aurleliusstyles: “If you’re a white man, your drug addiction is romanticized. If you’re a black woman, all you ever contributed to the world is ‘crack whoredom’. White men get to be tortured artists, but black women aren’t even considered artists, cause everybody can do what Whitney did, right? Nothing special about that.” - Jukebox Jones (courtesy of Son of Baldwin) Exactly this.
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aurleliusstyles:

“If you’re a white man, your drug addiction is romanticized. If you’re a black woman, all you ever contributed to the world is ‘crack whoredom’. White men get to be tortured artists, but black women aren’t even considered artists, cause everybody can do what Whitney did, right? Nothing special about that.” - Jukebox Jones (courtesy of Son of Baldwin)

Exactly this.

(via chubby-bunnies)

Source: aurleliusstyles

ktempest: jhameia: kynodontas: jhameia: soliloquize: animalstalkinginallcaps: YOU KNOW WHAT YOU NEVER SEE? NEOCON LEGISLATORS AND HEDGE FUND OPERATORS OPENLY ATTACKING THE TEA PARTY OR FUNDAMENTALIST CHRISTIANS OR ANY OF THE OTHER RADICAL CONSERVTIVE GROUPS THAT GRAB ALL THE HEADLINES. YOU KNOW WHY? BECAUSE NOTHING THEY’RE DOING HARMS THE OVERALL AGENDA OF DEREGULATION AND CORPORATE GREED. THEY USE THOSE PEOPLE TO EITHER BOLSTER THEIR NUMBERS OR DISTRACT FROM WHAT THEY’RE DOING AND IN THE END THEY ALWAYS GET WHAT THEY’RE AFTER. LIBERALS AND SOCIAL JUSTICE ACTIVISTS SPEND ALMOST ALL OF THEIR TIME INFIGHTING AND BICKERING OVER WHOSE CAUSE IS MORE IMPORTANT OR WHO’S SAYING THINGS THE “RIGHT” WAY AND NOTHING EVER GETS ACCOMPLISHED. THEY ATTACK LIKE-MINDED PEOPLE WHO AREN’T HURTING THEIR CAUSES OR ARE AT LEAST HURTING THEM LESS THAN A MILLION OTHER ACTUAL THREATS BECAUSE ONLY LIKE-MINDED LIBERALS GIVE A SHIT ABOUT THOSE CAUSES AND PEOPLE IN THE FIRST PLACE. TELL THE AVERAGE OBAMA-HATING REDNECK TO CHECK HIS PRIVILEGE SOMETIME AND SEE WHERE IT GETS YOU. TELL THE BOARD AT BANK OF AMERICA THEY DON’T PAY ENOUGH ATTENTION TO PEOPLE OF COLOR WHEN THEY’RE SIPHONING A COUPLE BILLION FROM THE FED. YOU SEE MORE ANTI-O.W.S. LITERATURE FROM SOCIAL JUSTICE MAJORS THAN YOU DO FROM CONSERVATIVE NEWSPAPERS. THE OCCUPY MOVEMENT ISN’T FIGHTING RACIAL DISCRIMINATION OR THE PATRIARCHY. THEY’RE FIGHTING RICH ASSHOLES WHO HAVE STOLEN MONEY FROM EVERYONE ELSE IN THE ENTIRE COUNTRY AND THE LAWMAKERS WHO HAVE HELPED THEM DO SO. OF COURSE FEMINIST AND MINORITY CAUSES ARE IMPORTANT, BUT INSTEAD OF LETTING O.W.S. FOCUS ON WHAT IT’S ABOUT, WHICH IS GETTING MONEY OUT OF POLITICS AND ENDING ECONOMIC DISPARITY IN AMERICA, IT’S EATEN FROM WITHIN BY PEOPLE IT WOULD BENEFIT, JUST LIKE EVERY OTHER THING “THE LEFT” TRIES TO ACCOMPLISH, BECAUSE “THE LEFT” CAN’T LEARN TO AGREE TO DISAGREE LONG ENOUGH TO ACCOMPLISH ANYTHING WHILE “THE RIGHT” JUST ROLLS ALONG MERRILY, GETTING WHAT IT WANTS IN BITS AND PIECES BY USING THE TOOLS (AKA PEOPLE) IT HAS AT HAND. I MEAN, JESUS, THE TEA PARTY PEOPLE WERE SITTING AROUND, UNINSURED, ARGUING AGAINST SOCIALIZED HEALTH CARE. THAT’S SOME AMAZING PUPPETEERING ON THE PART OF THOSE IN POWER, BUT ALSO SOMETHING WE MIGHT WANT TO THINK ABOUT. CAN THE BILLIONS OF LEFTIST SPLINTER GROUPS GO AGAINST THEIR OWN SELF-INTEREST LONG ENOUGH TO ACCOMPLISH A SINGLE UNIVERSALLY BENEFICIAL GOAL? ONE STEP AT A TIME. USE THE ANGRY STRAIGHT WHITE PEOPLE TO GET THE MUCH SHITTIER STRAIGHT WHITE PEOPLE OUT OF POWER, THEN GO FROM THERE. IF THE MOVEMENT IS SUCCESSFUL THERE WILL BE LESS MONEY IN POLITICS FROM THE SUPER-RICH, ALLOWING ACTUAL PRODUCTIVE LEGISLATION TO PASS BECAUSE IT WON’T BE BEING INFLUENCED OR COCKBLOCKED BY THE ELITE. SURE, IT’S NOT INSTANT UTOPIA BUT IT’S BETTER THAN THE CURRENT SYSTEM, AND IT WOULD REPLACE PEOPLE WHO WILL NEVER GIVE A SHIT ABOUT THE ISSUES THAT AFFECT MINORITY GROUPS WITH PEOPLE WHO AT LEAST MIGHT.  