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Tag: Social Justice

  • Creating a Safe Space at Work for Discussing Social Justice Topics

    Image Source: Pexels

    There’s a lot going on in the world at the moment, which means there’s a lot we need to talk about. It seems as though every day there is another incident that raises issues related to the socio-economic imbalances in our society, systemic racism, or the political decisions that shape our lives. These deserve considerate thought and productive debate.

    Yet, we are so often told that there are places where it is inappropriate to talk about social justice topics, no matter how vital they are to our experiences. Perhaps the most common of these is the workplace. There is an expectation that employees and employers alike should keep their thoughts on potentially divisive topics to themselves, rather than risk rocking the boat. Yet to perpetuate this is to deny the opportunity for vital debate, and growth for everyone involved.

    Let’s take a look at why businesses should be making greater efforts to support healthy social justice discourse. Where can both companies and their workers focus their efforts?

    Why Discussion is Positive

    So, why make a space at all? If discussions about social justice have the potential to cause friction in the workplace, isn’t it just better to avoid that? Well, no — maintaining silence on important issues tends to prevent us from addressing them in a meaningful way.

    One of the reasons that sexual harassment in the workplace has taken such an insidious hold is the historic culture of silence that protects perpetrators and oppresses those who have been harassed. Part of the reason the #MeToo movement is so powerful is that women have been empowered to make their voices heard.

    For business owners, it’s also not a good idea to discourage discussion on the prevalent issues of the times we’re living in. Employees from marginalized groups who don’t feel as though they can express themselves on important social justice issues will naturally consider discouragement as an act of continued oppression.

    This oppression does not provide employees with any incentive for loyalty, nor does it encourage them to apply their talents in ways that lead to innovation. Employers who smother an open dialogue on social justice issues may find that it leads only to resentment.

    Workers also have a responsibility not only to the power of their own voices, but to those around them who have perspectives on social justice topics. Not to mention that having the confidence to speak up in the workplace tends to strengthen an employee’s influence in the company. Discussion is contagious, and taking a positive attitude toward discourse helps to create the kind of healthy culture that makes workplaces intellectually and socially stimulating places in which to work.

    Actions as an Employer

    The constitutional right to free speech doesn’t necessarily extend to private workplaces. However, businesses have an ethical duty to encourage a social justice dialogue, and can benefit from it with strong and empowered employees. That said, it is also important to keep discussions constructive.

    Employers have to acknowledge that there is a line to be drawn when debate negatively disrupts productivity and relationships. So, what elements should employers be putting in place to support a safe space for discussions?

    • Clear Policies

    Employees and leadership alike benefit from clarity when it comes to behavioral expectations. Make it clear in official documentation — including employee handbooks and contracts — that the business supports the free exchange of ideas. Formalize the commitment that all workers are able to discuss issues and voice concerns without fear of reprisal.

    However, it is also vital to confirm the line at which debate becomes unhealthy, and potentially prevents the business from being a safe space for customers and colleagues alike. Reinforce that behavior that constitutes discrimination of protected groups does not fall under the category of healthy discussion, and will not be tolerated.

    These guidelines should also fall within the range of open discussion, and employees should be invited to contest them if they feel they are lacking.

    • Diverse Workforce

    A healthy environment for social justice discussions begins at a cultural level. This is much more difficult if your business has a monocultural workforce. Sectors that already have a strong culture of diversity tend to encourage spaces where employees are not just able to discuss social issues, but contribute to solutions.

    The beauty industry is a great example of how the growth of diversity has encouraged the contribution of different cultural perspectives that have highlighted issues, and led to continued vigilance and improvements. As an employer, one of the best actions you can take is to discover a broader range of employees.

    Actions as an Employee

    Workers should not need permission from their employers to discuss issues that are important to their lives. If debates don’t have negative effects on their ability to do their jobs and are not corrosive to company integrity, there’s really no reason not to broach topics that matter. However, this isn’t always a concept shared by employers, so employees should contribute to creating spaces where these discussions can be undertaken safely.

    This could include:

    • Influence Inclusivity

    The actions we take in the course of our duties can help provide a more supportive environment for open discussions about social justice topics. Learn more about the lives and needs of colleagues and customers who come from differing demographic groups and backgrounds than you. Seek to include them and their ideas in various aspects of your work, and encourage their input on projects. This helps to create a culture that supports differing perspectives and is conducive to more open discussions.

    • Vigilance on Toxicity

    One of the barriers to healthy and productive social justice discussion is a toxic workplace. If your boss is not receptive to improvements that you feel need to be made regarding cultural issues, or is outright abusive or disrespectful, it’s important to respond calmly and methodically.

    Analyze the situation to understand the extent of the problems, and if there is no resolution through discussion you should set strict and healthy boundaries while you document occasions of toxicity. Then formally address these with human resources (HR). Approach the matter as an action to make the business a safer and positive space for all employees.

