The inception for the Justice League of Greater Lansing Michigan was January 2021. As I was thinking about the next step for justice work in the Greater Lansing Area, I felt as if I had come to an impasse. Our Social Justice and Mission Committee at First Presbyterian Lansing had been engaged in the issues and possible solutions for several years. The pandemic had provided time and ideas for continued study and education of systemic and structural racism.

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Questions grew louder of “what can we do” about the injustices and racial disparities we see in our nation and more specifically our community. I began to think of “repairing the breach” caused by centuries of slavery and its continued devasting aftermath, i.e., prison leasing, lynchings, legalized segregation, redlining, mass incarceration and the list goes on.

 

As we were having these conversations in houses of worship — predominately White Houses of Worship — a solution became extremely clear. How can people of faith fix this? How can predominantly White churches apply the doctrine of “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you?” The Justice League was born in my head! I knew I just needed to define and promote “Reparations” to PWC in the Greater Lansing Area.

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Lansing is a particularly fertile area for fair and progressive thinking. It is an area not afraid of tackling large issues with constructive, attainable goals. Community members are ready proponents of projects that improve the area and its inhabitants. Examples that came to mind for me were projects such as the Lansing Promise, Lift Up Our Youth Foundation, Lansing Economic Area Partnership (LEAP), One Love Global, and many others.