MAYBE THE ANSWER ISN’T “SMASH THE STATE” BUT “CHIP AWAY AT THE STATE, STEADILY, PIECE BY PIECE, USING THE STATE AGAINST ITSELF, UNTIL WE HAVE A NEW STATE.” THAT’S HOW THEY BUILT IT, AFTER ALL. ONE BRICK AT A TIME. … OR WE COULD JUST KEEP ARGUING WITH EACH OTHER. THAT SEEMS TO BE WORKING.  Who’s a pretty birdie? You are! Listen to your little chirpies!  I HOPE YOU AND THAT NAPKIN YOU CALL A SHIRT ARE TRAPPED IN A FIRE. I normally love you, atiac, but no. just no. people of color are not required to support a movement that has explicitly shown that it does not understand or care about our issues just because it someday might. if a movement does not specifically work toward ending racial discrimination, it will inevitably reproduce the same racist hierarchies of dominant society. OWS isn’t about equality or egalitarinism; it’s about preserving white middle-class privilege. Also, there have ALWAYS been revolutions that let privileged people get to the top only to have them forget about everybody else.  There must be a multiplicity and diversity of priorities in order to really fix the system.  So, basically, the OP was only good for being an example of What Not To Do, filed under the subcategory of Please Shut The Fuck Up And Sit The Fuck Down. A copy of it has been added to the section of Embarrassment in Intersectionality. When the digital databank of White People Are So Much Work (h/t @crossedwires) is fully functional, you may be assured this exemplary piece will be cataloged accordingly. Thank you for your efficient filing system! wow ATIAC, this is some serious bullshit. I mean, I agree that the left is always busy in-fighting and never getting shit done and that is a problem. But when the scenario goes: White People: ARRRR! Angry! Let’s get some shit done, yarrr!!! POC: Awesome, we are with you! Let’s get shit done and let’s do it in a not-racist way! White People: ARG look, we can’t be worried about not being racist because the shit we got to do is very important and all consuming! Just wait a little bit and we’ll work on being not racist later. Let’s be a little racist right now. But we’ll definitely, maybe get to not being later when we’ve accomplished the bigger, more important goal! POC: … nevermind, we’re not down with this racism. Not even a little. White People: GOD, YOU’RE ALL SUCH HATERS. The above? Is a problem. Why is it so hard for white people to commit to being not racist while also taking down the evil rich corporations and 1% people? POC are routinely asked to walk and chew gum and spin plates and recite the Declaration of Independence, but white people can’t even seem to chew gum right. Here’s the bottom line: gender equality and racial equality are not separate from the goals of OWS. They are parallel goals, all intertwined with each other. If your movement cannot manage to not be racist or pursue their goals in a not racist way, then there is something wrong with your movement. It should not be hard to fight against corporate greed and not be a douchebag to people who are your allies, yet many at OWS can’t do it. Think about why that might be. Awesome commentary is awesome.
View Separately

ktempest:

jhameia:

kynodontas:

jhameia:

soliloquize:

animalstalkinginallcaps:

