Justice Made

“There can be no healing without justice.  And justice requires courage.”  This has been our basic message from FaithTrust Institute for many years.  As we have worked with individual survivors, perpetrators and institutions, often people have asked, “well, what does this justice look like?”

It looks like what happened in a Cleveland, Ohio, courtroom last week at the sentencing of Ariel Castro for the over 900 charges of rape, kidnapping, and assault which he inflicted on three women, Michele Knight, Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus, he kept enslaved for ten years in his house.  He pled guilty and was sentenced to life in prison without parole plus 1,000 years.

• One of the survivors, Michele Knight, read her statement to the court.  This is what “truth-telling” looks like:  “From this moment on, I will not let you define me or affect who I am.  After eleven years, I am finally being heard and it’s liberating.”
• “Gina [one of the other survivors] was my teammate.  She never let me fall, I never let her fall.”  Sisterhood is indeed powerful.
• “What does God think of you hypocritically going to church every Sunday and coming home to torture us?”  This is the challenge to every faith community: what did he hear preached every Sunday?  Where was the Gospel: “It would be better for you if a millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea than for you to cause one of these little ones to stumble.” (Luke 17:2)

Castro also spoke in court. While he weakly apologized to the victims and said he hoped they could forgive him, he then turned to blaming them and justifying and denying his crimes: the “sex” was consensual, “I’m not a monster,” “I never beat them,” “ . . . we had a lot of harmony going on in that home.” In his rambling statement, the “truth” of who he is shown clearly.

Because of the remarkable strength and courage of these three women, because they had each other, they survived ten years of hell. Now because the court did the right thing, because the community and their families rallied around them, because a neighbor heard their cries and helped rescue them, because they have had a chance to tell their truth and be heard, their healing has begun. Sadly, this outcome is the exception and not the rule for victims of sexual and domestic violence.

The next time you wonder, what would justice look like?  Remember Michele, Amanda and Gina; remember the Good Samaritan; remember the widow in Luke 18 and find a way to be a part of this narrative for the next victim of violence. Making justice is our shared responsibility and the mandate of our faith.

Rev. Dr. Marie M. Fortune
FaithTrust Institute 
www.faithtrustinstitute.org
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