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This action can take many forms, but what is constant and required is a certain discomfort with the status quo and tacit acknowledgement that the horns of equity require sacrifice.  That through this sacrifice there lies a propulsion that not only transforms one’s own lived experience, but those of the collective as well.

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Pedro Albizu Campos, a graduate of Harvard Law School, challenged the US government and demanded self-determination for the Puerto Rican people.  Whether you agree with him, or not, he exemplifies transformative leadership.

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War Against All Puerto Ricans: Inside the U.S. Crackdown on Pedro Albizu Campos & Nationalist Party

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To achieve social justice a servant leader must embrace the transformative power possessed through the earned trust they have been bestowed (Shields, 2010). This power, however, must always be mitigated with a moral compass that seeks out and eliminates “abuses of power” and the ways in which social constructs perpetuate inequity (Dantley and Tillman, 24). Thorough this kind of leadership, it is my belief that we can not only achieve the American Dream, but redefine it in a way that the collective of our shared experiences authors a uniquely American story that includes and appreciates “the other”.

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Alfieri, J. (2009). Those who dare to lead must seek to serve first: Leadership styles of New Jersey school superintendents (Doctoral dissertation, Walden University).

Dantley, M. E., & Tillman, L. C. (2006). Social justice and moral transformative leadership. Leadership for social justice: Making revolutions in education, 16-30.

King, J. (2019, April). Marvin Gaye, You're the Man. Retrieved from https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/marvin-gaye-youre-the-man/

Ramboslice666. (2011, May 5). Full MLK: I've Been to the Mountaintop Part 3/3. https://youtu.be/vHr4dB2clmE

Sergiovanni, T. J. (2000). Leadership as stewardship. The Jossey-Bass reader on educational leadership, 269-286.

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

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One of my mentors made to clear to me early in my career that I would have to choose which values I would be willing to sacrifice my life for - she wanted me to value something, anything. If there is an example of kind of clarity of purpose and deliberate value it would Martin Luther King, Jr's "I've been to the Mountaintop" speech which foreshadows his death. The following quote resonates more today than ever. "Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the Promised Land."

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Full MLK: I've Been to the Mountaintop Part 3/3

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Hector Lavoe's Abuelita echoes of my grandparents legacy.  They arrived from Puerto Rico with nothing, and left this earth with a legacy of grandchildren, stories, and a hope for the future.  Stories like theirs deserve to be told...if we are to achieve social justice, this is a must.

"Recordando a mi Abuelita
los refranes que ella me hacian reír
y ahora soy yo quien los digo
Escucha que tu también los vas a decir"

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The photos speak for themselves. Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Ghandi all exemplify Servant Leadership.

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My philosophy of social justice is effectuated through leaders who find their value beyond their own pleasure and beyond their own immediate need.  These leaders choose, instead, to exist at the soles of those they lead; embracing collaboration and formation of a collective consciousness.   These are selfless visionaries – the servant leader (Sergiovanni, 273).

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Servant leadership is best expressed by the following quote, "We must be silent before we can listen. We must listen before we can learn. We must learn before we can prepare. We must prepare before we can serve. We must serve before we can lead." (Alfieri, 2009). However, servant leadership must be transformative in approach and nature.

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Critical to this answer, and possibly many others, is to acknowledge that racism has built this country and has fueled its growth, allowing it to become a military and economic super power. For this reason, social justice requires an assertive interest in the histories of dream seekers, the stories of their quest for opportunity that are absent from the liberal arts canon, and an acknowledgement that barriers have been erected in order to dissuade the realization of dreams than can only be remedied with action (Shields, 2010).

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The right to vote has long been a lightening rod in the United States. It is a right that is often not afforded to those without power by those with power. It is also the one right, when made available, we take for granted.  If we want change, we need to vote.  It saddens me when I see that we are not embracing this right when the opportunity presents itself.  I wonder what could have been had we had only realized the power we were throwing away.  This act gave rise to our current president...did we throw away more than vote?

Marvin Gaye's "You're the Man" speaks to hope for our future. We can correct for the error of our ways...

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Commonly referred to as Marvin Gaye's lost album, "You're the Man" captures the hope that many believed the 1972 presidential election would bring and, by derivative, our democracy to deliver of dreams long deferred.

King (2019) writes, "Morally right-on, emotionally vulnerable, and still musically avant-garde, Marvin Gaye’s previously unreleased 1972 album You’re the Man is the timeless sound of a combustible rhythm and blues."
King, J. (2019, April). Marvin Gaye, You're the Man. Retrieved from https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/marvin-gaye-youre-the-man/

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My philosophy of social justice is grounded in a fundamental belief that we “are all created equal and endowed with certain inalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”– the American Dream (Declaration of Independence, 1776).  This declaration is critical because it forms the basis of what we now consider civil rights.  That is, if “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness” is the standard, why do so many never realize it?

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Marvin Gaye's "Inner City Blues" speaks for itself.  It illustrates the brutal inequities imposed upon African-Americans in our cities.   It also reminds me of the days when I would play with neighborhood kids in abandoned buildings and empty lots - searching for treasure that only kids in hood could appreciate.

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Marvin Gaye - Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)