A New Social Justice: From The Editors
- Introduction: A New Social Justice
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Introduction: A New Social Justice
The theme for our 100th issue was inspired by the political earthquake of 2020 and the butterfly model of transformative social justice.
2 MIN READ
Nov 15, 2021
Beloved YES! readers, much gratitude to you for your participation and support during our 25th anniversary celebration in October! We hope you enjoyed YES! Fest and were inspired by the progress we鈥檝e made over the past two-and-a-half decades, and by the sampling of voices on transformative justice we鈥檒l continue to bring to you in the years to come.
Some of those voices and stories are also in the pages of this 100th issue of YES! Magazine you鈥檙e holding in your hands鈥攁 for-sure keepsake! The development of the issue鈥檚 theme, 鈥淎 New Social Justice,鈥� was inspired by the political earthquake of 2020, when we witnessed a paradigm shift toward racial equity and transformative justice on a massive and collaborative scale unlike anything we鈥檝e seen in recent history. Movement spaces, grassroots organizations, activists, and non-activists鈥攑articularly those in historically excluded communities鈥攁nd even governments, corporations, and philanthropic spaces all responded to the needs of the people during a global pandemic in which systemic inequities were laid bare.
Then in the spring of 2021, during our YES! Presents event 鈥淎n Ecological Civilization: The Path We鈥檙e On,鈥� panelist and Soul Fire Farm co-founder and farmer Leah Penniman inspired our cover for this issue when she likened movement collaboration to a butterfly鈥檚 wings.
Drawing from Grassroots Economic Organizing鈥檚 butterfly model of transformative social justice, Penniman described the four wings: Resisters: the people in the blockades, the protests, the work stoppages; Reformers: the folks trying to make change from within systems, including schoolteachers and elected officials, like those getting into the prosecutor鈥檚 office and working to get sentences lowered; Builders: those who create alternative institutions such as freedom schools, farms, and health clinics; and Healers: the conflict mediators, the therapists, the preachers, the singers, the dancers, the artists鈥斺�渁ll the folks that are gonna make us well,鈥� she said.
This image aligned so well with YES!’s foundational belief that resistance alone is a losing strategy that we felt it was perfect to depict the cross-pollination happening now. You鈥檒l read about The Third Reconstruction resolution and movement led by the Poor People鈥檚 Campaign to address poverty and its root causes鈥攁mong them systemic racism and ecological devastation; the Wiyot Tribe鈥檚 LandBack movement and how to create just, Indigenous-led futures; what grassroots reparations can look like; wealth redistribution to Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities; decolonizing philanthropy; as well as the environmental justice at the heart of climate activism.
We hope this issue will inspire you, and we look forward to having you along with us for another 25-plus years of YES!
Peace,
Zenobia Jeffries Warfield, YES! executive editor
Sonali Kolhatkar, YES! racial justice editor
Featured photo: 鈥淓verything is related. I am related to the trees, to the oceans, to any other living being, regardless of race, class, gender,鈥� Alexis Saenz says, so 鈥渙ne of the things that we say as youth is that we are the land defending itself.鈥�
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Zenobia Jeffries Warfield
is the former executive editor at YES!, where she directed editorial coverage for YES! Magazine, YES! 麻豆社事件鈥檚 editorial partnerships, and served as chair of the YES! Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee. A Detroit native, Zenobia is an award-winning journalist who joined YES! in 2016 to build and grow YES!鈥檚 racial justice beat, and continues to write columns on racial justice. In addition to writing and editing, she has produced, directed, and edited a variety of short documentaries spotlighting community movements to international democracy. Zenobia earned a BA in Mass Communication from Rochester College in Rochester, Michigan, and an MA in Communication with an emphasis in media studies from Wayne State University in Detroit. Zenobia has also taught the college course 鈥淭he Effects of 麻豆社事件 on Social Justice,鈥� as an adjunct professor in Detroit. Zenobia is a member of NABJ, SABJ, SPJ, and the Ida B. Wells Society for Investigative Reporting. She lives in Seattle, and speaks English and AAVE.
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Sonali Kolhatkar
joined YES! in summer 2021, building on a long and decorated career in broadcast and print journalism. She is an award-winning multimedia journalist, and host and creator of聽YES! Presents: Rising Up with Sonali, a nationally syndicated television and radio program airing on Free Speech TV and dozens of independent and community radio stations. She is also Senior Correspondent with the Independent 麻豆社事件 Institute鈥檚 Economy for All project where she writes a weekly column. She is the author of聽Rising Up: The Power of Narrative in Pursuing Racial Justice聽(2023) and聽Bleeding Afghanistan: Washington, Warlords, and the Propaganda of Silence聽(2005). Her forthcoming book is called聽Talking About Abolition聽(Seven Stories Press, 2025). Sonali is co-director of the nonprofit group, Afghan Women鈥檚 Mission which she helped to co-found in 2000. She has a Master鈥檚 in Astronomy from the University of Hawai鈥檌, and two undergraduate degrees in Physics and Astronomy from the University of Texas at Austin. Sonali reflects on 鈥淢y Journey From Astrophysicist to Radio Host鈥� in her 2014聽TEDx talk聽of the same name.
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