It’s a famous quote we usually attribute to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
“The arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice.”
King used this quote in 1958 in an article he wrote for a periodical called The Gospel Messenger. He was likely quoting Rabbi John Kohn who made this statement in 1940 at Temple Sinai in Los Angeles. True historians of religion may know that the sentiment (but not the exact words) is found in the writing of Unitarian minister Theodore Parker in 1810. (https://quoteinvestigator.com/2012/11/15/arc-of-universe/)
In essence, this quote conveys a vision of hope about justice and the inevitable victory of good over evil. I am drawn to this sentiment and want to affirm that the arc of the moral universe does indeed bend toward justice. But I’m not sure I believe it to be true. I am not convinced that there is greater justice for the people of the world today than in past generations.
The other day, I saw a video of a Black teenager being chased by police. He was shot dead by the police. The boy had no gun. It wasn’t even clear why the police were in pursuit. Where is justice for him?
Refugees from the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America travel great distances to get away from war, violence, drought, and other conditions caused by greed. Their lives are ruined as they are kept penned in refugee camps. Where is the justice for them?
Muslims in China, those advocating civil rights in Saudi Arabia, and those who question the government in North Korea are lost in prisons and concentration camps. Will there ever be justice for them?
We like to think that in the 21St Century, we have grown to be enlightened people who respect civil rights and the freedom of ideas. Yet autocratic leaders in many countries now brag of their willingness to kill their own citizens who are not in full agreement of the political grab of power. Tell me again which way the arc of the moral universe is bending? It was just in the last century that some of the worst horrors of human history occurred including the Nazi concentration camps and the atomic bombs dropped on Japan. Where is that arc of the moral universe? Are we better today than the emperor Nero of the Roman Empire or Vlad the Impaler of the Ottoman Empire? Our methods of torture and killing are more refined, but we treat human life with equal disregard. Is there a greater bending toward justice? Truly, this is difficult to assess with any certainty.
In every generation, the lure of power and greed lead people to do despicable things to others. Some of those actions are deliberate, like trafficking people in the sex trade or other forms of slavery that remain prevalent around the world. Other actions are the results of policies that ruin people’s lives by causing them to live in hardship, like viewing corporate profits as a singular priority while having no account for other stakeholders like employees, communities, and the environment.
I understand that for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., it must have seemed like the arc of the moral universe was bending. While his life was cut short, he did live long enough to see African-American people organize for civil rights and receive some support from white people. He could see the tide turning. I experienced a tide turning as well in the late 1980s when the AIDS pandemic led many gay men and lesbians to be visible in society. Yes, visibility – and the sometimes savage responses to people who came out – led to a tide that continues to turn in society for LGBTQI+ civil rights and protections.
As I consider these and other historic examples, I am aware that the arc of the moral universe does bend toward justice when enough people stand against the forces which hold power and economic control over society and demand change. Doing so often comes with great risk. That risk includes the willingness to embrace becoming a victim of injustice as occurred for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., for Matthew Shepherd, and for the countless people whose names we will never know.
Does the arc of the moral universe bend toward justice? It seems to me that even though the arc is long, the direction it bends is determined by the decisions we each make to live in ways that promote justice and respect for all life on our planet. The direction of the arc and its bend depends on each and every one of us.
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