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How Can I Help?

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The timeliness of the global justice movements – combined with the backdrop of COVID-19 – has given many people the time to think about their role in society. Are they actually doing enough, or could they do more? For Gilberto Morishaw (2019 John Lewis Fellowship), these developments served as a wake-up call and inspired him to take action, so for his Action Project in 2019, Gilberto organized a digital event series to explore how to foster unity in diversity and how to find our role in bringing about social justice.

“What I am left with is the feeling that people realize and honestly understand the need for justice and change, and are willing to put in the work.” – Gilberto Morishaw (2019 John Lewis Fellowship).

After George Floyd’s murder in May 2020, many individuals awakened to the reality of social injustice and increasingly recognized the need to fight for racial equity and against injustices. Yet, many are struggling to find their place in the fight and understanding how they can be useful. This project was designed to provide people a space for in-depth reflection and learning about how participants can be useful in the fight for justice. Activities focused on how new activists and sympathizers can contribute to liberating society from oppressive structures of injustice, involving conversations on race with different organizations, readings on social justice projects, and engaging in philosophical discussions about meaningfulness and justice. These were made possible by Gilberto’s partnerships with EBBF, Soul and Creativo Design.

Gilberto feels that the participants of the events now understand the need for justice and change. There were some difficult conversations where people sometimes equated different types of injustice, but in the end, the participants recognized the need for justice for all; there is no need to quantify or compare different types of injustice. Gilberto feels that they are now able and willing to put in the work for racial equity and the fight against social injustice. Gilberto’s Action Project directly impacted 60 individuals and will continue with the next online event series: Building Coherence.