Overview & Insights FROM THE EDITORS One day there'll be no more anger left in our eyes One day the color of our skin won't cause a divide One day we'll be family, standing hand in hand And we will see the promised land, we will see the promised land (One Day by Cochran & Co., 2021)
Although we did not issue a call for a themed issue for Spring 2021, we became aware, as we reviewed the submitted manuscripts, that a mini-theme was developing, specifically a social justice theme. Reading through the manuscripts and working with the authors to finalize them, we also became aware of a heightened political climate related to this topic, not just nationally but in our own state as well. We felt it incumbent upon ourselves to think through and deliberately discuss our position, not just as co-editors of this journal, but as three white women educators. As Maribeth pointed out in our discussion, realization may be the most operative and appropriate word to apply to our thinking. We must begin with the realization that we, as white women, initially look at everything through the lens of who we are. We must also realize that failing to look through the lenses of others not only limits our understanding of the world around us but can actually be hurtful to others who deserve our fair consideration. The first feature article in this issue deals directly with the issue of determining who we are and how we perceive others. Dr. Lara Searcy and her colleagues Brogan Spears and Kyle Foster share with us how writing our own social justice narrative can put us in a position to understand ourselves better in relation to others who are different from us. 3
