10 Ways We Can Advance Social Justice

<p><span style=color: rgba(205 35 44 1)>Social justice matters because we-each of us-matter. Unless we learn to co-exist as equals we will never live optimally. To denigrate any one of us is to demean all of us.</span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(205 35 44 1)> </span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(205 35 44 1)>Absent the wholesale embrace of social justice we risk succumbing to human tendencies to stereotype otherize and scapegoat. Those tendencies left unchecked lead to horrific ends.</span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(205 35 44 1)>When we see ourselves in others we understand that our shared humanity eclipses all else. Through our disagreements we must never doubt the dignity and worth of the other.</span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(205 35 44 1)> </span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(205 35 44 1)>Certain facts and factors that cause misalignments in the social order-inequality and inequity-social </span><em style=color: rgba(205 35 44 1)>injustice</em><span style=color: rgba(205 35 44 1)>-but there are ways to intervene and interrupt them. This book offers 10 ways we can advance social justice.  </span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(205 35 44 1)> </span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(205 35 44 1)>We pay a cost for failing to internalize and act upon history's lessons. For example our history teems with examples of fractious relations among racial ethnic and cultural groups and an overarching white supremacist ideology that places some at an advantage at the expense of others. Recognizing our shared humanity-and the power of we-and rectifying disparities and inequities are among the chief aims of social justice initiatives.</span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(205 35 44 1)> </span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(205 35 44 1)>Through critical thinking we best position ourselves to tackle seemingly overwhelming social justice issues. To be ready we must know care and act: </span><em style=color: rgba(205 35 44 1)>know</em><span style=color: rgba(205 35 44 1)>-look at ourselves others events and institutions; </span><em style=color: rgba(205 35 44 1)>care</em><span style=color: rgba(205 35 44 1)>-reflect on recurring inequalities and inequities; and </span><em style=color: rgba(205 35 44 1)>act</em><span style=color: rgba(205 35 44 1)>-work on solutions to effect and advance meaningful measurable maintainable solutions. Critical thinking animates the three core activities necessary for social justice advancement: introspection engagement and advocacy.  </span></p><p><br></p><p><span style=color: rgba(205 35 44 1)>Achieving social justice is an aspirational pursuit-an ongoing journey that can be fraught with peril and disappointment. It is nonetheless an odyssey worth taking-a quest so many of us have no choice but to embrace. </span><em style=color: rgba(205 35 44 1)>Introspection</em><span style=color: rgba(205 35 44 1)> </span><em style=color: rgba(205 35 44 1)>engagement</em><span style=color: rgba(205 35 44 1)> and </span><em style=color: rgba(205 35 44 1)>advocacy</em><span style=color: rgba(205 35 44 1)> are essential stops along the way. </span></p><p><br></p><p><span style=color: rgba(205 35 44 1)>Examine yourself. Plug in. Speak truth.</span></p>