The LIGHT!’s journey into becoming a champion to fight inequality wasn’t a linear one. It started with us looking to be more thoughtful givers not just for the eternal kingdom but also for the earthly kingdom. We wanted to see how we could be the best stewards we could be and engaged the work of some think tanks about causes we believe God cared about greatly AND, if given some investment, would return 10, 20, 100-fold!
While we found many great causes (and that’s a subject for another post some day) I was somewhat sad that pretty much all of the higher return on investment (ROI) causes were outside of the US. Yet, when I looked around, I was like, “There’s so much wrong here in the US, too. Isn’t there anything that even comes close to the ROI we can get internationally?”
In fact, there was one cause that stood out – the only one in the US.
US Criminal Justice Reform
Without going too deep into it our justice system today is in need of huge reform. Too many people of color, too many non-violent offenders, too many lives ruined because we don’t expunge non-violent records after reasonable times, too many lives ruined because of prejudice even after debt to society has been repaid (can’t vote, can’t get a job, can’t find a place to live).
We imprison more people, both in total and per capita, than any other country in the world, including China and Russia whom most people think need so much more human rights activism than the US!
There’s a great book that I recommend you read to learn more. Please check it out here