Do justice. It looks like a typo, right? It’s the kind of thing that would make me roll my eyes as a reader, and make me want to throw something as an editor. I know I have a few friends who will see the tag line, and keep scrolling because of the error…Exccpt it is not an error. It’s a quote from the King James Version of the Bible.

We would all be more comfortable with the term “Due Justice,” as in the Diane Capri mystery series, but also as in the inherent ideal that as American citizens, we are all due justice. It is a basic right, an expectation of fairness and equality in the eyes of the law.

Unfortunately, the American legal system is not exactly set up that way. There are some lives that our society values more than others. The Constitution itself is evidence, but so is today’s news cycle. We value the rich over the poor, men over women (pay gap) and the comely over the homely. How are those in the lesser of these groups supposed to receive the justice they are due?

The Bible clearly states that it is the responsibility of the privileged to provide justice for all. Psalm 82 says:

2 How long will ye judge unjustly, and accept the persons of the wicked? Selah.

3 Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy.

4 Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the wicked.

The problem with this biblical mandate is that it doesn’t specifically say how we are to “do justice.” So people are left to their own devices. I’m excited about the way some of the more famous amongst us have taken on this challenge. But far too many of us have chosen to sit this one out (and not in the same manner NFL players have chosen). That should not be an option.
Do justice. Someone’s life is depending on it.