Between Love and Truth :
Navigating Racial Conflict Using Restorative Justice
By Jason Craige Harris Friends Seminary • New York , NY
Historically , citizenship has been conferred on those who are supposed to trade their loyalty and uncritical support for the benefits of belonging to the nation-state . This kind of citizenship is granted rather than claimed , bestowed rather than owned . This process is not active , but passive , with one being acted upon rather than acting . But there is another tradition of citizenship , a more robust and agential version — one we desperately need .
The hallmark of engaged citizenship is social critique . The practice of criticism aimed at improving one ’ s country , of working to close the gap between its highest noble aspirations and its current reality , is grounded both in patriotism and , more importantly , loyalty to humanity . As James Baldwin wrote in Notes of a Native Son , “ I love America more than any other country in the world and , exactly for this reason , I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually .” For Baldwin , love and criticism were more than compatible ; they were co-constructed forces that sharpened each other . Love and criticism became better , truer versions of themselves in relationship with each other . Therefore , as Baldwin shared in an interview with The Black Scholar in 1973 at his home in southern France , “ If I love you I have to make you conscious of the things you don ’ t see .” Baldwin ’ s statement presumes that for the moment the lover has greater awareness of reality than the person or people whose consciousness they aim to raise . But how did the lover acquire this higher caliber wisdom ? Was it serendipitous or strenuous ?
Page 14 Summer 2021 CSEE Connections