Vision-Driven Justice

“Vision-driven justice is a paradigm shift that requires you to enter into a deep, honest assessment of who you are, where you are, and what you are up against as you fight toward who you need to become. This process of self-awareness means that before you can enter into social justice work…Before you trip yourself up with an ego-driven approach to justice that is rooted in a white savior complex or an internalized inferiority complex that low-key reiterates white supremacy, you have to be honest about your private and personal stuff, your “stuff” as it intersects with your social identities (i.e. race, class, gender, language, etc.), and your social identities as they map themselves onto your motivations, habits, and behaviors that may lead you to the point of having the best intentions for changing the course of racial justice but the worst approach.”

—Jamila Lysicott in Black Appetite. White Food. (p. 16).

Poet Jamila Lyiscott wrote this poem to commemorate the Presidential Inauguration 2016. "The purpose of this piece is to inspire and sustain those of us committed to authoring hope, equity and justice into our immediate future," she says. "My impetus for framing the poem in the future is to remind us that we can claim victory, take ownership of the narrative of democracy and forge a different reality into existence if we can envision it now."

LEARNING EXPERIENCES BANK

Next: Indigenous Knowledge

RETURN TO HOME