Freedom and Justice

Aisha J. Brownlee
12:10-1:00
This week’s freshman seminar was very intriguing and informative. Our speaker was Dr.Kane Felder whose discussion focused around the terms of freedom and justice. He first began by defining freedom as the individual right to exercise choices to enable a person to develop their full potential. He discussed how the meaning of the term has changed with the centuries. In times of slavery, it meant to escape physical bondage, while today in contemporary society it means obtaining an education and trying to prosper as a whole. He discussed how after his many travels throughout the world America incarcerates most blacks and other minorities than any other country in the world. He then went on to define justice as the right relation, fairness, or balance in which the population benefits from it. Before furthering his lecture into justice, he mentioned how freedom and justice is based upon religion. Religion provides the laws of justice by doing God’s will. To help reinforce his lecture he referenced the bible and discussed many biblical figures. He spoke about how Jesus has been an inspirational figure in many leaders’ lives but the biblical translations of the bible are from a European perspective and at the center of civilization is Europe. However, the solution to African problems lies within an African perspective. While his lecture was an importance to the learning of divinity, I felt as if the lectures effectiveness did not reach people. For a more effective lecture, I would suggest that he have something that grabs the attention of the audience. I myself was not as engaged as I normally am. Even though the topic was interesting, I felt he needed to do more than lecture to capture the audience.