What does social justice mean to you? Relate your response to the identity pumpkin activity in class and address topics of privilege, bias, and identity.
Blog posts must be 200-400 words, proofread, and void of common grammatical errors.
Your blog posts are due before the start of class next week.
Please email albreaks@ku.edu if you have any questions!
To me social justice means the pursuit of universal human rights and treatment based on the idea that we all have human dignity inherent to our very being. Yet in today’s world we are not all treated equally of which I am sure everyone is aware. This pumpkin activity helped challenge us to think about in what ways we all have privilege and how circumstance has helped to form our identities. The most ordinary of things can affect our privilege. For me, I know that I receive certain benefits for being quite tall as a woman. Women in general are often perceived as passive followers. My height, however, challenges men since I am often at eye level with them and makes me more intimidating. I also happen to be an incredibly assertive person who has a passion for debate. Both of these factors have led to me being labeled as aggressive since I display typically defined masculine traits of assertion rather than female passiveness. However, thinking upon this last night made me consider whether my height played any role into my personality development in that regard. Obviously, there is no easy way for me to truly know, but I think it highlights how our circumstances that we had no control over—my height being determined by my genes and childhood nutrition—can impact our personalities and the opportunities we have throughout our lives. I think at the point that we all have differences without systematic benefit or disadvantage from them is the point when we have dissolved privilege. Until then, I think recognizing in ourselves the possible benefits and disadvantages we have received helps us to understand how circumstance can adversely affect other people as well.
ReplyDeleteSusie McClannahan
Social justice is when a society recognizes and accepts people of all creeds and allows them each the equal opportunity of success and their own pursuit of happiness. For me, I believe that we live in a world where that social justice is just about unattainable. Taking off one’s rose tinted glasses, it is inevitable to see that there will always be prejudices, there will always be racists, and there will always be sexists. However, this should not dissuade the populous from trying to achieve this state of being. Step by step, we, the privileged, can make a difference. The fact that we are at KU and have been accepted into an alternative break puts us in a driver’s seat to catapult lofty ideas into reality. Granted, some people may see their own privileges differently than others. Personally, I see myself as a white, catholic, tall male. To some, these features are susceptible to specific ideals. Neither confirming nor denying those ideals, I can safely say that these attributes do, in our society, act as a privilege for me, whether it concerns my outward appearance, how I am treated, or my safety. Nonetheless, these privileges are nothing short of a bias: a bias towards those who fit the cookie-cut model of an “ideal” person that can be immediately trusted solely based on their physical features. It is by these seemingly “correct” personas that create ill-feelings towards those seen as privileged and, as a result, completes the negative circle by reinforcing the privileges’ supercilious notions over those who “aren’t privileged.” As the article mentioned, we as the privileged need to unite to end this whole monarchy and allow for the prejudices, racism, and sexism to diminish so that social justice can become our equality and our happiness that we do not have to pursue.
ReplyDeleteKevin Tenny
I believe that social justice creates a society in which people respect the value of others; differences that often put many at a disadvantage have no affect on the equality of opportunity for each individual. In a society practicing social justice, these differences-- sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, socioeconomic status, race-- aren’t means for exclusion, but are rather valued as unique aspects of our individual identities that allow us to learn from and appreciate one another. Furthermore, I believe that a society striving for social justice utilizes the differing perspectives of individuals as a means to seek out alternative solutions to societal problems. A public school teacher in a low-income neighborhood of Chicago, for example, may be able to offer a valuable perspective regarding literacy rates amongst elementary aged children that a politician in Washington may not otherwise possess. During the pumpkin activity in class this week, I was able to reflect upon the idea of social justice in terms of not merely accepting difference, but valuing it. As the members of my group shared their identity wheels, I really enjoyed being able to witness the intricacies or our individual identities. I couldn’t help but think about the fact that, although united under our desire to serve others, many of us may have never otherwise crossed paths during our time at KU. Have we students subconsciously segregated ourselves based upon these differences? It was a difficult question to ask myself, and one that I’m not sure I have an answer to yet. Having reflected upon these ideas, however, I hope that I will be able to better practice social justice during my alternative winter break, valuing the individuality of each of my group members as well as those that I come into contact with at the schools we serve in.
