Why do we focus on injustice halfway around the world when we can impact social injustice right in our own backyard?

When people think of helping the least of these, who is the first to cross their mind? African Children, Latin American Children, Asian Children?

When people want to fight a social injustice, do they automatically assume Darfur? Or China? Maybe somewhere in Latin America?

But sometimes we tend to forget somewhere very close to home. No, not Latin America or Canada, but here. Where? Here, in your home town.

In our current social injustice issue, Immigration Customs Enforcement and the Bush administration are hunting down those who have entered this country without proper documentation and taking them back to their homelands. ICE invade our community homes, and invade the factories where men and women are working double shifts to maintain a family, to feed a family and even to save money for that dream home.

Have you seen movies like SWAT, where the police men come into a home, with automatic weapons, with ski mask and full body armor? Well imagine yourself working, finishing putting a piece of metal on the final product when the doors are slammed opened and all you see is men with automatic weapons and a full body armor? That is a scary thought.

Or imagine yourself cooking a nice home meal when the ICE agents come into your house and terrorize you and your family.

These are social injustices that are affecting everyday people living in America. Yet, we tend to think of a social injustice in terms of abroad. But why?

Here is why:
First of all, going abroad and worrying about issues out there allows us to live as far as possible from the injustices and when we are home, we are able to not think about them.
Secondly, there is no accountability because you can come home and ignore it. We go to Africa for a couple of months, send money to the missionaries and not have to worry about it in the future. The good Samaritan card played.

But why don't we worry about the issues that are being lived out domestically?
Because we know that these injustices are right in front of us and once we are witness and participants of that, we cannot ignore.
And unlike doing something abroad, the issues in our backyard are total accountable when it is happening right in front of you, so you just turn your head.

So let us, as soldiers against social injustices think about the domestic issues because they are everyday struggles that directly affect us.