Patrice Lee Onwuka, adjunct senior fellow with The Philanthropy Roundtable, writes in the Washington Examiner that today’s social justice movement aims not for the equality sought by Martin Luther King Jr., but for equity, which leads to special treatment for some groups over others. Read an excerpt below:
“In a 1967 address, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. acknowledged the progress America had made in civil rights but that the fight for equality was entering into a new phase. According to King, although the battles to end legal segregation were won, the movement had entered ‘a struggle for genuine equality on all levels,’ and it would be a ‘much more difficult struggle.’
“Our nation has made tremendous leaps forward, but we are still fighting for equality more than 50 years later. We all carry the responsibility of treating each other with dignity and respect and must continue to work toward a society where every person can enjoy the blessings of life, liberty, and opportunity.
“Unfortunately, today’s social-justice movement is not fighting for everyone to be treated equally but rather for special treatment of some by prioritizing equity over equality. Those who advocate for greater equity as a remedy to past historical injustices are considered ‘woke’ — or aware of social- and racial-justice issues affecting black and brown Americans. In recent years, social media has allowed woke individuals to threaten and ‘cancel’ those who do not support, follow, or fund social-justice causes by making them a target of repudiation, harassment, and reputational assassination.”
Read more here.