ReplyDeleteThe concept of social justice is one that relies heavily on equity between all people. In a broad sense, social justice is the promotion of each person to the same standards and opportunities. In a perfect world, social justice would be something that allowed all people, regardless of race, sex, upbringing, etc. the resources to achieve whatever they strived to accomplish. This concept would permit the entire world to accomplish the success and good fortune that may be easier for certain privileged people to achieve on a regular basis. In this sense, I think justness is something that requires every person to become involved. In terms of the identity wheel, it was eye-opening to see how certain advantages and disadvantages in life make one more or less susceptible to privilege. Therefore, it is the job of the aware and dedicated to promote the idea and workings of social justice. Integrity and evenhandedness are only accomplished through the support of those who are unbiased and dedicated to change.
ReplyDeleteIn particular relation to myself, I think the identity wheel activity opened my eyes to the privileges my upbringing initiated. Because of this, it is my duty and responsibility to be aware and conscious of the needs and desires of others. Putting this into perspective will make me not only a better person but also a better volunteer. If I go into situations with an open mind and a willingness to serve, I can separate the distance between privileged and not-privileged. In this sense, bias cannot exist and the environment must be one of openness and attention to differences. Recognizing the gaps between people and helping to ensure an understanding of this will promote an environment that can be whatever the people involved want it to be. This concept also calls for the recognition of differing identities. While I may identify myself in a particular way, others may also identify me as something else entirely. These differing perspectives require communication and understanding with each party involved. I know the idea of communal evenhandedness will apply to my break in particular when dealing with those older and maybe less able. Understanding where CASA individuals are coming from will help serve in ways that are actually meaningful and important to those involved.
-Emily Lenherr
Social justice aims to accomplish a society that values human rights for all, regardless of race, religion, socioeconomic class, or any characteristic used for discrimination. To me, this means that people should be accepted without judgment and everyone should treat each other people as equals. No quality, internal or external, makes one person less than another.
ReplyDeleteAs a society, humans gravitate to categorize people and put them into groups. While natural congregation is not negative, assigning labels and privileges to groups creates a large problem. Privilege perpetuates levels of society, rather than healthy communities.
When making my identity wheel, I noticed that most of the external categories grouped me with a group of those with privilege. While everything on my wheel was correct; I am a white, able-bodied, middle-class student, I didn’t feel as if the wheel encompassed my true identity. I define my identity through my values, passions, and interests. Each person has a right to determine his or her identity. Just because one person may have a larger amount of privilege, they in no way should be able to define and stereotype someone else.
As in stated the article read prior to class, those with privilege don’t see themselves as part of the problem. Privilege can often lead to a biased idea of the situation of a problem. When explaining my identity wheel, I realized how little I knew about the groups without privileges’ experience. While I could articulate some of the obstacles faced as a female, I could not, nor had the right to articulate someone else’s experience.
This proves that those with privilege must acknowledge there is a problem, define their role in perpetuating the problem, and work with those oppressed to alleviate the issue.
-Jenny Stern
I believe that social justice means equality for all people, regardless of how society identifies them or how they identify themselves. A socially just community acknowledges its members’ differences and rights, but also respects, accepts, and embraces them. Every individual human has his and her own dignity and rights.
ReplyDeleteThe identity activity last class was eye opening for others and myself in my group. Most of the time, we don’t actively think about how we identify ourselves. It made me really think about the categories I put myself in, as well as how similar and different my group is. It was very interesting learning about the others’ identities—for me, several responses were unexpected. It reminded me to not ever make assumptions about anyone’s identity, and to be supportive and respectful of my peers.
Again, I believe this exercise proved extremely valuable. As we go into our communities this winter break, we must remember to be aware of where we, the KU students, come from, and where the people we are helping come from. To further the efforts of social justice for all, we must recognize and embrace our differences. We must treat all humans with dignity and respect. In this way, we can be truly impactful on our communities.
-Courtney Moore
To me, social justice means promoting acceptance and equality for everyone and anyone, regardless of any differences involving race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, age, physical health, and many others. The pumpkin activity was a great way to illustrate some of the factors that contribute to the way society perceives someone and how that perception relates to social justice. The identity pumpkin allowed each person to examine his or her own identity, while also shedding a light on which characteristics of a person are commonly associated with privilege and which characteristics are associated with a lack of privilege. The next step as outlined in the assigned article is to recognize that whether you are of privilege or not (based on your perceived social identity), you must still play a role in eliminating the problems of racism, sexism, and other prejudices because both groups (the have’s and have-not’s) depend on each other to exist. There cannot be privilege without lack of privilege and vice versa. One cannot occur without the other so it is the responsibility of both groups to strive toward a just society.