    Conclusion

    Social justice is key to creating a more inclusive and positive society; this means that healthy discussion should be encouraged. Employers and employees alike must work together to ensure that the spaces they work in are conducive to constructive dialogue. This should include policies that put workplaces in a better position to facilitate these discussions, and efforts from everyone involved to improve the environment overall.

    Beau Peters is a freelance writer based out of Portland, OR. He has a particular interest in covering workers’ rights, social justice, and workplace issues and solutions. Read other articles by Beau.

    This article was posted on Wednesday, March 3rd, 2021 at 7:16pm and is filed under Social Justice, Workplace.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • The Global Cry for Change

    Change is in the air, it’s been hovering for some time, but thanks to Covid-19 festering social issues and inequalities have been highlighted, intensifying the need for a new approach. Talk of environmental action and reimagining how we live and work fills the airwaves; catchphrases abound, spilling from the lips of duplicitous politicians who claim they want to ‘build back better’, create a ‘new normal’, and invest in a ‘green recovery’.

    Repeated often enough, and the men and women in suits are nothing if not repetitive, such slogans become totally devoid of meaning. The word becomes the thing to which it refers, without ‘the thing’ – ‘peace’, ‘brotherhood’, ‘equality’ – ever being realized, or any meaningful action undertaken to bring it about.

    A cluster of interconnected crises confronts humanity, the most urgent of which is the environmental emergency. The natural world with its sublime beauty and intricate systems, has been vandalized, mutilated, poisoned. Hunger and malnourishment soil the lives of almost a billion people, billions more are economically insecure. Societies are fractured, divided, some more some less; there’s armed conflict, modern-day slavery, displacement of persons; anxiety, stress and depression are everywhere. It’s a mess, but it’s a mess from which a small number of very rich and politically powerful people benefit enormously. A tiny coterie of humanity, complacent and greedy, who are quite happy with the current order and do not want things to change, certainly not in any radical substantive way.

    But billions of people throughout the world are desperate for change, for freedom, social justice, greater democracy and environmental action. And in the last forty years or so virtually every country in the world has witnessed expressions of popular outrage (including the more repressive states) as a global protest movement, unprecedented in scale, has emerged.

    Social change has forever been slow in coming; fought for by the masses and resisted, often violently, by those in power. There is nothing unusual there, what is new is the weight and scale of the calls for change, the range of issues, interconnected, but diverse, and the urgency of the crises. The internet, social media and mass communication means the world is connected like never before. It’s easier to organize happenings, news is accessible almost everywhere all the time, speeding everything up.

    Underlying this universal wave of discontent is a collective awakening, a unifying attitude of strength in the face of political arrogance, corporate exploitation and social division: Enough is enough; hear us and respond, seem to be the mantras of the masses. Fear of reprisals has lost its restraining hold (as seen in the recent protests in; e.g., Belarus, Russia and Myanmar) in light of the power of unified creative actions brought together under the banner of love.

    ‘People power’ is the label commonly applied to this uncoordinated diverse movement by the mass media – and they love a label. A reductive, somewhat divisive term; the explosion in political, social and environmental engagement is not rooted in opposition, though this certainly exists, but flows from a growing sense of social and environmental responsibility and an evolving unity; a recognition that we are all responsible for one another and the planet.

    Responsibility is a key component of a democratic society, as is participation, and, of course, the two are closely linked. Society is not separate from those who live, work and study within its boundaries; we are society, collectively we create the atmosphere, and we allow and perpetuate the structures and dominant modes of living through our actions and attitudes. Consciousness sits behind behavior, attitudes, values, and consciousness (at least as far as we know it) is its content. Such content is predominantly the accumulated ideas and beliefs that have been poured into the mind from birth; conditioned content then is the fabric of our consciousness. We are, for example, conditioned into competition from childhood, and believing it to be natural and beneficial, we live within its divisive pattern and pass it on to others, our peers and children, say; we thereby add to the collective conditioning which shapes society.

    Changes in consciousness and therefore behavior come about quite naturally when conditioning is absent; remove conformity and fear from a classroom, for example, and see children relax, play and freely express themselves.

    We are all responsible, not just for ourselves but for others, family, friends, our community, nation, region, world; the more we act, the more the ripples of responsibility expand. Recognition and awareness of this inherent responsibility leads quite naturally to participation and action, as the many and varied protest movements and community groups demonstrate.

    Expressions of social and environmental responsibility reflect and strengthen an evolving realization that humanity is one, that we are all essentially the same: Individuals with particular qualities and gifts sharing a common nature and universal constitution, the beauty and depth of which we sense but do not understand; its quality is love, that much we do know; and it is love in action that needs to permeate any ‘new normal’.

