Transformation as Hope

• In Event: History, Hate, and Hope

Abstract

I approach the topic for this session as a U.S. and Australian dual citizen. Perhaps never before have we needed the power of transformative educational leadership (Shields, 2020) and Critical Leadership Praxis (Pak & Ravitch, 2021) as we do now. Events of the past four years have shone a spotlight on the ugly effects of systemic racism, misogyny, homophobia, and transphobia here in the United States and in Australia. With shocking regularity, we have had to face too many examples of black, brown, and Asian individuals, and women and trans individuals, murdered at the hands of the police, rabid right-wing activists, and random vigilantes expressing their hate. Looking back, it is clear to see the hate expressed openly at every historical turn. Take the U. S. -discrimination based on skin color and sex were baked into the founding of this country. Writing of the race question in early 19th Century America, historian Jill Lepore states that neither Jefferson nor his colleagues “could imagine living with descendants of Africans as political equals” (p. 178). Indeed, segregation laws in the U.S. were overturned partly because the Truman Justice Department made the argument that “the legally sanctioned racial discrimination in the United States undermined American foreign policy aims” (p. 578). Alongside systemic racism, sexism and misogyny have long flourished here as well. Women are effectively absent from the U.S. constitution and until the 1970s, as Jackie Blount noted “Women could not necessarily attend any publicly supported school, serve on juries, be tried by a jury of their peers, work in state or federal offices, collect the same salary as their male peers, choose their own home, or even decide their own name” (p. 136). Although the Equal Rights Amendment has been ratified by the required number of States, it is still not enshrined in law. Even more appalling are former President Donald Trump’s recent unashamedly defiant expressions of misogyny. One example of many is his “hot mike” boast “I’m automatically attracted to beautiful [women] – I just start kissing them. … And when you’re a star they just let you do it. You can do anything … Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything” (Manne, 2018, p.205). But it is his abhorrent treatment of Hillary Clinton that reminds me of the way former Australian Prime Minister Gillard was treated by her male parliamentary colleagues. Delivering a now famous speech in 2012, she detailed some of language and behavior used to demean her – such as taunting her as Prime Minister by asking her if she wanted to make “an honest woman of herself” and the leader of the opposition standing next to a sign reading “ditch the bitch” (Manne, 2018, p. 82). Unfortunately, the colonization of Australia was ingrained with similar racist and misogynistic sentiments as those upon which the U. S. was built. Talking of the early settlers in Australia, Bruce Pascoe writes “Invaders like to kill the original owners of the soil they intend to plunder; but, even better than that, they like to humiliate them” (p. 219). The most egregious recent example of that truth is the failure of the 2023 Australian Indigenous Voice referendum, which was seeking approval from the Australian people to create an advisory body called the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice. It is my hope that in the depths of our dismay over these events and those on the global stage, including the devastating wars being fought between Hamas and Israel and Ukraine and Russia, there will be an urgency to transform education so that the next generation will prioritize and hold dear a steadfast commitment to the common good.

Author

• Margaret Grogan, Chapman University