ReplyDeleteIn my group, I thought it was particularly interesting that while making the identity pumpkins, many of us could not think of what to fill the spaces with. After writing down the more obvious traits about me (female, white, able-bodied, etc.), I didn’t feel as though my identity pumpkin really described who I am as a person at all. I think that many of my group members felt this way as well as they struggled to think of characteristics to write down. There are so many elements that factor into a person’s identity, and an individual should not be negatively judged based on any aspect of his or her identity, just like you could not read someone’s identity pumpkin and have an exact idea of who they are. The pumpkin activity was very thought-provoking, and it also gave each group an opportunity to learn more about the identities of their group members.
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ReplyDeleteTo me social justice means treating everyone with fairness and equality. This does not mean that an individual has to fully accept someone else and his/her cultures or beliefs, but rather treating that someone with respect and fairness is what I think social justice means. One of the biggest issues in our society today is the opposite of social justice, it is social injustice. Our society tends to treat people that look different or have opposing ideas as bad or wrong. This is a problem because this is of course not the case. In class last week, the pumpkin activity has a great way to teach and give me a better understanding of social justice. Through the identity pumpkin activity, I learned a lot about others and just as much, if not more about myself. I learned that by being a white able bodied male whose religious background is Christian puts me in the privileged category for many different areas. Sometimes being in a privileged category can be overlooked, and taken for granted, but by hearing what my group had on there pumpkins, and hearing from them firsthand how something such being a female makes their lives drastically different, and at times much harder than mine is by being a male full of privilege. Not being considered “privileged” in certain areas comes with false misconceptions and biases that are unnecessary and ignorant. As we all are about to embark on our journeys to different Alternative Break sites, it is important to understand that the individuals we will be helping at our different sites are most likely much less fortunate and privileged as us, and being able to treat these individuals with fairness and equality is key to a successful alternative break.
ReplyDelete-Drew Schaefer
Social Justice may mean different things to different people. In the end, social justice means the same thing. To me, Social Justice means treating everybody equally. There are so many differences in this world such as race, gender, age class and more. Social Justice is putting every one of those things aside. In my opinion, the lack of social justice caused so many problems in the past throughout the whole world. For example, the lack of social justice caused many wars. There were countless battles with significant casualties during these wars. There were even countries that fought each other because of this. America’s civil war was fought because of “Economic and social differences between the North and the South, States versus federal rights, the fight between Slave and Non-Slave State Proponents and more” (Top Five Causes of the Civil War). If everyone realized what social justice is, this war would not have happened.
ReplyDeleteIn class we did an activity where we all made an identity pumpkin. This activity made me realize that I have a lot of traits that put me in the more privileged category. When I listed to other group members, I realized that there were a lot more people who aren’t as privileged as I am due to ethnicity, gender, class and more. Social justice means looking passed all the different identities on the identity wheel and treating everyone equally no matter what. Every pumpkin may not look the same, but they all should be treated the same. The difference in each identity pumpkin should not cause a biased opinion on anyone. If everyone realizes what social justice means and put biased opinions aside, there would be many positive changes in the world.
"Top Five Causes of the Civil War." About.com American History. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Nov. 2013. .
-Charlie Bakula
Social justice is a difficult subject due to its high level of subjectivity. In reality, we cannot change the traits that we were born with and experiences we’ve had that define us. Without being able to experience another person’s perspective, it complicates what we can define social justice as in a way that can still be attainable. The infinite array of physical appearances, intellectual abilities, personalities, experiences and so forth complicate our ability to come to a consensus on an ideal society. But as we learned in the identity wheel activity, despite our diversities we still want justice, but that justice will express itself through different mediums, and ideally everyone’s opinion will be respected and represented in moderation. Another belief I hold is that justice isn’t just a goal, it’s a process, and as we submerge ourselves into the nonprofit community we learn that we still have a lot of distance to cover in revising that process to reach our goal. All of these opinions are reasonable and are likely included in some variation in other’s definitions. But the problem with defining justice in such a broad, head-in-the-clouds way is that there is no clear pathway to attaining it. So to take a more definitive position on social justice, it is first a factor of opportunity; equal access to health care, living-wage employment, food, education and unbiased information. These are all measurable factors that influence how much an individual can achieve and support themselves in their lifetime. These are the obvious problems that we are familiar with to some degree, but another component that I believe should exist in social justice is the identification of overlooked issues, the anticipation of problems, and furthermore putting a voice to those issues. In especially vulnerable populations, like the mentally/developmentally disabled populations, the underserved poor and abused and neglected children, social justice means an effort is made to receive feedback on what’s not working and not to just shuffle resources in their direction. Beyond the basic and special needs for success, it is important to cultivate the communities that people grow up in, promoting culture and individuality and also a sense of belonging. I believe that social justice means eliminating the need for nonprofits but maintaining them because we know we haven’t reached perfection.
