LEAD through social justice

NEIU kicked off Black History Month with Keynote speaker Rev. Albert Mosley, Chaplain of Johns Hopkins University, on Thursday, Feb. 2.  Mosley spoke about how individuals can become ethical and social justice-minded leaders.

Mosley discussed the harmfulness of neutrality, and how silence is the worst form of neutrality, because remaining silent only helps the oppressor and never the oppressed.  For good leaders to succeed they must realize that a side must be chosen to further anything, which direction can only be told with time.

"Leaders influence others and it carries an ethical burden," Mosley said.

There is also a cycle to social justice leadership, which is meant to break down systems of oppression, because "you work to free the oppressed." 

Along with that cycle are the five ethical principles of social justice leadership which are ethical leaders respect others, ethical leaders serve others, ethical leaders are honest, ethical leaders build community and ethical leaders are just. 

"Issues of social justice show that, at some point, on small and great levels, conventional leadership has failed to be ethical," said Mosley.  He meant that the usual way leadership is portrayed does not necessarily work when coming from a social justice standpoint or perspective.

Mosley discussed the three types of leaders in approaching social structures that are in disarray, otherwise known as leadership from the margins. 

The first type of leader he discussed was the "charismatic 'savior' like leader" who initially is seen as very appealing, but historically speaking, ends up often furthering the oppression.  A popular example for this type of leader is Hitler, since many Germans loved him at first. 

The other leader is known as the "edge of chaos leader," because the leader is more concerned with "development of human assets and capacity building, often at their own peril." Moseley used Martin Luther King, Jr. and Ida B. Wells as examples. 

To be an effective social justice leader, Rev. Mosley talked about how there are two different methods for this as well.

The first is communal residency, which requires the leader to "become immersed with and join in solidarity with the people, learn from the people, and let the people teach you about contextual realities and needs." 

However, he mentioned that sometimes if the person is not a part of the community, members of that community may think that they are doing more damage and good. 

The second style throws out the conventional thoughts on how to lead, because it basically makes the leader humble.  This is called radical subordination, which means "subordinating gifts, skills, and abilities for the community, or timetable for change to the needs, desires, and aspirations of the people of the community." 

This reduces the "overt influence of the leader" and makes it possible to let the members of the community share, and express, their talents and "dreams of those in the community." Last but not least is the replacement method.  This is about preparing the followers for the time when the leader is gone, because ultimately social justice leaders see themselves as "on the way out, in order to make room for grassroots leadership to emerge." 

According to Mosley the greatest indication of how successful you are as a leader depends on what you left behind of value once you are gone.