To the editor:

To all who worked with Justice Matters:

You changed the conversation. Doing so was not easy. Feelings were hurt, people left churches, church communities found themselves in bitter conversations. People accused each other, blamed each other, doubted each other.

Yet you persisted in bearing witness to the problems of children, the mentally ill, the incarcerated, the racially profiled and those struggling to afford housing.

How do I know you changed the conversation? I have only to read the political ads in my mailbox and the interviews with candidates. Housing, reducing jail populations, providing mental health care and looking more honestly at racial bias are now candidates’ political platforms.

Democracy is not easy. It’s messy and it takes perseverance and an inextinguishable hope for change — not immediately, but in the future.

You succeeded. Thanks.

Judith Galas,

Lawrence