ReplyDeleteTo me, social justice is the realization of a society to have and pursue equality for all people regardless of their identity. Social justice implies the protection of equality through prosecution of violations. It infers acceptance that all parties and groups of people have equality including being aware and sensitive to everyone’s privilege, bias, and identity, and especially being aware of your own self. You have to be aware of your own privilege, bias and identity when approaching the topic of social justice and all events and ideas surrounding it. Self-awareness is the first step in connecting with groups that may be the same and/or different from you. To me, the terms of privilege, bias and identity are all interconnected. Being aware of someone’s identity can allow insight into the bias’s they might have and the privilege they may or may not hold. Being aware of your own self is the first step to understanding others. At this point in my life, I feel I am at that place of self-awareness. I know I could choose to forget my own identity, bias, and privilege, and to assume more of the bias and privileges of those I interact with. For me, I recognize that I must be aware that I am a white, male, cisgender, liberal, upper middle class, and agnostic person. Full awareness for me is the realization that I am a part of a number of very privileged groups and only one targeted group. Each one of these groups is a way society can identify me, and how I can identify myself. This social awareness allows me to recognize the privilege that other people can see and gives me the ability to be open with those who share the same or different views, privileges, bias or the ability to agree or disagree with. It comes back to my own personal view on social justice, being aware and pursuing the equal rights and treatments of all people regardless of their own identity.
ReplyDelete-Alex Kinkead
During Dr. Blane Harding’s lecture, the point that stuck out most to me was the point of equity and access. It isn’t necessarily to treat everyone the same, because everyone has individual differences. Everyone, regardless of the perceived social identities with which they may or may not choose to be associated with, is an individual and is made up of more than those identities. Treating people with equity guarantees that they will receive equal access to the same experiences. Equity is much more than just treating individuals with equality, which may result in unequal access to experiences and opportunities. To me, this means the individual should be looked at as an individual; not as a member of a specific identifying group, but as the sum of the identifiers that make up that individual. When creating our identity wheels, it became evident that only a few identifiers are outwardly expressed to be perceived by others. This is why, as stated above, it is not socially just to assume any identifies of an individual upon a first encounter.
ReplyDeleteAlong with the discussion of social justice, we discussed the topic of privilege and the effect one’s identifiers have on one’s accumulation of privilege. Using our identity wheels, it was easy to label certain traits as giving us more privilege than others, and likewise, how certain traits inhibited our level of privilege in society. We discussed how privilege is often something that we are born with and ultimately have no control over. For example, we considered being white to be a contributor of our privilege.
The topics of social justice and privilege will be important to remember during our volunteer efforts at the Care Assurance System for the Aging and Homebound. During the portion of the week when we will work in the adult daycare facility, it will be important to keep in mind the manner in which we treat this aging population. The major and most obvious difference in identifies between us volunteers and the population in need of CASA’s services is the difference in age. Because of the generational gap, it is will be important to remember that our ideas and values may not align with this group who grew up in a different time. These differences will help us to understand how despite varying beliefs of two groups, a mutual respect can be shared
Morgan Klug
The concept of Social Justice means to me that society is working towards a goal of every person being equal no matter their identity or privileges. Through the identity pumpkin activity and the article it was made apparent that social justice has not been reached. The identity pumpkin showed that many people in my group possessed dominant identities. It came to a shock how easy it was for me just to assume I do not have that many privileges and biases related to my identity. Now I am more aware of my very dominant privileges associated with my identity. Also, some of my group member's identities were very different than what I perceived their identities to be upon meeting them. This shows how bias can be easily implemented into your perceptions of a person's identity without realizing it. Through the article and identity activity, I learned that I cannot just step in to a volunteer-like situation assuming to change a group of people's way of life instantly without realizing my privileges and identity because I will not be able to relate to the group of people and make a lasting impact. Due to this I need to be fully aware that I am a white, middle class, female college student while working at Humane Borders in Arizona. From now on in my everyday life, I will be more aware of bias and privileges relating to my mainly dominant identity that could effect the outcome of a situation for the worse. Some of these biases could create misconceptions about my intentions when trying to help out in a situation and by being aware of this I will be able to understand their actions and possibly relate with them on a different level.
