Unveil Social Justice: Beyond the Phrase

Before I start what are your own personal thoughts and opinions on social justice? The example of social injustice that has a huge significance is the recurrence of police brutality against Black people, with George Floyd being a prominent example. He was mistreated and prejudged because he was a Black man, who an officer presumed to be a threat, and then the officer proceeded to kill him without an actual reason. And using that idea of Social injustice they find out a way to create their own meaning of social justice. Which for example could be “Black Lives Matter”. This is a good statement because black lives DO in fact matter but the way some people would use it, it would seem as though ONLY black lives mattered and that's the misconception of social justice. This leads to my opinion of social justice being that it means for equity and not equally because certain people aren’t just more “important” or “special” because of a certain issue concerning their Race, Ethnicity, Ect. but they also don't all need the same thing that others do.

In other words, everyone should have equal opportunities. In addition to that, not understanding the meaning of social injustice and the differences between equality and equity could affect anyone’s view of social justice because they don't fully understand all sides of the concept of social justice.
To further clarify why social justice discussions often lead to misunderstandings between equality and equity, it’s important to note that these two concepts are frequently not fully comprehended and are commonly misinterpreted. For instance, The Annie E. Casey Foundation provides a clear example of the difference between equity and equality. They state, “Equality assumes that everybody is operating at the same starting point and will face the same circumstances and challenges. Equity recognizes the shortcomings of this ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach and understands that different levels of support must be provided to achieve fairness in outcomes.” This example effectively illustrates the distinct meanings of equality and equity since it provides the separate meanings of both equality and equity but also provides insight on what they both mean.

On the other hand, the reason why you should understand both social justice and injustice is that to understand one thing, you have to understand the opposite of it. In other words, to better comprehend anything, you should know both sides of the concept. For example, in the History of Science – Theory of Opposites, they say, “The theory of opposites emphasizes the importance of contrast in understanding existence, suggesting that things like light and dark or hot and cold are interdependent.” This shows how important it is to understand the opposite of something. However, I say this specifically in the case of social justice and injustice because if you were to explain social justice to anyone, you’d have to give an example of the opposite in order to have a full understanding of the concept.

In conclusion, to understand the meaning of social justice, you must comprehend the many other concepts related to it. These include the difference between equality, meaning everyone has equal rights and abilities, and equity, which means everyone should have a fair chance to access certain things without being discriminated against because of their differences. Additionally, it involves understanding the opposite, social injustice, which essentially means an unequal distribution of treatment during events, such as not being able to have a certain job because of your race or social class

DMU Timestamp: November 06, 2024 03:33