“When you’re accustomed to privilege, parity and equity and equality may feel like oppression.” -Raphael Warnock
How have you had to reaccustom yourself to equity?
Miseducation
“The challenge is this:
let us take up the miseducation of justice-making
by stripping our conscience of images of equity
that claim to manifest through condemnation,
through humiliation, through shame and blame,
and righteous vindication.” -Nathan Walker (CLF), from “The Miseducation of Justice-Making”
How have you avoided shame, blame, and humiliation in your work for equity and justice?
So You Don’t Have To
“O God who sets the planets in their paths,
who notes each sparrow’s fall, each busy bee,
May we be worthy of your faith in us.
May we act with equity, compassion and intention,
so you don’t have to, all the time.
And occasionally, just occasionally,
may we surprise and delight you.” -Thomas Rhodes, from “Prayer for a Busy God”
How can you be a source of equity, compassion, and intention today?
Backlash
Every major move toward equity in a society built on inequities sparks a backlash. Those with power and privilege reject the notion that power can be equitably shared. Those seeking to maintain gains toward equity must be vigilant in guarding against losing ground.
How have you experienced the backlash to societal moves towards greater equity?
Knowing the Hurt
“Don’t speak to me of ‘equity’
or ‘opportunity’ or the ‘common good’
until you are able to hear the fear
from my grandmother Mae
as the only black woman in her college.” -Adam Lawrence Dyer, from his poem “Healing”
How is your work for equity accountable to the hurt of the past?