You know, it’s not the world that was my oppressor, because what the world does to you, if the world does it to you long enough and effectively enough, you begin to do to yourself.
James Baldwin
For almost 200 years in the United States, racism was codified in our laws and court decisions and reflected in public signage and messaging, allowing it to not only live, but flourish. Over time however, expressed racism morphed into an obscured force, having become internalized and self sustaining. People of color no longer needed to be reminded daily of their supposed inferiority at restaurants and drinking fountains—it had become implied and systematic.
For this reason, Impact Justice recognizes that we can not achieve meaningful change solely by reforming seemingly impartial systems birthed from racist foundations. Instead, we must work to ensure the wellbeing of those still caught in the grasp of those systems while simultaneously creating new ones that do not carry the concealed stench of hatred. We do so from a fundamental awareness that, as Baldwin said, we are all so much more than what time, circumstance, and history, have made of us.
