What makes a successful social justice movement?

Passion. We can all agree that demand for social justice requires insistence and fervor, not to mention volume and organization.

In honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day – a national day of service named after one of the most recognized faces for social justice in American history – approximately 150 Teach For America • New Mexico AmeriCorps members and community members joined together at Chee Dodge Elementary School in Yahtahey, New Mexico to explore how social justice movements in recent history have triggered wide scale change and how lessons from these movements can apply to closing the achievement gap in education. Corps members and community members engaged in challenging discussions that resulted in great reflection on how we can all ensure social justice for our kids and our communities.

Lindsey Cross, Managing Director of Teacher Leadership Development, and Landon Mascareñaz, Executive Director, led the planning for breakout sessions focused on different movements in the twentieth century. A Teach For America staff member facilitated each session, which consisted of a thirty-minute documentary viewing followed by a discussion of what strategies propelled the issue forward. From the Civil Rights movement led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to the American Indian Movement occupation of Wounded Knee to the gay rights movement led by Harvey Milk, corps members and community members dissected a diverse array of groups demanding social justice.

Discussion participants watching a documentary on Gloria Steinem and first wave feminism resonated with the quote: "This is no simple reform. It really is a revolution." So often, we refer to "education reform," but considering the weighty reality of the achievement gap where only about half of students in New Mexico graduate high school, some participants suggested that what their students truly need is a revolution in education.

Additional challenges in the education movement include the absence of a clear, immediate outcome and the absence of a common enemy. In the Civil Rights movement, legislation ensuring equal rights would signify a tangible win, whereas in education reform, educational legislation does not immediately translate into life opportunity for kids. Furthermore, while clearly delineated camps existed on the issue of racial segregation, there is no clear opposition in education reform – no one claims that children should not learn.

Participants in the discussion about migrant farm workers' movement led by César Chávez emphasized the necessity of enlisting allies across lines of difference for a successful movement to occur. Without joining forces with Filipino American farm workers who posed as job competition and without Robert F. Kennedy expressing his support of the striking workers during U.S. Senate subcommittee hearings, it is possible that AmeriCorps Report: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Servicethe farm workers' protests would not have captured such widespread attention. Similarly, many participants in the American Indian Movement discussion were surprised to learn that one of the powerful vehicles for disseminating the events of Wounded Knee in 1973 took the form of actor Marlon Brando, who declined to accept an Academy Award for his role in The Godfather. Instead, Brando sent Sacheen Littlefeather, an Apache actress, to deliver a message on Brando's behalf on national television, discussing the atrocities committed against American Indians in film portrayals and at the hands of the United States government. Enlisting allies and advocates across lines of difference in education, discussion participants concluded, is crucial for realizing the mission to close the achievement gap for kids.

"It is our responsibility to learn about the community and its issues," said Robert Salazar, a New Mexico native and Academic Systems/District Testing Coordinator for the Pueblo of Laguna Department of Education.

"It is up to us to find our role in addressing the needs of our communities, but to realize that we cannot be the ones to determine what the community needs. We have to reach out and ask what is needed and what we can do.

"Ultimately, when we are gone, whether in two years or twenty, the work we do must carry on without us. We must learn that we are servants, not saviors."

Event: Education as Social Justice
Date: January 7, 2012, 10:00am-3:30pm
Location: Chee Dodge Elementary, Yahtahey, New Mexico