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The book The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas has been one of the most powerful pieces of literature I have read in recent years.  When I heard the movie would soon be released, I asked some of my family members if they wanted to go see it.  My brother-in-law, a Black man, responded with, "I'm not going.  That's too deep of an issue for me.  When you leave that theater, you get to be a white woman.  That book is my reality."  That response really helped me to unpack my privilege and realize perhaps I'm not as "woke" as I thought.

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Social justice leadership requires that we have hope for the future.  If we are living in a hopeless situation in which there will never be a remedy for oppression, then the work we are doing is all for naught, and I can't be someone who believes that.  Transformative leadership focused on social justice "requires a language of critique and possibility" (Quantz, Rogers, & Dantley, 1991).  It is the possibility part that brings hope.  I am here to identify problems and find solutions along the way.

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Adams, M., Bell, L. A., & Griffin, P. (1997). Teaching for diversity and social justice. New York, NY: Routledge.

Brown, A.C. (2018). I'm still here: Black dignity in a world made for whiteness. New York: Convergent Books.

Bulwa, D. & Swan, R. (2018). 10 years since Oscar Grant's death: What happened at Fruitvale Station. San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved from https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/10-years-since-Oscar-Grant-s-death-What-13489585.php#photo-16685331

Cooper, C.W. (2010). Educational leaders as cultural workers: Engaging families and school communities through transformative leadership. In S.D. Horsford (Ed.), New perspectives in educational leadership (pp. 175-195). New York, NY: Peter Lang Publishing, Inc.

Forbes, M.D. [@toocoolformiddleschool]. (2019, January 27). [Slavery Was No Accident]. Retrieved from https://www.instagram.com/p/BtJkJZfDFxE/

Hawk, T. (2010, November 5). [Oscar Grant]. Retrieved from https://www.flickr.com/photos/thomashawk/16398263860/in/photostream/

O'Brien, N. [@readlikearockstar]. (2018, July 29). [Social Justice is the New Kind]. Retrieved from https://www.instagram.com/p/Bl1BwCAnkTf/

Quantz, R.A., Rogers, J., & Dantley, M. (1991). Rethinking transformative leadership: Toward democratic reform of schools. Journal of Education, 173(3), 96-118.

Shields, C. (2010). Transformative leadership: Working for equity in diverse contexts. Educational Administration Quarterly, 46(4), 558-589.

TedX Talks. (2014, November 5). Social change needs engaged communities, not heroes | Gerardo Calderon |  TEDxLehighU [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdHBWL4LK88

Thomas, A. [@angiethomas]. (2018, July 25). [The Hate U Give]. Retrieved from https://www.instagram.com/p/Blp9DHBDT3Q/

Wade, C. [@cleowade]. (2019,February 23). [You Belong]. Retrieved from https://www.instagram.com/p/BuPG9sEn98t/

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Family relationships are an integral part of transformative leadership.  Leaders cannot only be concerned with test scores and student achievement.  Many school leaders view family involvement simply as a way to boost achievement, but social justice leaders recognize that involved families do much more than that (Cooper, 2010).  Strong families help to create successful, kind, and caring people; and in the long run, isn't that much more important?  It is the job of transformative leaders to question the status quo and create practices that are inclusive for all families, not just families in the majority.

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Social justice is a noun, adjective, and verb. Social justice is something that is constantly changing over time and space. It is both the goal and the process by which we get there. Social justice is based on the equitable distribution of resources and opportunities among all groups (Adams, Bell, & Griffin, 1997).  Becoming an activist for social justice requires recognizing the intricate systems of privilege and oppression through which someone has navigated life.

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"True peace is not merely the absence of tension; it is the presence of justice." 

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"True peace is not merely the absence of tension; it is the presence of justice." 

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The background photo used for this project displays street art honoring Oscar Grant, a 22 year-old Black man who was shot in the back by a Bay Area Rapid Transit police officer after being detained for a fight he was not involved in (Bulwa & Swan,2018).  The officer served 365 days.  The artist features the above quote from Martin Luther King, Jr. shining behind Oscar. This statement is a good starting point in helping others understand social justice.

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Leadership is a general term to describe the process through which an individual or a group encourages others to pursue a common goal.  However, this simple definition does not include the importance of leadership within the larger world.  An educational leader needs to be transformative in nature to address the numerous disparities present in American schools and make a positive impact on greater society. It is imperative that a leader understand the ways in which the world affects school success (Shields, 2010).

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"Social Change Needs Engaged Communities, Not Heroes" 

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"Social Change Needs Engaged Communities, Not Heroes" 

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In his TEDx Talk, Gerardo Calderon tells of the social change he was a part of in El Salvador.  He begins by comparing the obsession with superheroes in the United States to the complete lack of them in his home country.  Calderon proposes the idea that superheroes only fight for good on the surface; they come in for a few minutes to destroy the villain and then they are gone again.  It is the community members that put in the work to truly change the society in which everyone lives.

I do not want to be a superhero leader.  I want to spur other people to become involved and create change themselves, because that really embodies social justice for democracy.  Lasting change requires more than a minutes-long fighting sequence.

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Social change needs engaged communities, not heroes | Gerardo Calderón | TEDxLehighU

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Megan Forbes, AKA @toocoolformiddleschool, highlights a statement from the book I'm Still Here: Black Dignity In a World Made for Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown.

The bedrock of my leadership is based on the fact that the United States is a country created at the expense of non-white people.  Recognizing that racism is embedded into our society, and therefore within our own beliefs, is key to creating systems within a school that are actively non-racist and value students of color.