murder. Through violence you may murder a liar, but you can’t establish truth. Through violence you may murder a hater, but you can’t murder hate through violence.” It’s our united LIGHT that will shine BRIGHT on the issues, problems, and darkness at hand—darkness can never and will never illuminate anything in our world. But, where does this end if our calls and cries continue to fall on deaf ears? Please, listen. CHANGE is the way to peace. There is no other way. No change? No justice? No peace.
Read Next: 40 Empowering Quotes on Justice and How Silence Is As Bad As Injustice Itself
Don't Let the Motivation Stop There...!
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