An End Note and Invitation

What Social Justice is Not?

At the beginning of this handbook, we exploded the definition of social justice. Normally, a handbook would spend all of its effort on explaining its topic. We understand that most people already have an understanding or concept about what social justice moeans to them and are able to define when it is lacking.

This is an on-going document. We intend to add to it and provide examples of ways to look at the issues we are addressing. However, while we spent a good amount of time defining social justice, it is imporant to note what it is not.

We are willing to go out on a limb, a thin one at that, and say denying someone social justice, prevents that person from experiencing life as it should be lived--to its fullest.

We invite you to share with us your personal stories of injustices committed to you or someone you know. We ask that you provide us with a detail story which includes information we can readily verify. Here are some possible ideas for to consider when contacting us:

• If you are reporting on an event, when did it take place?
• Where it happened? and when it happened?
• List the reasons you know about when you or another person was denied social justice.
• What impact did it have on your or the other individual’s (or group) life?
• If it is not your direct story, did you get permission from the person (name, telephone number and email address needed to verify ok to publish)?
• If known, how might this event impact the larger society?
• What are the characteristics of the person you think created the injustice?
• What do you think should be changed in order to prevent an event like this from happening again?

What we promise to do, if verified, is include the story or event in our handbook without identifying the real person in the story. If need be, we will even change the location of the story. Also, we will not include the story, if we cannot verify the person involved in the incident, and withouth the individual's permission to discuss their story in public.

Seeing and Working Through the Heart contains a fair amount of data to backup any claims made or examples cited. However, social justice is about the day-to-day experiences of an individual’s life. It is also a subject that is difficult to accurately quantify because we grow up in our respective circles of society with what we perceive or are told is normal. Normal is used loosely here, because normal exists in relationship to all things included in a society, within a certain time period, and what the majority of people view as acceptable. For example, it was normal at one time, for children in many schools to be paddled for bad behavior. Now, in many places in the world, it would be considered child abuse if a teacher paddled a student,.

Another example; is the introduction of unleaded gasoline for cars.. Most people would be alarmed if they pulled up to the gas station and found only pumps with leaded gasoline. Lead was originally used cars to boost performance and prevents knocks in the engine.

Finally, one more example of what was normal and now not considered normal. At one time, all telephones were hardwired in place. Hardwiring for telephones meant it was fixed in place. The phone could only go as far as the cord attached to it would allow it to go. It certainly could not be carried with a person 24 hours a day.  In today’s world of smartphones, that would seem strange to most people who did not grow up with a hardwired telephone. Yet, it was completely normal for generations of people.

What Social Justice is Not

• Creating laws and restriction prevents citizens from exercising their constitutional right to vote. To quote the Constitution of the U.S.

• ARTICLE XV. SECTION 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. SECTION 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

• Brennann Center for Justice (New York University School of Law) lists 14 states that in 2016 enacted laws ranging from strict photo ID requirements to cutbacks on early voting which tend to impact minority and low income communities the most. The fourteen states include:

Alabama, Arizona, Indiana, Kansas, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Ohio, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin.

• It can be argued there are states attempting to create access to voting by implementing automatic voter registration, it does nothing to address those states seeking to limit access to voting.

• The application of our legal system differently for similar offenses to minority populations resulting in more arrest, longer sentences and higher penalties than the for the majority population.

• The Sentencing Project lists in their handbook Reducing Racial Disparity in the Criminal Justice System examples of the impact of racial disparity

A two-year study of 13,566 officer-initiated traffic stops in a Midwestern city revealed that minority drivers were stopped at a higher rate than whites and were also searched for contraband at a higher rate than their white counterparts. Yet, officers were no more likely to find contraband on minority motorists than white motorists.

• A New York state study found that minorities charged with felonies were more likely to be detained than whites. The researchers concluded that 10 percent of minorities detained in New York City and 33 percent in other parts of the state would have been released prior to arraignment if minorities were detained at the rate of comparably situated whites.

• Thirty-eight percent of prison and jail inmates are African American, 5 compared to their 13% percent share of the overall population.

• Latinos constitute 19% of the prison and jail population7 compared to their 15% share of the population.

• A black male born in 2001 has a 32% chance of spending time in prison at some point in his life, a Hispanic male has a 17% chance, and a white male has a 6% chance.