Better Than This

This postcard from PostSecret made me reflect upon many of the organizations I have worked in or worked closely with, and sadly it can be so true.

Let’s develop a working definition of social justice before moving forward. The best I can do is to describe what a socially just society (or organization) looks like. It is one based on the principles of equality and solidarity. It understands and values human rights, and recognizes and protects the dignity of every human being.

Having become involved in many organizations that work toward social justice in recent years I’ve seen how messed up they can be. Or else perhaps I like to think that some organizations are more committed to social justice than they actually are, so I pass a harsher judgement? I’m not certain any more.

Anyway, after I shared the postcard on my Facebook page someone asked me to explain, so I will attempt to do that. One way to work toward social justice is to build power. Power, as defined by Social Justice Fund NW, is the capacity of a group of people to decide what they want and to act in an organized way to get it. Once that power is built it can be used to create systemic change, which can (and arguably should) include changing the unjust power relations that currently exist.

So, yucky organizations that claim to be “social justice” organizations but don’t practice what they preach. An example of one such organization, which will not be named, does not make decisions based on equality and does not protect the dignity of its employees. The leadership in said organization works to prevent employees from building power, which in turn prevents unjust power relations from being changed. When these things are happening internally it is difficult to believe that the organization is truly committed to creating change externally.

Social justice is a heavy subject, and certainly no organization or individual can flawlessly execute “social justice.” However, it does, as the postcard says, pain me to see how epically some organizations fail at having socially just internal policies.