Creating Justice in Real Time: Vision, Strategies and Campaigns

Amidst the end of the world as we’ve known it, envisioning the world we want to be.Angela Davis, the activist, philosopher, and academic, reminds us that, “sometimes we have to do the work even though we don’t yet see a glimmer on the horizon that it’s actually going to be possible.” The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed and exacerbated longstanding inequities and injustices, called into question even more the perils of racial capitalism, and elevated the importance of advocacy in an age of unprecedented activism. In this class, we begin with, as a point of departure, the pandemic and the intersecting crises it exposed, among these being environmental and climate injustice, policing and public safety, the dire need to prison reform, the fragility and inaccessibility of the right to vote, the need for equitable economic development, and the long call for reparations for racial injustice in the United States. We’ll use advocacy principles to address these issues, including the particular strategies of the arc of advocacy.Working with the William Monroe Trotter Collaborative for Social Justice, municipal governments, as well as national/state advocacy organizations, a select cohort of students will work to address current injustices in real time—with a focus on what is demonstrably effective. Students will develop visions, strategies and campaigns as well as legislative, policy, best practice, organizing, communication, and moral framing strategies to address injustices related to policing, voting, the environment, economic development, infrastructure, prison abolition, and reparations. Students will employ advocacy principles such as moral ambition, perfect/imperfect victims, concentric/consecutive coalitions, and scholarship as an organizing tool.Students should be willing to work often outside of class and to remain patient, flexible, and persistent as the course proceeds throughout the semester. This is a limited enrollment course that requires students to competitively apply. Students should demonstrate a deep passion for social justice.This is an application based course. Interested students should fill out the google form at this link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeZ_LHL_kq2Ply9UMNgOFqBLkOND3t_QMHkXe4VJajnvnGJFA/viewform?usp=sf_linkWe strongly encourage you to apply by the early application deadline of January 13, 2023 to provide an opportunity for the teaching team to review your application in advance of the Shopping Period. The final application deadline is 10 pm EST on Friday, January 20, 2023. Due to the large number of applications and the dates of course shopping, we will inform students on Saturday by 9:00 PM EST, January 21, 2023 regarding acceptance to the course. If admitted, we expect students to have read and reviewed themes for Monday’s, January 23rd, class .
Please reach out to Merida Brimhall (meridabrimhall@hks.harvard.edu) with any questions.
Course Notes: Also offered by the Divinity School as HDS 3093.