As human beings we decide where to spend our time, energy, and talent. Someone once told to me that how a person spends their time determines where their passion truly lies. In a conversation with my son Saturday morning, I realized that I am passionate about justice for myself and others. Against his advice to just pay a fraudulent $500 charge and quietly change banks, I explained that I would not do that because I had a moral obligation to others who are likely victims of the same kind of scam. I explained how I felt driven to do what I can to expose and end the harmful and immoral big bank practice.
I’ve been in this position before, fighting for what I believe is fair and just for myself and others. While I don’t always win, I at least make the perpetrators aware of the harm and injustice they are inflicting on me or others. Maybe the individual or institution changes their practices as a result of the pain I attempt to inflict. At the very least, that is my intention. I don’t necessarily disagree with the cancel culture approach my son advocated by advising me to just change banks. That seemed too easy and doesn’t actually get to the root of the problem if I don’t first try to get them to change. Sometimes, we need to pick a fight to root out injustice. The Selma Bus Boycott was an example of a strategically brilliant fight that attacked the root of a systemic problem.
And I am all about getting to the root of systemic problems. It’s like cutting off the top of a weed, but leaving the root in place for it to simply grow back. So, with this bank situation, I spent time digging deeper, talking to the next person up the chain until it became evident that I needed to file a formal complaint with the Federal Consumer Protection Bureau against the bank because their practice was harmful and unfair to not just me, but to others and actually benefitted the bank at the consumer’s expense. I filed the complaint and I also wrote a letter to the bank detailing my experience, how I wanted them to fix it, and provided a copy of the complaint I filed with the government. I’m not sure if I’ll win, but that really isn’t the point.
When I think about the times I entered these fights, I have never regretted the time, energy nor my talent for persuasion when dedicated to the effort to pursue justice. I once sued my own attorney for mishandling a lawsuit and won against him. I’ve gone before judges to pursue justice on that and several other occasions and won. I once enlisted the assistance of my congressman for help on an issue and got it resolved. But there were plenty of other times when I exposed a wrong, but the perpetrator never apologized. In these cases, I have faith that the perpetrator does not get away unscathed because their misdeed has been exposed, their reputation ruined, and perhaps they have had to spend their precious time and treasure defending their actions or repairing their reputation. And hopefully, they change their behavior moving forward.
I believe we are collectively watching this play out in the police murder trial of George Floyd. What the officer did was criminal and whether or not he is convicted, he has not gotten away with his action unscathed. Everyone knows who he is and what he has done. Whether or not he serves prison time for his inhumanity toward George Floyd and black Americans, his name and his face and his reputation will serve as a reminder to all police departments across the country to be better and to do better. The fact that the Floyd family received a settlement for millions of dollars from the wrongful death suit is also important in the pursuit of justice. That kind of financial pain to a city drives change too.
In my heart and mind, the fight for justice is always worth the time, energy, and talent.