YOU KNOW WHAT YOU NEVER SEE? NEOCON LEGISLATORS AND HEDGE FUND OPERATORS OPENLY ATTACKING THE TEA PARTY OR FUNDAMENTALIST CHRISTIANS OR ANY OF THE OTHER RADICAL CONSERVTIVE GROUPS THAT GRAB ALL THE HEADLINES. YOU KNOW WHY? BECAUSE NOTHING THEY’RE DOING HARMS THE OVERALL AGENDA OF DEREGULATION AND CORPORATE GREED. THEY USE THOSE PEOPLE TO EITHER BOLSTER THEIR NUMBERS OR DISTRACT FROM WHAT THEY’RE DOING AND IN THE END THEY ALWAYS GET WHAT THEY’RE AFTER.

LIBERALS AND SOCIAL JUSTICE ACTIVISTS SPEND ALMOST ALL OF THEIR TIME INFIGHTING AND BICKERING OVER WHOSE CAUSE IS MORE IMPORTANT OR WHO’S SAYING THINGS THE “RIGHT” WAY AND NOTHING EVER GETS ACCOMPLISHED. THEY ATTACK LIKE-MINDED PEOPLE WHO AREN’T HURTING THEIR CAUSES OR ARE AT LEAST HURTING THEM LESS THAN A MILLION OTHER ACTUAL THREATS BECAUSE ONLY LIKE-MINDED LIBERALS GIVE A SHIT ABOUT THOSE CAUSES AND PEOPLE IN THE FIRST PLACE. TELL THE AVERAGE OBAMA-HATING REDNECK TO CHECK HIS PRIVILEGE SOMETIME AND SEE WHERE IT GETS YOU. TELL THE BOARD AT BANK OF AMERICA THEY DON’T PAY ENOUGH ATTENTION TO PEOPLE OF COLOR WHEN THEY’RE SIPHONING A COUPLE BILLION FROM THE FED. YOU SEE MORE ANTI-O.W.S. LITERATURE FROM SOCIAL JUSTICE MAJORS THAN YOU DO FROM CONSERVATIVE NEWSPAPERS.

THE OCCUPY MOVEMENT ISN’T FIGHTING RACIAL DISCRIMINATION OR THE PATRIARCHY. THEY’RE FIGHTING RICH ASSHOLES WHO HAVE STOLEN MONEY FROM EVERYONE ELSE IN THE ENTIRE COUNTRY AND THE LAWMAKERS WHO HAVE HELPED THEM DO SO. OF COURSE FEMINIST AND MINORITY CAUSES ARE IMPORTANT, BUT INSTEAD OF LETTING O.W.S. FOCUS ON WHAT IT’S ABOUT, WHICH IS GETTING MONEY OUT OF POLITICS AND ENDING ECONOMIC DISPARITY IN AMERICA, IT’S EATEN FROM WITHIN BY PEOPLE IT WOULD BENEFIT, JUST LIKE EVERY OTHER THING “THE LEFT” TRIES TO ACCOMPLISH, BECAUSE “THE LEFT” CAN’T LEARN TO AGREE TO DISAGREE LONG ENOUGH TO ACCOMPLISH ANYTHING WHILE “THE RIGHT” JUST ROLLS ALONG MERRILY, GETTING WHAT IT WANTS IN BITS AND PIECES BY USING THE TOOLS (AKA PEOPLE) IT HAS AT HAND. I MEAN, JESUS, THE TEA PARTY PEOPLE WERE SITTING AROUND, UNINSURED, ARGUING AGAINST SOCIALIZED HEALTH CARE. THAT’S SOME AMAZING PUPPETEERING ON THE PART OF THOSE IN POWER, BUT ALSO SOMETHING WE MIGHT WANT TO THINK ABOUT. CAN THE BILLIONS OF LEFTIST SPLINTER GROUPS GO AGAINST THEIR OWN SELF-INTEREST LONG ENOUGH TO ACCOMPLISH A SINGLE UNIVERSALLY BENEFICIAL GOAL?

