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In this video, Robin DiAngelo illustrates the concept of the good/bad, racist/not racist binary in a simple and powerful way. As multiple of our readings suggest, examination of oneself and one's organization is essential to social justice leadership, and the good/bad binary that DiAngelo describes in this video provides an explanation for how and why our reframing of racism as intentional, individual, and conscious makes it so hard for many white people to engage in this kind of interrogation. White fragility and the prioritization of white comfort in racial equity work is a major barrier that must be overcome in the leadership category of developing people and developing capacity.

In "Rethinking Transformational Leadership in Schools: The Influence of People, Place, and Process on Leadership Practice" (year), Peters defines a transformational principal "as one who has molded the school into a cohesive unit that can respond effectively and successfully to changes in the school environment, and has developed a supportive working environment where teachers, staff and parents are all focused on the end goal of students' academic success" (44). In order to create this cohesive unit that can identify and disrupt inequitable systems, a principal must first build the capacity among school personnel to talk about inequities without becoming defensive. Being able to receive and respond productively to feedback from various community members is an essential part of building more democratic and socially just schools, and personnel will not be able to do that if they're in the mindset that Robin DiAngelo describes in this video.

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Why "I'm not racist" is only half the story | Robin DiAngelo

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Read more at BigThink.com: Follow Big Think here: YouTube: http://goo.gl/CPTsV5 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BigThinkdotcom Twitter: https://twitter.com/bigthink Robin DiAngelo: All systems of oppression are highly adaptive, and they can adapt to challenges and incorporate them. They can allow for exceptions.

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I first saw this meme with only the first and second images, and I appreciated its illustration of the idea that equity must be responsive to the needs of different individuals rather than equality, which simply gives the same to each individual. The idea of liberation - having no fence at all, in this meme - appealed to me in terms of how it relates to leadership for social justice. In "Social Justice and Moral Transformative Leadership" (2010), M.E. Dantley and L.C. Tillman argue that social justice leaders must interrogate and then interrupt the structures that perpetuate inequities and marginalization: "Leadership for social justice investigates and poses solutions for issues that generate and reproduce societal inequities" (20). To me, this meme captures that idea of recognizing barriers and either providing the supports needed to help those who are excluded or marginalized (equity) or completely removing the barriers and marginalization (liberation).

This also connects to the idea that social justice education is both practical and aspirational. Equity, as defined in the meme, would be the practical steps we take to support our students and help them overcome inequity. Liberation is the ideal goal towards which we are striving, where those barriers and marginalization no longer happen.

The meme isn't perfect - for example, the height differences indicate a deficit view of cultural differences and imply that the shortcoming is one inherent to the student and not one that has been socially constructed and perpetuated. However, despite some issues with the meme I think it provides an illustration of multiple important ideas in social justice education.

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Social Justice Education is both Practical and  Aspirational

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Social Justice Education is both Practical and  Aspirational

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In their article "Intersectionality in Educational Leadership" (2015), Scanlan, Martin, and Theoharis describe socially just schooling as being simultaneously pragmatic and idealistic: "...socially just schooling is both a tangible reality that one can describe and create, and at the same time an ideal goal to which we are always aspiring" (3).

This idea really resonated for me because it highlights the need for continual progress and growth. There are specific, concrete things that schools can and should be doing to create more socially just schools, and identifying where those things are happening or where we could be making those things happen is an important part of social justice leadership. However, social justice leadership is never done. We can always find more ways to be culturally responsive, collaborative, and democratic in our educational practices and structures.

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"I sometimes visualize the ongoing cycle of racism as a moving walkway at the airport. Active racist behavior is equivalent to walking fast on the conveyor belt…Passive racist behavior is equivalent to standing still on the walkway. No overt effort is being made, but the conveyor belt moves the bystanders along to the same destination as those who are actively walking. Some of the bystanders may feel the motion of the conveyor belt, see the active racists ahead of them, and choose to turn around…But unless they are walking actively in the opposite direction at a speed faster than the conveyor belt – unless they are actively antiracist – they will find themselves carried along with the others."
- Beverly Daniel Tatum

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Dantley, M, E. & Tillman, L, C. (2010). Social justice and moral transformative leadership. In C. Marshall & M. Oliva (Eds.), Leadership for Social Justice: Making Revolution in Education (2nd ed.) (pp. 19-34). Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.

Peters, A.L. (2010). Rethinking transformational leadership in schools: The influence of people, place, and process on leadership practice. In S.D. Horsford (Ed.), New Perspective in Educational Leadership: Exploring Social, Political, and Community Contexts and Meaning (pp. 29-46). New York, NY: Peter Lang.

Scanlan, M. & Theoharis, G. (2015)Intersectionality in educational leadership. In G. Theoharis & M. Scanlan (Eds.), Leadership for increasingly diverse Schools (pp.1-10). New York, NY: Routledge.