To me social justice stands for the choice to stand up for oneself and one’s community against injustice. The main example Social Justice High School itself stands for is the hunger strike which lead to the creation of LVLHS and thus Social Justice itself. I began thinking about social justice in a criminal justice manner as a freshman rather than my current understanding as justice in the sense of finding permanent solutions to the issues that constantly plague us. My personal belief in social justice changed my sophomore year as I began learning about blood diamonds in General Chemistry and its connection to social justice values alongside my own epiphany as to what social justice means to me. Thus to me, social justice is both a form of morality I am still learning to achieve and the ability to use social justice to improve the lives of my community and the people I care about.
Social justice faces a multitude of setbacks from insignificant support to people actively attempting to suppress social justice for their own gains or misled viewpoint. The foundation of Social Justice High School was the hunger strike born out of need for a new school in Little Village which inspired the use of social justice not only in a school setting, as a means to learn, but also as a way to act. While this example follows those who stood up for social justice there is the more immediate failure to social justice in not being able to stand up for oneself, characteristic to a multitude of people, ruining larger prospects to combat social injustice from smaller,personal issues. Facing social justice also entails issues considered uncontrollable such as racism and poverty which hold back social justice. Considering issues, like those mentioned above, didn’t phase the hunger strikers, then we know we can defeat social injustice through struggle.
Struggling towards justice starts with the conceptualization followed by the realization of the idea/effort needed to be put in to create change. An example would be my sophomore year in which that years seniors organized a sit-in to protest the unjust changes to our school such as the firing of certain teachers and the removal of AP classes. This example thus shows how an organized group can stand up for what they believe in and are willing to fight for. Those willing to work towards social justice will face adversity but also will accomplish more because if they are willing to work against struggle then they should be able to work toward accomplishment. My vision for the struggle would be to stand up for what you believe in and fight for a cause, alongside having the will to beat the struggle.
Visualizing about the struggle is nothing without being able to take action and take a role in the struggle. What I can do to continue my role in the struggle is to complete my education and beyond to become scientifically literate and thus be able to back up the struggle toward social justice. My role for the future is to become a medical professional with the skill and resources to be able to create, my own idea to help people, a medical center in areas with dire need for medical resources. I expect myself to grow in my role from simply a protester such as during the beginning of the 2012 school year to being someone who creates and struggles for social justice. My role in the struggle will be saving people even if it means having to save them from themselves.
Social justice is the ability to understand and know when to stand up for oneself and those around them against injustice. Currently, my vision and role for the struggle are unable to properly align due to my limited role, this however should not hold me back as my role can be used to assist in current issues until I am able to use my role to create my vision for the struggle. While I am my own obstacle this setback will not stop me nor has it done before, I demonstrated this over the summer working alongside the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization in which I not only worked toward environmental/social justice but was also able to lead in demonstrating to our community the role LVEJO took and the roles community members can take in order to continue and win our struggle. As Manuelita Garcia once said “ It’s very significant to us”, referencing the hunger strike for the LVLHS campus, a simple saying connecting to our own chosen struggles which we find significant and our work toward sharing our vision with others and thus being able to use our role to truly create a movement for future social justice issues.