ONE STEP AT A TIME. USE THE ANGRY STRAIGHT WHITE PEOPLE TO GET THE MUCH SHITTIER STRAIGHT WHITE PEOPLE OUT OF POWER, THEN GO FROM THERE. IF THE MOVEMENT IS SUCCESSFUL THERE WILL BE LESS MONEY IN POLITICS FROM THE SUPER-RICH, ALLOWING ACTUAL PRODUCTIVE LEGISLATION TO PASS BECAUSE IT WON’T BE BEING INFLUENCED OR COCKBLOCKED BY THE ELITE. SURE, IT’S NOT INSTANT UTOPIA BUT IT’S BETTER THAN THE CURRENT SYSTEM, AND IT WOULD REPLACE PEOPLE WHO WILL NEVER GIVE A SHIT ABOUT THE ISSUES THAT AFFECT MINORITY GROUPS WITH PEOPLE WHO AT LEAST MIGHT. 

MAYBE THE ANSWER ISN’T “SMASH THE STATE” BUT “CHIP AWAY AT THE STATE, STEADILY, PIECE BY PIECE, USING THE STATE AGAINST ITSELF, UNTIL WE HAVE A NEW STATE.” THAT’S HOW THEY BUILT IT, AFTER ALL. ONE BRICK AT A TIME.

… OR WE COULD JUST KEEP ARGUING WITH EACH OTHER. THAT SEEMS TO BE WORKING. 

Who’s a pretty birdie? You are! Listen to your little chirpies! 

I HOPE YOU AND THAT NAPKIN YOU CALL A SHIRT ARE TRAPPED IN A FIRE.

I normally love you, atiac, but no. just no. people of color are not required to support a movement that has explicitly shown that it does not understand or care about our issues just because it someday might. if a movement does not specifically work toward ending racial discrimination, it will inevitably reproduce the same racist hierarchies of dominant society. OWS isn’t about equality or egalitarinism; it’s about preserving white middle-class privilege.

Also, there have ALWAYS been revolutions that let privileged people get to the top only to have them forget about everybody else. 

There must be a multiplicity and diversity of priorities in order to really fix the system. 

So, basically, the OP was only good for being an example of What Not To Do, filed under the subcategory of Please Shut The Fuck Up And Sit The Fuck Down. A copy of it has been added to the section of Embarrassment in Intersectionality. When the digital databank of White People Are So Much Work (h/t @crossedwires) is fully functional, you may be assured this exemplary piece will be cataloged accordingly.

Thank you for your efficient filing system!

wow ATIAC, this is some serious bullshit. I mean, I agree that the left is always busy in-fighting and never getting shit done and that is a problem. But when the scenario goes:

White People: ARRRR! Angry! Let’s get some shit done, yarrr!!!

POC: Awesome, we are with you! Let’s get shit done and let’s do it in a not-racist way!

White People: ARG look, we can’t be worried about not being racist because the shit we got to do is very important and all consuming! Just wait a little bit and we’ll work on being not racist later. Let’s be a little racist right now. But we’ll definitely, maybe get to not being later when we’ve accomplished the bigger, more important goal!

POC: … nevermind, we’re not down with this racism. Not even a little.

White People: GOD, YOU’RE ALL SUCH HATERS.

The above? Is a problem. Why is it so hard for white people to commit to being not racist while also taking down the evil rich corporations and 1% people? POC are routinely asked to walk and chew gum and spin plates and recite the Declaration of Independence, but white people can’t even seem to chew gum right.

Here’s the bottom line: gender equality and racial equality are not separate from the goals of OWS. They are parallel goals, all intertwined with each other. If your movement cannot manage to not be racist or pursue their goals in a not racist way, then there is something wrong with your movement. It should not be hard to fight against corporate greed and not be a douchebag to people who are your allies, yet many at OWS can’t do it. Think about why that might be.

Awesome commentary is awesome.

