Giving Voice to the Voiceless

By Bill Shore | August 7, 2007

On Sunday the Washington Post published an op-ed by the director of the trauma unit at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. John Pryor's article about young men dying on the streets of America from gang and gun violence was a great example of bearing witness, of someone with a unique vantage point helping the rest of us to see what he sees.

Dr. Pryor makes the point that unlike the highly publicized incidents of gun violence in suburban shopping malls and schools, the war on inner cities streets rages on unseen and unabated. It begs the question: Why?

Surely it is because those most directly affected have no voice, at least no political voice. In this way, victims of gun violence share a common lot with victims of hunger, poverty and global disease. They are all victims of political laryngitis and as such fail to get the attention of or exert influence on policymakers

So many of the social problems that are the focus of our collective concern continue to plague us not because there are not solutions, but rather because there is not a constituency with the political voice necessary to persuade society to pay for such solutions or share the sacrifice required for their realization.

An essential ingredient of bearing witness is giving voice to those who have none. Giving voice is a prerequisite for building political will. Once the voiceless find their voice, the rest of what is required to create change falls into place. It becomes only a matter of time.