I’ve been quoting Bryan Stevenson (founder of Equal Justice Initiative and author of “Just Mercy”) a lot lately, but when you’re inspired by someone or something, you can’t help but share it with others.
I heard Bryan speak a couple years and heard his stump speech that he shares with many audiences. In this speech, he notes that there are four elements needed for a person to create greater justice, opportunity and fairness in the justice system. The first element is proximity, that is, a person must get close to the thing they care about.
In article from the Harvard Kennedy School web site, Stevenson said in the speech, “Get close to the things that matter, get close to
the places where there is inequality and suffering, get close to the
spaces where people feel oppressed, burdened, and abused. See what it does to your capacity to make a difference, see
what it does to you.”
It seems like a pretty simple piece of advice, but is harder to follow than one realizes, especially when you live in a town/city/country that does all it can to separate people and create isolation. I heard a Chicago alderman say the other day that Chicago isn’t really one city but lots and lots of isolated neighborhoods. “Get to know your city,” he implored.
There are lots of things that hold us back from proximity. Fear of doing or saying the wrong thing. Fear of looking silly. Just fear itself. But that’s one of the things that Jesus didn’t have a problem with. He got in there. He got proximate. In Luke 4:35-41, he gets close to a man possessed by a demon, he gets close to a woman racked by fever, he gets close to countless others who need to be healed. Jesus knew the power of proximity and knew that his speaking to crowds would only go so far.
I met last week with Bryan Allen, CEO of Urban Juncture (UJ), an organization that is seeking to help the Bronzeville neighborhood flourish. One of UJ’s objectives is to create a African-roots restaurant hub (one of its first openings is the Bronzeville Jerk Shack where I had some delicious Jamaican food). UJ also has a office-sharing space where individuals pay a certain amount per month to use its facilities as an office. It’s about a 20-25 minute train ride south from where I live so it’s not the most convenient location for me, but I’m going to apply to be a part of it. I sometimes feel paralyzed by what to do when I read about yet another child who’s been shot an killed. So I’ll start with proximity. Traveling out of my comfort zone to get to know neighbors from a different neighborhood. It’s time to be more proximate. Like Jesus did.