A just society requires people who don’t give up on justice. That kind of commitment happens through attention and resilient hope. To get there, we’re going to need to keep learning together.
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What you’ll learn
For years now I’ve been researching how people become better long-term advocates for racial justice. I’m writing a book (my fourth) about that research. But book publishing is slow, so in the meantime, I’m sharing here lessons I find along the way.
In my day job, I’m a tenured professor at Wheaton College with a lush mish-mash of training in anthropology, international economics, and writing. I teach people about justice-related topics all the time, and I find it a real shame that most people will never get to take a class in anthropology or another justice-focused field. But a little bit of training can go a long way. Consider this newsletter your own gradual, free, and applied course in pursuing justice.
Here are the kinds of topics we’ll cover:
What does justice even mean?
Where to begin when the problems are so, so big
How to weave justice into your relationships, your career, and your whole self
How to stop beating yourself up
How to stop villainizing other people
How to find accomplices and mentors
What to do when you hurt somebody
What to do when you’re hurting
How to walk with people when their hurts are different than yours
How to deal with big social systems that cause injustice
How to find hope when you’d rather give up
My hope, and I suspect it’s yours too, is that we’ll make justice more than a short-term fad.
And by the way, I hope you’ll find these essays to be sprinkled with something beautiful. I believe people do their best when they’re tugged along by an insatiable craving for joy rather than a nagging sense of duty. I love Mary Oliver’s take on beauty: “all beautiful things, inherently, have this function—to excite viewers toward sublime thought.”
Justice ultimately dwells in the sublime, and to bring it into being, we’re going to need all the beautiful signposts we can get. I look forward to sharing with you some of my favorite signposts as we work together for a more beautiful justice.
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I’m grateful to be surrounded by inspiring people like you. Glad we’ve made this connection.