Source: animalstalkinginallcaps

Where’s Cassandra Cain? Where’s Talia al Ghul? Where’s Rainmaker? Does anyone really believe Katana will receive the same promotion and panel time as Black Canary or Poison Ivy? Does anyone believe that Element Woman will receive the same attention as Wonder Woman or even Mera? I certainly don’t. And I don’t believe they’ll receive the same attention as the Atom, Robin, or Blue Beetle either. For all the extolling of DC’s female-led ongoing books and all the talk concerning DC’s female-friendliness compared to Marvel, no one is talking about how that friendliness only extends to certain women.

Cheryl Lynn Eaton, “Rock, Paper, Scissors: Choosing Between Race and Gender in Comics”

You should really go give the rest of the article a read.

(via marvelwomenkickingass)

Cheryl Lynn guest post at Racialicious. \o/

quixotess: midwestmountainmama: blushingfemme: This is so powerful, why doesn’t it have more reblogs/likes?! because poor fat people are represented as drunk smoking abusive scum of the earth that walk around in their underwear and spend too much time on the phone and watching t.v.? Look—I have some *serious* issues with how adoption works in this country (specifically around immigration right now, but also around what is called a family and who gets to adopt and whose babies are being adopted)—but I also dont think that poor people are inherently fucked up parents either. I don’t think people with dirty walls are inherently bad parents, I don’t think people who walk around in their underwear are inherently bad parents—fuck, i don’t even think smokers are inherently bad parents. i do think it doesn’t make much sense tho, to attribute ALL of of those nasty negative things to poor people. Or to attribute “clean” “well off” “caring” “nuclear familial desire” to only upper class white gay men. how would this picture be represented if it was two dykes of color in the barrio holding each other crying because they want to adopt and can’t. Would a picture like this work? especially realizing that the more common scenario for say, latina dykes is that their family is *deported* because their union isn’t recognized?  Ugh, I hate this cartoon. Ugh.  Like seriously, the gay guys are fit to parent because they drink water and read books, while the “trashy” spouses are unfit to parent because they drink beer and watch television? Because that lady’s bra is showing? Because that guy is balding? Ugh. Have to agree with Quixotess. This comic doesn’t do a good job of arguing its point, which is that many good candidates for adoptive/foster parenthood are denied because of their sexuality, while bad candidates are passed through. It’s packed with classist imagery: fatness, untidy dress, excessive alcohol and nicotine consumption, blatant religiosity, uncontrolled children, loudness, untidy body language, abusive parenting, bad housekeeping, and even that old chestnut, the always turned on television. This comic says: poor people are fat, irresponsible, abusive, disgusting, excessively religious middle class people are intelligent, clean, responsible, soulful, family oriented Also, just see the above bolded paragraph.
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quixotess:

midwestmountainmama:

blushingfemme:

This is so powerful, why doesn’t it have more reblogs/likes?!

because poor fat people are represented as drunk smoking abusive scum of the earth that walk around in their underwear and spend too much time on the phone and watching t.v.?

Look—I have some *serious* issues with how adoption works in this country (specifically around immigration right now, but also around what is called a family and who gets to adopt and whose babies are being adopted)—but I also dont think that poor people are inherently fucked up parents either. I don’t think people with dirty walls are inherently bad parents, I don’t think people who walk around in their underwear are inherently bad parents—fuck, i don’t even think smokers are inherently bad parents.

i do think it doesn’t make much sense tho, to attribute ALL of of those nasty negative things to poor people. Or to attribute “clean” “well off” “caring” “nuclear familial desire” to only upper class white gay men.

how would this picture be represented if it was two dykes of color in the barrio holding each other crying because they want to adopt and can’t. Would a picture like this work? especially realizing that the more common scenario for say, latina dykes is that their family is *deported* because their union isn’t recognized? 

Ugh, I hate this cartoon. Ugh.  Like seriously, the gay guys are fit to parent because they drink water and read books, while the “trashy” spouses are unfit to parent because they drink beer and watch television? Because that lady’s bra is showing? Because that guy is balding? Ugh.

Have to agree with Quixotess. This comic doesn’t do a good job of arguing its point, which is that many good candidates for adoptive/foster parenthood are denied because of their sexuality, while bad candidates are passed through. It’s packed with classist imagery: fatness, untidy dress, excessive alcohol and nicotine consumption, blatant religiosity, uncontrolled children, loudness, untidy body language, abusive parenting, bad housekeeping, and even that old chestnut, the always turned on television.

