"We can no longer plead ignorance..."

Closing argument of William Wilberforce's first attempt to abolish the slave trade in England (1789), emphasis mine:

Policy, Sir, is not my principle, and I am not ashamed to say it.  There is a principle above everything that is political.  And when I reflect on the command that says, "Thou shalt do not murder," believing the authority to be divine, how can I dare set up any reasonings of my own against it?  And, Sir, when we think of eternity, and of the future consequences of all human conduct, what is here in this life which should make any man contradict the principles of his own consciences, the principles of justices, the laws of religion, and of God?

Sir, the nature and all the circumstances of this Trade are now laid open to us.  We can no longer plead ignorance, we cannot evade it, it is now an object placed before us, we cannot pass it.  We may spurn it, we may kick it out of our way, but we cannot turn aside so as to avoid seeing it.  For it is brought now so directly before our eyes that his House must decide, and must justify to all the world, and to their own consciences, the rectitudes of their grounds and of the principles of their decision....Let no Parliament be the only body that is insensible to national justice.

Wilberforce's speech was considered one of his best, yet Parliament was unmoved.  Abolition failed.  Even after presenting Parliament with an 850 page document of testimonies and evidence, Parliament failed to see the trade for what it was.  Parliament's only decision that night was to "hear more evidence."  Meanwhile Parliament recessed for the summer and the horrors of the trade continued.

We know the outcome of Wilberforce's efforts: the slave trade was eventually abolished in England in 1807. But at the expense of his own health and thousands of Africans who continued to be kidnapped and worked until their death.  (Note: slavery still exists today in many forms, but Wilberforce's efforts signaled a change in society to no longer accept slavery as morally right or necessary for a healthy economy.)

It is meaningless to study history and not apply the lessons to my own culture and life.  So I'm left with this question:

What society ills am I ignoring because I am waiting to "hear more evidence"?

I have my ideas (but I'll save those for later).  Let us be a people that rise up and speak against injustice before it is accepted by the mainstream.  Let us be willingly to be persecuted and mocked for the sake of those who have no voice.

Do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves.  Do what it says...Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.  James 1: 22, 27

"We can no longer plead ignorance..." the stakes are too high.