Resources and Reflections for Justice Leaders

Sher Afgan Tareen writes, "Over the course of the Justice Leaders’ Fellowship, I gained a richer understanding of how water shapes scriptural writings. The close reading of the verses in the Christian Book of Revelation, for instance, helped me understand that its author was as intuitively aware of the importance of water to cities as are urban designers and architects."

Psychiatrist Rascha Dughly writes about how explorations within the Justice Leaders' Fellowship renewed her dedication to mercy and brought a responsibility to establish justice to the forefront of her mind, being aware, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic "of just how much this affected...daily decisions and interactions with staff, colleagues and, most importantly...patients."

Justice Leader Fellow Sara Zisow-McClean discusses accepting human limitations even in interpreting direct religious experience, asserting that this "is one of the fundamental disagreements that our religious wars are built upon."

Justice Leader Fellow Angela Walker discusses the value of learning from others and their experiences within the Fellowship cohort, and how a deeper interreligious understanding is helping her in her work and engagement with people from different religious traditions.

Justice Leader Fellow Danette Zaghari-Mask reflects on the ways in which the "Fellowship, comprised of fellow activists, has been an opportunity to think more deeply about the precious resource and miracle of water from a prism of perspectives....Regardless of our significant theological differences and respective nuances, people of Abrahamic traditions share a common reality. We all connect water to faith and mercy; and along with any discussion of water, the imagery of love and closeness to the Creator is present in our collective consciousness."

Justice Leader Fellow Danette Zaghari-Mask reflects on the ways in which the "Fellowship, comprised of fellow activists, has been an opportunity to think more deeply about the precious resource and miracle of water from a prism of perspectives....Regardless of our significant theological differences and respective nuances, people of Abrahamic traditions share a common reality. We all connect water to faith and mercy; and along with any discussion of water, the imagery of love and closeness to the Creator is present in our collective consciousness."

"What water justice is and looks like is as fluid as water itself—literally and metaphorically. As we reflect on the first half of the 2020 ICJS Justice Leaders’ Fellowship, our world is currently drifting in a seemingly unforgiving flood of chaos. [resulting] from a lack of water justice, a lack of reverence for the very essence of water," writes ICJS Justice Leader Fellow O'Dellshae Wiles Robinson El Bey.

"What water justice is and looks like is as fluid as water itself—literally and metaphorically. As we reflect on the first half of the 2020 ICJS Justice Leaders’ Fellowship, our world is currently drifting in a seemingly unforgiving flood of chaos. [resulting] from a lack of water justice, a lack of reverence for the very essence of water," writes ICJS Justice Leader Fellow O'Dellshae Wiles Robinson El Bey.

"What water justice is and looks like is as fluid as water itself—literally and metaphorically. As we reflect on the first half of the 2020 ICJS Justice Leaders’ Fellowship, our world is currently drifting in a seemingly unforgiving flood of chaos. [resulting] from a lack of water justice, a lack of reverence for the very essence of water," writes ICJS Justice Leader Fellow O'Dellshae Wiles Robinson El Bey.

ICJS Justice Leader Fellow Faridah Abdul-Tawwab explores the ways in which the current cohort's interrogation of the idea of water justice has evolved, by dint of our current world crises, into a critical search for guidance and collective reflection to inform wise action in the moment.

Achieving water justice is both a hard truth and a more abstract metaphorical truth for our collective work in Baltimore. Within those hard truths, we engage in and understand the work differently. Each approach is valid, and each approach validates our own lived truths, while seeking justice for everyone.

Justice Leader Fellow Venessa Day Johnson reflects on key takeaways from the Fellowship.