What Constitutes A Call For Justice?

The Arkansas Delta Peace and Justice Center sent me this article about the Phiadelphia Coalition, along with the following note and question:

Note: It is ironic that the Philadelphia Coalition stresses its non-activist role as contrasted to the three courageous young civil rights workers, James Chaney, Michael Schwerner, and Andrew Goodman, who were very definitely activists.

Question: Is only a call for justice a serious pursuit of an adequate measure of truth and justice?

The following quotations from the article get to the heart of what is at issue:

Although the Coalition has been characterized by the media as pushing for the prosecution of the accused man, Edgar Ray Killen, leaders point out they simply made a call for justice and have not sought to address the guilt or innocence of individuals or in any way become involved with the investigation or the upcoming trial.

"The coalition’s specific purpose was to call for justice not to assist in the prosecution,” said coalition co-chairman Leroy Clemons (emphasis added). “That is strictly up to the attorney general and the district attorney [sic]

“Since the call for justice has been answered, we want to focus on the educational aspects. We want to see the history brought into schools as well as the history of the civil rights.” . . .

One of the guidelines adopted by the Coalition last month says, “When speaking publicly and representing the Coalition, members should avoid specifically taking positions on specific issues or, for example, commenting on the guilt or innocence of individuals.”

James E. Prince 3rd, editor and publisher of The Neshoba Democrat and the other co-chairman, said, “The Philadelphia Coalition is not prosecuting this case. We simply called on the authorities to do the right thing. It’s very important to allow the justice system to work on its own.”

If these are the sole purposes of the Philadelphia Coalition, one has to wonder why its members formed the group. The public memorials and impotent calls for justice do not bring us any closer to facing the real questions about responsibility for the murders of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner and for the state and federally sanctioned terrorizatization and murders of countless others. If anything, such empty calls and public gestures whitewash the past before it is properly understood. The arc of the moral universe is indeed long, but I fear we are watching it bend away from justice.