    Graham Peebles is an independent writer and charity worker. He set up The Create Trust in 2005 and has run education projects in India, Sri Lanka, Palestine and Ethiopia where he lived for two years working with street children, under 18 commercial sex workers, and conducting teacher training programmes. He lives and works in London. Read other articles by Graham, or visit Graham’s website.

    This article was posted on Sunday, February 21st, 2021 at 10:37pm and is filed under Activism, Civil Unrest, COVID-19, Environment, Media, Neoliberalism, Opinion, Peace, Propaganda, Social Justice, Social Movements.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Social Issues and Homeownership for All

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    Homeownership is the traditional cornerstone of the American Dream. Yet for millions of people across the nation, who may have poor credit scores and earn less than a living wage, the possibility of homeownership has long been out of reach, even before the COVID pandemic. Today, with COVID serving as yet another barrier to homeownership in the U.S., especially among minority populations, the situation has become dire.

    In fact, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) reports that “an estimated 10 million adults are in a household that is not caught up in its mortgage payment.” Those vulnerable homeowners are at a high risk of losing their housing via bank foreclosure unless policies are enacted to protect them.

    In light of this sobering fact, we must ask ourselves whether the goal of homeownership is even possible under the threat of a global pandemic and subsequent economic insecurity. Is it time to reassess the general view in society that homeownership is the pinnacle of success? To answer those and similar questions, we need to take a look at the various legal, economic, generational, and political perspectives that surround homeownership in the 21st century.

    Social Justice, Public Health, and Housing

    Over the years, the federal government has implemented various policies and programs designed to facilitate homeownership for all. One notable example is the American Dream Downpayment Initiative, signed by then-President George W. Bush in 2003. The initiative framed the topic of homeownership in a social justice context, and for his part, President Bush reportedly believed that homeownership could help reduce racial inequality across the country.

    And various data supports the idea that housing insecurity is indeed a social justice issue. Among U.S. homeowners, minority populations are underrepresented. According to The White House archives, 74.3% of non-Hispanic whites own their own home, compared to 48% of African-Americans. These numbers are indicative of a larger, systemic problem wherein racial minorities are disproportionately devalued and oppressed.

    Housing inequality is just one of the long-standing systemic health and social inequities that are affecting modern society and negatively impacting public health. Minority populations are even at an increased risk of contracting COVID-19, in part due to practices in the realm of homeownership, including redlining and gentrification. In gentrified urban neighborhoods, people of color are frequently displaced, resulting in increased housing segregation and perpetuating the cycle of inequality.

    The Importance of Good Credit

    While gentrification isn’t necessarily indicative of bad intentions, the practice of redlining is much less innocuous. In New York City and numerous metro areas across the country, the effects of redlining lasted for decades, persisting to this day. Redlining refers to racist housing laws of the 20th century, wherein neighborhoods with large minority populations were labeled “red.” In those red-designated areas, it was much more difficult to obtain a mortgage loan, and property values were frequently undermined.

    Researchers have determined that redlining also negatively impacts homeownership rates and credit scores among residents of those “undesirable” neighborhoods. In regards to securing and maintaining equity, an individual’s credit score is of fundamental importance. A low credit score typically equates to higher interest rates or even the flat-out denial of a mortgage loan request.

    Situations such as foreclosure only serve to compound the issue of housing inequality and can significantly reduce an individual’s credit score. And make no mistake: repairing one’s credit following a foreclosure is typically an uphill battle for which there is no quick fix.

    Costs Related to Home Ownership

    To save on housing costs, even with less-than-perfect credit, many prospective homeowners seek creative solutions. Millennials, in particular, may opt to upgrade their existing home to better align with their personal ideals or choose to invest in a fixer-upper that’s priced to sell. But DIY housing repairs often come with their own set of challenges, including those related to personal safety.

    Older properties are especially problematic, as they were likely constructed with materials that today are considered harmful. For instance, asbestos was a common construction material in the past, used in various forms between the 1940s and 1970s. Asbestos exposure poses a significant health risk and has been linked to an aggressive form of cancer known as mesothelioma.

    Homeowners looking to renovate an older property may want to have the property checked for asbestos, mold, and other harmful substances before starting on the project. New York State homeowners may discover asbestos in various building materials and products, ranging from textured paint and vinyl floor tiles to insulation and roofing materials. Asbestos should only be removed by a licensed abatement contractor.

    Key Takeaways

    The question of fair and equitable homeownership is one of the most significant social justice issues of the 21st century. As we continue to adapt to a world forever changed by a pandemic, we must work to better understand the various nuances of homeownership. Further, we must promote economic policies that are designed to protect the millions of American homeowners who are under financial strain.

    Beau Peters is a freelance writer based out of Portland, OR. He has a particular interest in covering workers’ rights, social justice, and workplace issues and solutions. Read other articles by Beau.

    This article was posted on Tuesday, January 5th, 2021 at 10:02am and is filed under Gentrification, Health/Medical, Homeownership, Housing/Homelessness, Social Justice.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.