Only for the Brave at Heart
by Leon E. Pettiway
Genre: Nonfiction / Race / Crime & Criminal Justice
Print Length: 392 pages
Reviewed by Erica Ball
An urgent plea to change the way we look at race, crime, and justice in the U.S.
Leon E. Pettiway—professor, Tibetan monk, and the author of this incisive essay collection—argues that the criminal justice system is flawed at its core; the system reflects the error-prone ways in which criminals are viewed by society at large. He argues that the ultimate problem for many of American society’s ills—in its most obvious form in racism, crime, and the punitive justice system—lies deep in its Eurocentric foundations. His solutions focus on doing away with these foundations and replacing them with ones built on the Buddhist philosophies of insubstantiality and interdependence.
The author contends that American culture is overly invested in the individual and a sense of self that is distinct and separate from everyone around it. The self is therefore defined against others and emphasizes differences. It is self-protective and needs to look after its own interests, so it is motivated to control what it can and accumulate material necessities. A society built of individuals with these priorities becomes dominated by power, greed, and control.
In contrast, Afrocentric and Buddhist philosophies treat people as interdependent entities that can’t be separated from one another and so are motivated to care for the common good. When this occurs, the focus of all is on what is best for the whole rather than for the one. These societies can therefore be more prone to altruism and compassion.
To the author, racism is a product of Eurocentric thinking, as it is born out of the emphasis on separation and difference. Through fear and projection, the “other” becomes demonized and their behavior needs to be controlled. White people are allowed to make mistakes while “raced” people are not. The wrongdoings of white people are glossed over, while those of everyone else are labeled dangerous and deviant.
The way out of this maze, according to Buddhist thought, is to reject the premise of race and acknowledge that it has no inherent existence outside our own minds making everything that stems from it irrelevant. Once this is done, the motivation for revenge or retribution in the criminal justice system could turn to actual rehabilitation or, as the author puts it, liberation.
The ideas are argued in detail in relation to everything from what is labeled a crime, to how society perceives criminals, to whether the motivation behind the justice system is retribution or rehabilitation. Throughout, the author addresses the reader as someone who is already familiar with the verbiage and language common in philosophy, sociology, social critiques, criminology, and/or Buddhism. As such, these essays could be a tough read for those new to these discussions, but it is highly recommended to those already versed in these topics as its take is a compelling argument.
Its message is timely and necessary. In a social and political climate dominated by stories of corruption and incivility, the simple but profound change offered by Buddhism’s Middle Path offers a way out of these toxic mindsets. In a time when the American criminal justice and penal system echo the sounds of slavery, a total rethink of how we view race is imperative. This is a book that needs to make its way into the hands of both those thinking about the humanness of incarcerated people and those leading our institutions.
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