This week a friend shared this quote from Dr. Eddie Glaude, Jr., “This is an inaugural moment. It’s a beginning; it’s not an end. I’ve said it before: justice is a practice.” It was a great reminder to me that we often set our sights on a goal – like racial justice, the end of war or a more sustainable planet – and forget that all these goals are also personal practices that we must nurture and begin again each day.

Thirteen years ago, I made the first of three trips to Southeast Asia, and my family has hosted many students and young professionals over the years. I have also been fortunate to make many more friends through my connections with the Mike & Maureen Mansfield Center and the English Language Institute at UM – friends from Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Laos, Philippines and Myanmar.

For many years, the Southern Poverty Law Center has published a monthly magazine called “Teaching Tolerance”. A name change to “Learning For Justice”. What a revelation – from teaching to learning and from tolerance to justice.