Faith Curriculum Library: Tapestry of Faith: Heeding the Call: A Program on Justicemaking for Junior High School Youth

Introduction

Who thinks of justice unless he knows injustice? — Diane Glancy, Cherokee poet, from Lone Dog's Winter Count, 1991

Welcome to Heeding the Call! Throughout these workshops, youth explore some of the qualities that help us create a better world and experience how these qualities are reflected in their lives. They are encouraged to grow these qualities and use them in the world.

This workshop helps youth see themselves as social activists or justice makers. It explores the first quality: awareness. Youth become more aware of their personal history of justice work and how awareness can influence their commitment to this work. This workshop also introduces the Justicemakers Guide and other important program elements. Make sure you read the Introduction sections Implementation and Before You Start to help you decide how youth will interact with the guide.

Goals

This workshop will:

  • Identify awareness as a quality needed to bring about a more just world
  • Grow the quality of awareness
  • Explore justice as something that people create by working together, not something that comes into being automatically
  • Ask youth to identify people and events that have influenced their social justice identity
  • Introduce the Justicemakers Guide and tools to use as justice makers in society.

Learning Objectives

Participants will:

  • See awareness as an important quality in justice making and practice awareness
  • Discuss how people work for justice in different ways
  • Appreciate the difference between "band-aid" approaches to healing the world and systemic action that looks at the root causes of injustice
  • Interact with a tool from the Justicemakers Guide that examines how one person can influence many others
  • Start to identify themselves as justice makers.