Social Justice

Black Lives Matter.

While all life has inherent value, all lives cannot matter until Black Lives Matter. 

The Black Lives Matter movement seeks to highlight and reform racial injustice in the United States of America and worldwide. The Black Lives Matter movement focuses on:

• Ending the war against Black people.
• Divestment in institutions that criminalize, cage and harm Black people.
• Investment in education and the health and safety of Black people.
• Economic justice for all and a reconstruction of the economy to ensure Black communities have collective ownership.
• Reparations for past and continuing harms.
• Community control of laws, institutions and policies that impact Black people.
• Prosecution for extrajudicial violence and an end to qualified immunity for law enforcement.

Social justice is defined as "... promoting a just society by challenging injustice and valuing diversity." It exists when "all people share a common humanity and therefore have a right to equitable treatment, support for their human rights, and a fair allocation of community resources." In conditions of social justice, people are "not be discriminated against, nor their welfare and well-being constrained or prejudiced on the basis of gender, sexuality, religion, political affiliations, age, race, belief, disability, location, social class, socioeconomic circumstances, or other characteristic of background or group membership."

Robinson, Matthew.  What is Social Justice?  Department of Government and Justice Studies, Appalachian State University

"If Racism means both racist action and inaction in the face of racism, then anti-racism means active participation in combating racism in all forms. Being an anti-racist requires persistent self-awareness, constant self criticism, and regular self examination." 

- Kendi, Ibram X. (2020) Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You. Little, Brown, and Company, New York.

The fight for social justice and the movement towards anti-racism are deeply interconnected. In order to claim any anti-racist strategy one must account for and then embrace a holistic social justice framework.