When did your justice journey start?

I admire my older brother a lot. I was 17 years old when he came home from a semester abroad in New Zealand and announced to the family that he was a vegetarian. When he shared why, he connected dots for me that had never been connected for me before between global food production, land rights, environmental destruction, and human exploitation and oppression. He connected the kind of person I wanted to be with the choices that I make every day. It’s a connection that has grown stronger and stronger as I’ve had my own encounters with injustice.

What does justice sound like to you?

To me, justice sounds like a belly laugh. No sound to me better reflects joy, delight, fulfillment, and right relationship than a knee-slapping, eye-watering laugh.

What is your hope for justice in your context?

I live in Grand Rapids, Michigan, a city that is deeply racially segregated. One of the most polluted waterways in Michigan runs behind my backyard. Affordable housing is in short supply. My hope for justice here is not just that these injustices would be remedied but also that it would be my neighbors and I who do it. I hope that barriers of suspicion and distrust can be dissolved as neighbors build meaningful relationships. I hope that all of us can come to see that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. I hope that we can all come to see that if our neighbor is oppressed, if our neighbor is poisoned, if our neighbor is unhoused, then so are we all.