The Moral Arc Isn’t Bending—It’s Breaking

Maybe justice isn’t ahead of us. Maybe it’s behind us.

You ever noticed how people love to say, “The arc of the moral universe bends toward justice.”

You hear it all the time—on T-shirts, protest signs, Instagram captions. It’s like the go-to phrase when people are too tired to riot. Like, “Don’t worry, the arc’s got us.”

But here’s the thing: That quote? It came from Theodore Parker, a 19th-century white abo…