🌎World Day of Social Justice observed February 20, 2021

The United Nations Organization recognizes that “social justice is an underlying principle for peaceful and prosperous coexistence within and among nations.”  The United Nations is charged with taking action on the issues confronting humanity in the 21st century, which include peace and security, climate change, sustainable development, human rights, gender equality, humanitarian and health emergencies, and food production, among many other goals. Social justice is a means necessary to achieve these goals.

We strive to remove the barriers people face, around the world – barriers because of gender, age, race, ethnicity, religion, culture, or disability. Bringing an end to some or all of these barriers will bring us closer to the ideal of Social Justice.  The pursuit of this social justice is core to the UN’s global mission to promote development and human dignity.

In more modern, grassroots movements of social justice, there is an emphasis on breaking barriers for social mobility, the creation of safety nets and economic justice. The institutions of Economic Justice are ones of taxation, social programs – social security, medicare, medicaid; public health, public schools, public services (like your library), equal opportunity, labor law, and the regulation of markets to ensure the fair distribution of wealth.

While social justice can be construed to be an economic term, social equality and racial equality is wrapped in it, in that equal opportunity for all, regardless of gender, age, race, ethnicity, religion, culture, or ability is good for society, as a whole. Indeed, equal opportunity is not just healthy for society – it is healthy for our world, as whole.

🌏 Social Justice in Education, Economics, Law, and Values:

Equity by Design: Delivering on the Power and Promise of UDL by Katie Novak
370.115 NOV
Navigating Difficult Moments in Teaching Diversity and Social Justice edited by Mary E. Kite, Kim A. Case, and Wendy R. Williams
370.117 NAV
Predict and Surveil: Data, Discretion, and the Future of Policing by Sarah Brayne
363.2 BRA
Reimagining Capitalism in a World on Fire by Rebecca Henderson
330.122 HEN
Ultimate Price: the Value we Place on Life by Howard Steven Friedman
305 FRI New Shelf
A Peculiar Indifference: the Neglected Toll of Violence on Black America by Elliott Currie
305.800973 CUR New Shelf
The Broken Ladder: How Inequality Affects the Way We Think, Live, and Die by Keith Payne
305 PAY

All of these titles are linked to Williamson County Public Library’s Online Catalog – you can simply choose to hold them, after signing in to the Catalog with your library card number. Then, wait for confirmation from Circulation and pick up your holds between 8:30 am and 10 am Monday through Saturday for minimal contact; or you can come into the 10 am and 7 pm Monday through Thursday, 10 am through 5:30 pm Friday and Saturday, or 1 pm through 5:30 pm on Sunday to retrieve your holds from Circulation.