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<br />Jacqueline Byers, Director of Research, National Association of Counties, indicated that no counties have explicitly
<br />adopted a social justice goal but she indicated that Santa Cruz, Mazin and Santa Bazbaza counties in California have
<br />focused on advancing social justice. They probably would provide the best comparison sites to assess current
<br />manifestations of social justice at the local governmental level. ~ 1
<br />Santa Cruz is the most instructive case, because it appears to be a leader in social justice goal-oriented activity. It
<br />claims, "Santa Cruz County has more programs concerned with Social Justice than many other areas in the US." As
<br />a local government, the county observes, "Social justice, including environmental justice, are necessary components
<br />of any plan for a healthy, sustainable future. Historically, low-income communities and communities of color suffer
<br />disproportionately. Recent coalition building strategies and campaigns are beginning to make a dent is this
<br />problem." Its primary focus is on developing a sustainable community through 12 principles of agreement. I refer
<br />you to them to reiterate that a social justice agenda must entail both a goal and process.
<br />Beyond local governments, a more ambitious social justice vision and program is illustrated by the Green Party
<br />platform of social justice and livable communities.12 It addresses 25 topics, including the social safety net that was
<br />the County Commissioners' initial focus. I think this is an excellent start for addressing what social justice goals
<br />could be. The challenge is to step back from the macro to the micro perspective that is more within the capacity of
<br />local government. Still, as aspirations go, the Green Party goals are instructive.
<br />IV. Conclusion
<br />In closing, let me offer a humble opinion. I have been engaged in social justice work for the last 35 years: as a legal
<br />services lawyer in Roxbury and Watts; as a program officer within the rights and social justice program of the Ford
<br />Foundation; as social justice professor and scholar; and as a board member of the New World Foundation and
<br />Oxfam America. I believe that at the end of the day, the ultimate goal of social justice is to engender hope -
<br />"audacious hope" as Barak Obama phrased it. .
<br />Three years ago, at a celebration of Martin Luther King's birthday, Cornel West came to Chapel Hill and spoke of
<br />how King was able to stay the course, maintaining his high aspirations. Given the difficulty of what King was doing,
<br />West said King was not consistently anoptimist -how could he be? Instead, King was characterized as a "prisoner
<br />of hope." No matter the predicament or the prospects, he was hopeful. He could no more escape hope that he could
<br />escape the Birmingham jail where he penned his famous letter. In his 1963 speech in Washington, one of his classic
<br />lines referred to "hewing a stone of hope from a mountain of despair."
<br />In Marion Wright Edelman's book, The Measure of Our Success: A Letter to My Children and Yours, she quotes
<br />President Vaclav Havel of the Czech Republic. While literally imprisoned, Havel. described ever-present hope in
<br />these terms, terms I relate to the hope of those who seek to advance a social justice agenda:
<br />"Either we have hope within us or we don't: it is a dimension of the sou1....Hope in this deep and
<br />powerful sense is....an ability to work for something because it is good, not just because it stands a
<br />chance to succeed....It is also this hope, above all, which gives us the strength to live and continually
<br />to try things, even in conditions that seem as hopeless as ours do here and now"
<br />I do not mean to suggest that the Board of Commissioners should engage in quixotic endeavor or join Sisyphus in
<br />his rock pushing. But King personified this hope - a practical hope that must be kept alive, must inspire us to do
<br />more than we aze, and to never, never give up. A social justice goal must say and do as much.
<br />~ Holly Ramer. Edwards, Dean Vow Focus on Social Justice. The Herald Sun, October 20, 2003, page C9.
<br />s Michael Novak. Defming Social Justice. First Things. December 2000;
<br />http_//www firstthinss com/ftissues/ft0012/opinion/novak.heml. This article discusses the historical evolution of the
<br />concept (term).
<br />s Social Justice Training Instit8ute. htt~://www.sjti.ore/.
<br />a Mick Dodson. Annual Report of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner. 1993;
<br />http://www. dreamtime.net.aulindigenous/social.cfin.
<br />5 Martha R. Mahoney, John O. Calmore and Stephanie M. Wildman. Social Justice: Professionals, Communities and
<br />Law, 2003,49-5 L
<br />e Marcia Bok. Civil Rights and the Social Programs of the 1960s: The Social Justice Functions of Social Policy,
<br />1992, 15.
<br />On,vvGE CO(JNTY SOCIAL JUSTICE GOAL
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