Michael Tubbs: Defining Charity and Justice

So I think the difference between charity and justice for me is that charity is like. It's like. It's like Band Aids, right? It's Band Aids. It's painkillers. Injustice is a surgery. For example, last month, two of my wisdom teeth decided to have a conversation on the freeway. And one was just on. Literally on a nerve and jumping up and down, and the other one was laughing, and I was in so much intense pain. And my dentist gave me some painkillers and some mouthwash, and they work perfectly, so I don't feel the pain anymore. But in two weeks, I have to have surgery because eventually the pain's going to come back. And I could keep taking the painkillers and keep doing the mouthwash and feel good in the moment, but next year, 20 years from now, the wisdom teeth still have to be taken out because I've done nothing to address the root cause, which is that I have too many teeth in my big mouth. And I think that's the same way in terms of thinking about charity and justice, that charity is what we do, and it feels good and it's important, but justice is the hard work of surgery, of what it takes to move the country forward. And then I also think that in terms of my own work, that charity is me throwing resources at an issue and making the assumption that the problem is one of resources. If they had more of this, if they had more than that, if I give to them what I have, then that solves the problem. But justice is really about putting myself, my brain, my resources, my talent, my time, and my body on the line in a way, until we really get at a solution. And that's not sexy, that's not easy, that's incredibly difficult. But that's the only way we as a society will progress, in my humble opinion.