Social justice educators refer to “agents and targets” when describing the oppressive differentials that exist between a dominant group and a subordinate group (Adams, Bell, and Griffin, Teaching for Diversity and Social Justice, 1997). Power and privilege are dynamic features of that oppressive relationship.
When it comes to DEI, the common practice is to ask a person of color (a target) to assume responsibility for ameliorating systemic inequities and injustices promulgated by the dominant and privileged group (agents). This task is destined to fail more often than it succeeds precisely because there is little incentive for agents to change. Thus, people of color who assume these leadership roles, like Sisyphus, seem destined to endure an eternal struggle of pushing for equality and equity. It’s exhausting.
It’s time we changed that. I trust that someone within the LWV-PA who holds agent status—that is, is a member of the dominant group that codifies organizational norms—will see this as a seminal moment in our history when those who benefit the most from inequity and injustice take responsibility for that imbalance.
History teaches us that social unrest can lead to social change: The Boston Tea Party led to the American Revolution; the Civil War led to the Emancipation Proclamation, which in turn led to the Thirteenth Amendment, ending slavery; the women’s suffrage movement led to passage of the Nineteenth Amendment, giving women the right to vote; the Depression led to the New Deal and the forty-hour workweek; the civil rights movement led to the Voting Rights Acts of 1964 and 1968 and spawned both the feminist and gay rights movements, which led respectively to Title IX and gay marriage rights; and George Floyd’s murder will lead to changes in policing and the criminal justice system in this country.
It’s time.
As Antioch University Los Angeles Provost Mark Hower stated in a message to this academic community, “Systems change will not happen, however, unless many more people—especially white people and all who hold power and privilege—find the will to act, to change the status quo.”
I trust that the DEI baton will be passed along to a capable and resourceful member of the dominant group. I will continue to fight for diversity, equity and inclusion in ways that heal. For me, healing the hearts and souls of targeted individuals in this tumultuous time is my first priority.
I thank the LWV-PA for entrusting me with the Sisyphean Ball this past year. May we each break the cycles that bind us to outmoded ways of thinking, being, and acting. The future is ours to create.
— Jacqueline Pinn, LMFT, M.Ed.