ReplyDeleteLizzie Cox
The concept of social justice is not difficult to define in a broad way; I think most would agree that it is a state in which every individual is free from prejudice and discrimination and is treated equitably. The implementation of social justice, however, would be far more complex and individual ideas of what is just would vary from person to person. From our identity pumpkin activity, it was made clear that beyond certain shared characteristics, each of us was vastly different. Within our small group of seven people, we had different races, religious affiliations, sexual orientations, personalities, and even eating habits.
ReplyDeleteThe video of Joel Burns speaking at the City Council really made me think about social justice and how often it is blatantly disregarded. Unfortunately, social injustice goes far beyond just those cases mentioned in the video. Mitchell Wilson, an 11-year-old fifth grader, suffered from muscular dystrophy, a debilitating disease that results in weakness and the loss of muscle tissue. He was told that going for walks would relieve and help his ailment. He was out walking one day, when a 12-year-old boy from his school robbed him of an iPhone that he borrowed from his father and then smashed his face and teeth against the pavement. Wilson was already frequently bullied for his disability, but after this incident, his father said he was never the same, that he “lost that spark you see in a kid’s eye”. Only months after the assault, Mitchell Wilson’s father found his son’s body with a plastic bag tied over his head on what would have been his first day of sixth grade. As a few more examples, 15-year-old Phoebe Prince hanged herself after being relentlessly taunted for being an Irish immigrant; 18-year-old Tyler Clementi jumped off the George Washington Bridge after his roommate secretly recorded him kissing another man and published it on the Internet; 13-year-old Ryan Halligan hanged himself after being continually teased for his learning disabilities. These stories are real and, unfortunately, not all that uncommon. Although these are all examples of bullying, they are clear indicators that society is not doing enough to promote social justice.
One part of the Joel Burns video that I have mixed feelings about is the tagline, “it gets better.” I know that this is a popular phrase used to provide hope to those who are troubled and I think it’s an important message to send; however, I feel like it’s another way of saying things will get better once you move away, or find a different group of people, or find some other way out. Social justice, to me, is the ability to say, “it is better,” rather than “it gets better.”
Sam Eastes
Personally, social justice is treating people equally and not caring about their social equalities. The government and people accomplish social justice equaly\lu, but these days, only the government’s effort is more recognizable. By creating laws that give people basic human rights, such as the First Amendment and the Thirteenth Amendment, the government is preventing social justice from happening. However, I think more of an effort needs to be given by the people. In certain states more than others, social justice is not accomplished. People, who are different, whether it is because of their sexual orientation, gender, sex, race, ethnicity, or race, are constantly facing obstacles to earn their rights, or earn equality in everyday life. However, there are many organizations that are assisting people earn their social rights or just helping them be comfortable in a social setting, Organizations, like Alternative Breaks or Center of Community Outreach, are changing lives by helping people and creating social justice. We have come a long way from where we were 50 years ago, but we do still have a long way to go.
ReplyDeleteTo me social justice is being aware of where you personally lie on the scale of privilege. By being aware of your personal standing you are able to understand the people around you much more without bias. If you’re a white man you may have a hard time understanding the injustice of a Hispanic woman. However that doesn’t mean you don’t understand social injustice overall. Just because you were born with X attributes does not mean you are incapable of understanding and helping others when they need the help you offer. You have to learn that you must use your privilege to better the world to justify the socially unjust and not live off the white guilt. I honestly never thought of using privilege as an advantage I also focused on my past experiences I tried to avoid my social class, I was afraid I would ostracize me in some way.
ReplyDeletePersonally I was touched by the “it gets better” speech, a upper class white Texan man, who in that respect is privileged is reaching out to LGBTQ teens to let them know that there will be better days, this is one of greatest uses of privilege I’ve seen thus far!!
The Identity wheel was very eye opening to me. Words that I find negative or slang people found to be what they belonged to or what that found to be theirs. It was an amazing thing to sit back and see how many people in my group had experienced the same thing but called it something different and although we had all experienced it only 2 of the 3 found it to positive experience. It’s amazing that people can walk down the same path see the tree and remember a different day.
Melissa Mock