Justice Today

 Justice for All:  Weighed in the balances

Justice TOCC
            What does the Tarot card Justice mean for you?Are you looking for some kind of Justice in your life?  Pictorially, the woman illustrated in the card represents the Roman goddess, Justitia, and she is holding up a balance beam with two pans with which to weigh things. We see this in the Biblical story of Belshazzar’s fabulous feast where a floating hand appeared at the party and wrote on the wall the words – “mene mene tekel uparsin,” which the Hebrew Prophet Daniel interpreted as being - “weighed in the balances and found wanting” (Dan. 5:27). Belshazzar’s Father Nebuchadnezzar died that night. 

Justice TOCC

So morally, are we weighed down with injustice, or uplifted by pursuing justice in our everyday lives? What about the statement “…with liberty and justice for all”? Schoolchildren have been reciting this in The Pledge of Allegiance in salute to the USA flag since 1892. (June 14^th is Flag Day.) Where do we look in the US Constitution for a follow up on these words? The Bill of Rights? No, they are not in the Constitution, but are hinted at in the 14^th Amendment, which is about Civil Rights. It was established on July 9, 1868 right after the Civil War in which the Confederacy, and its illegal president, was ended. It states that no person shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion - or give aid and comfort to the enemy. A very great injustice to people of color was being overcome. 

Flag Day! Right now, there is a lot of tumult going on in politics over several prominent flags and who can or cannot fly them. In the January 6, 2021 “insurrection” at the US Capitol building, a participant strode through the rotunda carrying a Confederate Battle Flag. And now, there has been a lot of commotion over the LGBTQIA rainbow flag and further discrimination against Gay people. Recently, we have seen on TV so-called Nazi flag bearers displaying the Nazi Swastika Flag in front of Disneyland in Florida. What kind of craziness is this? This is America where our Grandfathers fought in WWII to put an end to the Nazi Regime while spending millions of dollars in the “war effort.” And for what? For this?  - Illiterate young men who drag out a hateful and deadly flag in front of children? Meanwhile, what about the disparaging situation for women?

            Women’s Suffrage: How can we fix an unjust system? How can we end racial injustice and overcome extremist ideology from hate groups which are poisoning our country? Ask yourself where you stand on all this? There is a need for Justice on several counts. Since the repeal of “Roe vs Wade,” a lot of American women, especially disadvantaged women and women of color, have lost the right to medical care for their pregnancies and may even be prosecuted while their doctors go to prison for abortions. What? The 19^th Amendment states that women’s rights shall not be denied on account of sex. The right for women to vote was established on August 18, 1920. That was the beginning of Justice for women.  Injustice now prevails in several states where a gross misunderstanding has led to trampling on women’s right to determine what goes on in their own bodies. Why are politicians making it so the government can decide for them? This includes decisions made in certain state governments which incite threats to mothers, doctors, midwives. This even brings in “bounty hunters” and criminal lawsuits for people helping women to have a so-called “illegal” abortion. Is this the right thing to do? No, Why? This is injustice pure and simple. 

            Now, gerrymandering and voter suppression has begun in some states that are trying to restrict the voting rights in areas where people of color live. A reminder: Some states in the South during the Jim Crow Era did not allow women of color to vote until 1965 with the enactment of the Voting Rights Act in congress. A continuation of this oppression is still going on with restrictions on voting rights and voter ID required, and so on. 

            Truth vs lies: We need to think about what the truth really is. And what is a lie, lying? The Dictionary says, “A lie is a deliberate falsehood.” This can include excuses, denials, claims of a hoax, cover-ups and distractions. When and how can Justice prevail over this behavior? How can we rectify the social inequities of the disadvantaged? Achieving Justice involves repentance, redemption or punishment in order to have vindication or deliverance.

What can you do in resolving injustice as a whole in the nation? What about your own need for justice in your daily life? What are the injustices you see happening? What can you do? Start by first  weighing the facts and evidence and giving thoughtful and careful deliberation to what is going on in order to come to a beneficial and just decision. Examine your past behavior and reflect upon what you need to do in the future to bring about change.

 

“What is happening to you comes from situations and decisions made in the past.”

“The card signifies absolute honesty”

Rachael Pollack, Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom (Aquarian Press, 1980)