Welcome,

Today, the work of individual and collective social justice is an ongoing practice. A deeply profound endeavor, we must each embark on this journey in our own time and in our own way. We must never judge the journey of another as they seek information and education and we must always encourage everyone to continue to learn about diversity, equity, and inclusivity.  This is how we grow a more humane humanity and a more civilized civilization.

Words are powerful. Words provoke change. Words that emerge from any social, cultural, or political movement can alter what we are able to hear, sense, think, and feel about those words. What we come to believe may be seeded by what we sense when we hear those words and their associations over time. Words, in every instance, make a difference.

From my own leadership perspective on a small platform with an enormous heart I realize that I may, at times, make mistakes; but I am also determined to learn from them and to correct them.

As a Midwestern child during the middle of the 20th century, I was told by my parents that some words were wrong because they were uninformed and unkind. I grew up with a loving British Episcopalian mother and a hard working American Jewish father, whose own mother was often called a “Gentile,” and a “Shiksa,” so it was common for me to listen to their stories about words that hurt and that could be used to harm and separate people from one another.

My mother, one of the first generation of British “war brides” to arrive in America, was often called a “Limey,” and I was her child that grew to become an adult who was required to learn that being continually labeled, ”dumb” and “learning disabled” was a social and cultural definition that was never intentionally meant to hurt me. But, none of that was really ever Ok.

When Carlos and I met an agent for the publication of our book, The Nia Technique, we were told we might want to change our last names because, “Nobody will want to buy a book from Mexicans…”

Thanks to social and cultural evolution of language and communication through learning and understanding that labels can limit human development and foster disrespect and separation, there are newer efforts toward the use of language that create diversity, equity and inclusivity. Now, we all still have a long way to go. As I continue to grow and learn in the middle of the 21st century, I see my current work at hand is to endeavor to foster connections.

I think carefully as I listen to words that either harm or heal. I believe that I need to deconstruct practices such as “calling out,” “blaming,” “shaming,” and “cancelling.”  I want to understand anyone acting carelessly with their language and communication, in favor of acting like that which they despise and worse, choosing such actions which are often deceptively framed in a language of enlightened peace, love, compassion, or even harmony.

I seek new information and education on human rights and social justice and will always encourage everyone, especially in Nia education, to continue to learn about diversity, equity, and inclusivity.

Recently, I received information about MacArthur Foundation Fellow, Professor Loretta Ross, Founder of The National Center for Human Rights Education. I attended her esteemed Calling In Conversations lecture series.  She has said, “I think calling in is going to be to the 21st century as a social justice practice what nonviolence was to the 20th century as a social justice practice. It’s about teaching us how to be together in a different way, even with people we would call opponents.” I now encourage everyone to attend all her online lectures and labs.

What I learned was timely for me and for Nia, revolutionizing my understanding and approach to responding rather than reacting to language, communication, and actions.  In addition, her book written with Rickie Solinger, Reproductive Justice, is an educational tool I found to be awakening. With information on health, choice, race, class, and politics, I was inspired not only by the essential need for compassion through education, but for mobilizing even more efforts.

A small global health and wellness education organization that first began in 1983, Nia has worked hard with limited resources to engage at all times, with all people, from all over the world.

From my leadership perspective on a small platform with a big heart, I realize I may make mistakes, but I am also determined to learn from them and to correct them. Not everyone will always understand my methods as I separate misinformation from disinformation, as I discern intent to harm from intent to heal, and as I am able to comment or not. That is not my concern.

My concern is that I am more committed than ever in 2024 to the best of my ability and with the best of my resources to continue as I have always done to create an environment where the benefits from the work of Nia include human rights and social justice resolutions which require diversity, equity, and inclusivity at all times, with all people, from all over the world.

With Pleasure,

Debbie Rosas

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