The Social-Emotional and Character Development (SECD) Lab has been focused on social justice, equity, empowerment, and developmental rights since its inception over three decades ago. Along with many colleagues in related fields such as social-emotional learning, character education, school culture and climate, we have affirmed the worth of every child and the imperative to offer all children the opportunity to make a positive contribution to the world around them, to be resources and blessings to their loved ones, their communities, and the world.
Any illusions we have had about the adequacy of our efforts and the degree of progress along the trajectory of change that we all have collectively achieved have been shattered by the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. We have studied and tried to reverse the insidious affects of poverty on hundreds of thousands of children, and we have recognized that the combination of racial bias and poverty is a kind of social imprisonment from which far too few young people are able to escape. The tragic deaths of people of color at the hands of vigilantes and state-sanctioned agents are not revelations. That individuals harbor baseless hatred has been true since biblical times and this hatred has been documented as leading to the fall of civilizations.
However, what has become undeniable and unavoidable in the death of George Floyd is its stark reminder of the words of Rabbi Joachim Prinz, spoken at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963. Speaking of his experiences as a Jew under the Hitler regime, he said he learned:
The most urgent, the most disgraceful, the most shameful and the most tragic problem is silence.
No less atrocious than the act of George Floyd’s murder was the complicity of the officers around him. Rabbi Prinz’s call is a call to witnessing, a call to speaking, and a call to acting. Further, Rabbi Prinz warns us against complacency and against evaluating the state of the world through the lens you happen to have. At every moment, we must ask ourselves, “How might the others involved be feeling?”; “How would I be feeling if that were me?”; “How would I be feeling if that was one of my loved ones?”. Perspective taking and empathy are not just two “skills”; they are hallmarks of humanity.
The SECD Lab renews it pledge to talk the talk, and walk the talk, of equity and developmental rights for all young people in America and worldwide. We affirm that diversity and equity are intertwined and that our own Lab’s diversity will be directly proportional to our effectiveness. We will begin by reviewing our own procedures and plans. We will continue to seek feedback from collaborators and communities with whom we work, and we will listen with humility and gratitude., in a spirit of continuous improvement. We will determine where we can be most effective and where we can lend our efforts and support to the work of others. We will continue to use empathy as an operating principle in all of our work. We pledge to not keep silent about the impact of racism and economic inequality. And we pledge to match our words, and indeed, where we can, exceed our words, with deeds.
Onward!