Everyday People on the Memphis Social Justice Front

words by Joy Doss | photos by Demarcus Bowser, Chellie Bowman and Phillis Lewis

We all must see the humanity in others. We are all someone’s
mother, father, brother, sister, daughter, son, best friend, confidante.
We all cook dinner or go to brunch or go to church or go to concerts
or go to the gym or go on vacation. We all want to protect our
families, see our kids grow up, see our parents and ourselves glideinto the golden years. We love, we hurt, we FEEL.

We are in a massive, collective reset phase. We have an opportunity
to look inward and reassess every quadrant of our lives.
We are forced to be still. (Some of us!) This is a chance to reset
our career paths, our families, the path of our nation
and hopefully for some, reset our hearts.

As we move forward, let’s reclaim social justice warrior. It is not in
fact the pejorative some people will have it be. Warriors refuse to be
functionally soulless, resisting the easy road that defaults to turning
a blind eye to societal ills. And there is a fungus among us, friends.
Most importantly, warriors move in rhythmic lockstep
and solidarity with the least, the last and left out.
They listen, they hear, they walk the walk.

We know that there is no we without you and me. My humanity
is your humanity is our humanity. We can’t rest until there is truly
justice for all. And we have miles to go….