As simple as it may sound, the goal of social justice education is social justice and liberation. Liberation is defined in many ways: freedom, equality, fairness, equal access to resources, respectful treatment, living without the struggles, to name a few. Liberation means human kind will be closer to the achievement of unity. Our society must embark on a transformational process if we our to achieve this goal. Transformation means change, and this change will not come about from well-intentioned people simply wishing it so. Action has to be taken.



There are three paths to attaining liberation and social justice. Each path demands transformation. We all have to take action to transform the systems or institutions around us, the relations between various cultural groups in our society, and individual attitudes, beliefs and behaviors towards others. Transformation or change will come about as we embark on these pathways and take action along the way. Taking only one pathway will not suffice, however, for we have to walk all three.



Path #1: Transformation of Systems or Institutions.



Systems, structures, and institutions are in place throughout society that serve to maintain a reality where inequality exists. Addressing this pathway to liberation means dismantling oppressive structures and transforming them into ones that work to benefit all people. In the broadest sense, it means the elimination of discrimination. It means re-structuring a system that is based on privilege for some to one that provides equal opportunity for all. For example, it means one would be able to look at the institutions that comprise our social and economic system and see equity from top to bottom. Opportunities would exist for all members of the society to participate to the extent of their desire and potential. Policies and procedures would no longer reflect and benefit the needs of the few, but of the whole. Justice would be swift and equal for all. Working on this path towards liberation is action oriented with people coming together to use their collective power to bring about institutional change.



Should entire systems be dismantled? Perhaps, but what is more likely to be the case is the need to transform certain aspects of a system. For example, there are aspects of the criminal justice system that perpetuate unequal treatment of African Americans and Latinos, as evidenced by the disproportionate number of people from these cultures in jail as compared to those from European heritage. Which aspects of this system perpetuate this form of institutional oppression? In our educational system, boys are typically valued over girls as evidenced by studies showing for every time a girl is called upon (with a raised hand), nine boys have been called upon first. Additionally, in some schools the dropout rates for Latinos far exceeds the population of Latinos in the school. In terms of funding per student, some schools have $4,000 per student to spend on educating them while others have $15,000 per student. Which aspects of our educational system perpetuate discrimination against females, against Latinos, against poor or working class students?



Challenge to the status quo. How do institutions transform? Think about a few examples of large-scale institutional transformation that has taken place in our society: the ending of slavery; women's right to vote; civil rights; and child labor practices, to name a few. The institution of slavery, for example, was established and maintained by a privileged group who benefited greatly from it. The institution of slavery did not come into question by those who were in power. The power brokers did not suddenly wake up one morning with a new belief that there was something wrong, unjust about the institution they created. No, instead, the transformation of this institution began with the grass roots, that is, those who were at the bottom of the institutional benefit and mostly by those who were not in power within the institution. Challenges were presented to those in power until the current ways of operating no longer worked. In many instances, the costs for perpetuating the system far out weighed the costs of changing it. That is, it became far less costly to change the system than to maintain it.



Grass roots and allies coming together. Who transforms institutions? Who challenges the status quo to initiate a change? Although it eventually takes people from all levels of the system to make significant changes, the group that mobilizes for change, the group that exerts tremendous pressure on the system that results in a challenge to the status quo, are those at the bottom of the system, the grass roots. Grass roots groups organize around another vision, the vision of liberation. As they build strength in their coming together, pressure or challenge is made to the institution and its policies. A challenge is made to the status quo, that is, increasingly large numbers of folks question the institution and begin demanding change. Those controlling the institution begin to realize that they cannot go on in the same way and survive. They recognize that change is necessary. Eventually, people from all sides of an issue come together in alliance to work on transforming the institution.





Path #2: Inter-group Transformation: Building cross-cultural alliances



In addition to taking action and transforming institutions, we must address what is happening between various cultural groups and work to build cross-cultural alliances. An ally is someone who intervenes when they see a member of a particular group or the group itself being mistreated. An ally recognizes the inherent worth, goodness, and value of all cultures and acts in a way that lifts up people from all backgrounds rather than putting them down. The best role models of allies are young children, for when they see or experience mistreatment they immediately call for it to stop.



Courage, skills, commitment. An ally has to be developed. The social conditioning process leads us away from our natural tendencies to be an ally. As children get older, they are taught lessons such as "it's none of your business"; "they should handle it on their own"; "it's up to the individual to stand up for his/herself." We may have a deep inner desire to be allies to all groups, but the skills, courage, and commitment to do so must be developed. Developing the skills is much like preparing for a marathon. One has to build strength and stamina. You cannot simply get up one morning and run 26 miles without getting into condition. We need to initiate a routine that builds our "alliance muscles. " In addition we must maintain a program that keeps us in shape so that when the opportunity comes to flex our "alliance muscles" we will be ready to do so. As we develop our skills, so too must we develop our courage and commitment to act as allies.



Unconscious to conscious. In order to develop the skills, courage and commitment to being an ally, we must first become conscious of the societal conditions that create the need for allies. We must wake up and notice social conditions such as racism, sexism, classism, anti-semitism, heterosexism, ablism, adultism, to name a few. For the most part, the perpetuation of these conditions is made possible by our remaining asleep to their very existence. The development of an ally begins with an awakening process, that is, moving from being unconscious to the issues to being conscious.





Path #3: Individual transformation: "Undoing the effects".