This comic says:

  • poor people are fat, irresponsible, abusive, disgusting, excessively religious
  • middle class people are intelligent, clean, responsible, soulful, family oriented

Also, just see the above bolded paragraph.

Source: saveholden

Jay's Other Stuff: “…I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely...

“…I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white…

Too many people in my generation fought for the right for us to be dressed up and not put down.

Rookie magazine writer, Jenny Zhang, quotes activist Dorothy Height in her latest piece on the political and historical significance of fashion. Zhang cites OF ANOTHER FASHION as her inspiration! (via ofanotherfashion)

This paragraph hits home with me:

Here’s what I wish I knew back when I was in high school and so proud of myself for being the exceptionally compassionate, caring person I believed myself to be: focusing only on the pain and degradation of any oppressed group of people does another kind of damage to those individuals. It turns them into stereotypes of pain and damage and ignores everything else about them, including whether they’re funny, or stupid, or weird, or brilliant, or irreverent, or stylish, or creative, or boring, or selfish, or anything else that people are capable of being. It takes away their complexity and vastness and reduces people to one-dimensional figures. So yes, this is a post about style, but more than that, it’s a post about not denying these girls the dignity of their multitudes.

(via wthellokitty)

(via cocothinkshefancy)

Source: ofanotherfashion

I’m someone who supports Occupy Wall Street. I didn’t write that tweet* in an attempt to undermine the cause or to belittle the suffering of those who have been victims of the police. I wrote it to highlight the fact that these issues aren’t new. Abuse of this kind is all too familiar to the black community. If someone hasn’t directly experienced it, they probably know someone who has.

There have been discussions as to why there aren’t more blacks involved in the Occupy movement. I can’t speak for all of them, but I can speak about what I’ve read and the folks I’ve talked to directly about this. The type of outrage that pops up now at what many of us have lived with on a regular basis for years feels insulting.

It’s hard not to notice that once the right number of white folks are affected, people want to take to the street. Unemployment numbers are high? We’ve had high unemployment for years. People are living in or near the poverty line? Yeah — we know.

When minorities speak up and say there is an issue, we are told maybe we are doing something wrong. Perhaps we are targeted by the police because of what we are wearing. Perhaps we don’t look for jobs the right way. Maybe we aren’t educated enough. But now that it’s affecting other folks, now there’s a problem. Now we need to come together and fight the power. Someone tweeted at me that we need to come together and not point out silly differences like race because we’re in this together!

Ah.

Yes, we can — and have (there is support from various folks of color) — come together within this movement, but you can’t expect us to throw away “race” and ignore history. Even the violence that’s happening with the Occupiers right now is looked at differently because of race. You can’t be surprised that people have reservations about this when you look at how our issues have been dealt with before.

I’m not making an argument for ignoring the movement because a lot of the movement ignored us. But I am saying take a moment to walk away from your righteousness to understand that your newfound plight has been some people’s plight for generations.

We just didn’t have a catchy name for it.

Elon James White, Dear OWS: Welcome to Our World @ The Root.

* The Tweet, in case you missed it: “Oh? The NYPD are treating you badly? Violent for no reason? Weird.” - Black People.

Yeah. Part of being an ally and doing solidarity work, is really listening to people from different backgrounds, even when—especially when—the issues they raise threaten your longstanding beliefs, or discomfort you. All movements are subject to criticism, from within and from without. This is a necessity. Healthy movements, engaged in broad spectrum political action, should not silence. They should welcome criticism and new voices and ideas. Occupy Wall Street has a race problem. It has a woman problem. It has a class problem.

The 99% is complicated. There are internal divisions, inequalities and oppressions operating between us that must be recognized, not glossed over. OWS must present a challenge not just to income inequality and poverty, not just to anti-democratic corporatism, but to racism, sexism, and homophobia too. Why? These issues are inseparable. Women, people of colour, and LGBT carry more of the weight on their shoulders. We are not affected equally by the decline in social services, the aftermath of predatory banking schemes, or rising unemployment. Simply: within the 99% we are not equal; we are not all the same.

I believe in the efficacy and importance of broad movements, but they must be made up of conscientious allies (questioning, listening, accepting criticism, and stepping back when necessary), or there can be no justice from their efforts.