"How long, O LORD, must I cry for help, and you do not listen? Or cry out to you, "Violence!" and you do not intervene? Why do you let me see iniquity? Why do you simply gaze at evil? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife and discord. This is why the law is numb and justice never comes; For the wicked surround the just; this is why justice comes forth perverted." Habakkuk 1:1-4.
The first four verses seem unreal when reading the book of the prophet Habakkuk. The opening, the cry for help, or the depressed feeling that no one hears a victim's cry is unimaginable. Especially when the psalmist declared that when the poor one cried out, the Lord heard his plead and saved him (Ps. 34:7). Does God gaze at evil? Has God allowed for strife and discord to continue till justice becomes perverted? Langston Hughes once said in a poem, "Justice is a Blind Goddess." Hughes also added that as Blacks, we are wise to her blindness.
Today, we see and hear the unbelievable. People of color are crying out for help and justice still appears as a "Blind Goddess with deadening ears." Surely, individuals like Kenneth Chamberlain (age 66), shouted loud enough, "Why do you have your guns out?" 16-year-old Martin's question deserved an answer, "What are you following me for?" The video camera showed that justice was close enough to hear Eric Garner's painful cry, (age 43) "I can't breathe." Even now, another individual George Floyd's (age 46), words of "My neck hurts, I can't breathe," once again failed to open the blind goddess eyes and ears to avoid the unthinkable.
How are we then to respond to the unimaginable, unbelievable, and unthinkable acts to a "Blind Goddess with deadening ears?" God told the prophet Habakkuk to write down a vision. In other words, "What do you think I can do for you?" The prophet then reflected on the acts of God. "GOD, my Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet swift as those of deer and enables me to tread upon the heights"(Hab. 3:19). We must believe that our God is stronger and gives strength to help us swiftly remove the bandages from the Blind Goddess with deadening ears. We must write our vision with actions, with a pen in our hands. Remember, our ancestors treaded the stoney roads of injustice so that their vision of freedom would materialize. Our pens must be seen at the voting booths to prevent the 45th president from becoming the 46th president. We must continue to write a vision to place effective leaders in office to help the healing process for our judiciary system.
"... the vision is a witness for the appointed time, a testimony to the end; it will not disappoint. If it delays, wait for it, it will surely come, it will not be late. See, the rash have no integrity; but the just one who is righteous because of faith shall live" (Hab. 2:3-4).
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