The third path toward liberation is about "undoing" the effects of living in a world where oppression exists. Taking this path means attending to the pain and hurt experienced by individuals. This path recognizes that everyone is negatively affected by the "isms." No one escapes unscathed. "Undoing" effects means looking at our attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors towards others. It means uncovering prejudice and working to eliminate stereotypes. It means becoming conscious of how we internalize messages that say we are "less than," or "not as good as" someone else. Undoing the effects means noticing how we have been separated and divided from other human beings, noticing how we limit our own intelligence. Undoing the effects means putting into action strategies to eliminate the negativity.



Healing. There is a tendency to push past this crucial stage in the process of working toward liberation. A belief throughout society is that once the mistreatment has stopped or eased up a bit, people should be able to move on. But the effects of mistreatment can carry on from one generation to the next if attention is not given to healing. Without healing, groups that have endured massive mistreatment can not simply "get over it." For example, we have now lived without the institution of slavery for well over 100 years, but the effects of it still rest within many African Americans. What is the impact on an individual when their family is kidnapped, killed, or broken apart? What is the effect on a people when they have been beaten down, moved against their will, been infused with messages and treatment that says they are less than human? The impact or effect is deep trauma and hurt.



Most people make a valiant effort to move on. Without healing, however, what tends to happen is the stress of repressing the pain and anger, coupled with the desire to have our experiences and difficulties acknowledged cause people to get mired down at each turn in the process. We are likely to take every opportunity to heal from the effects, often doing so by insisting people around us listen to our anguished stories, or by blaming others for what has happened to us. Others hasten to point out that they too have been hurt, or deny that things are really all that bad. Ultimately, confusion and discouragement can drain the enthusiasm and sense of purpose from even the most well-intentioned group.



Healing in liberation work requires the courage to look squarely at the depth of our anguish and despair, to make the space for each to come forward with her/his truth without fear of reprisal, and to commit to hanging in with each other. The result of healing is liberation from the areas where one gets hooked or clashes with others. The result of healing is becoming completely powerful in places where one is the target for mistreatment. For others, the result of healing is the capability of being an ally to all on the planet.



Most of us have anxiety about delving into our subconscious beliefs, feelings and attitudes about people of other groups, as well as our own. For many, past attempts to sort through these confusing and often frightening areas were met with disapproval, criticism and even rejection. Thus, the prospect of having others hear our stories of the messages we got about them, about ourselves, where we are stuck, and what painful emotions we carry can be daunting. We might want to free ourselves from the baggage, but we need some reassurance that to do so will not leave us feeling more disheartened, guilty, blamed or fearful than we already are.



The healing aspect of liberation work is multifaceted. Not only must we grieve our hurts that result from living with oppression, we need the opportunity to be outraged, discouraged, confused and exhausted. We need to tell our stories and have them be held. We need to speak our truths without apology. Understanding how one is hurt is often obscured by privilege and isolation. We need to see how the oppression of those outside our group/s is disastrous for us.



What gets in the way of liberation is the lack of healing. Everyone in this society is/has been hurt by the conditions producing mistreatment. As human beings, our ability to empathize with others is what makes us hurt when we see others being hurt. It has been hurtful to be taught one is better than, more human than another individual. It is hurtful to be on the receiving end of discrimination. We carry these experiences around with us no matter where we walk -- be it the classroom, church, neighborhood, stores, shopping centers, or work place. Our liberation is directly connected to the extent that we can heal from these experiences. The extent to which we can create a healing space helps us let go of hurtful experiences.



Safety. If the environment around us is not safe to bring out our experiences of hurt, our thoughts, and beliefs about self and others, then healing, building alliances, working to transform institutions and ultimately liberation and justice will not be realized. How can we expect a white person, for example, to say how they have been conditioned to see people of color as less, to notice how they perpetuate racism, if they are bashed for being who they are? How can we expect a person of color to heal from hurtful experiences of racism if they are blamed, ridiculed, or ignored for what has happened to them? Our multicultural work is about creating a sanctuary for people to bring their experiences out without being blamed.



Does creating safety mean making things "nice" and comfortable? No. Safety is not comfort. Liberation work is about change, and change is never comfortable. One will have uncomfortable feelings and experiences with others as they continue on these paths. Confronting one's attitudes about others is never comfortable. Embarking on a healing process does not mean one will feel good during the treatment for the hurt. However, the change can occur in an environment of safety with discomfort. There should be a commitment to not create more hurt or re-create a past hurt.



These are the three pathways to liberation. As a society, all three paths need to be walked. Liberation will not be achieved if we only focus on one of the pathways. If we only paid attention to "undoing" the effects with individuals, then we would have a society where individuals receive help to recover from the challenges of "isms" but the institutional structure that perpetuates "haves" and "have nots" will remain in place. We can establish effective mechanisms, strategies, interventions, and treatments to help individuals recover from the negative effects of oppression, but without institutional change and building alliances we will be forever reactive rather than proactive. Each generation will need the same treatment as the previous one. As a society we would become adept at treating the symptom of the problem, but not the root of it.



On the other hand, if our attention only goes to "transforming" institutions, societal structures may change, but the world would be full of the walking wounded. Time and time again we have witnessed the results of liberation movements working to change the structure without helping individuals recover from the effects. More often than not, without recovery these individuals continue to suffer from the effects by turning the destructive ways inward or by passing the oppression on to others in another form.



Therefore, all paths need to be walked if we are to truly move towards liberation, justice, equality. Although we may focus on one path or another at various times, it is important to understand the need for action on all.

Written by Hugh Vasquez and Victor Lewis with contributions from Isoke Femi.