Ethical Advocates

7. Massively Parallel Roles & Tasks

Ethical Advocates fight back against the tendency of many advocacy groups to pursue victory to the point where they are not leaving the space in society for those with opposing views. They help us understand when our obligations to the larger society should take precedence over efforts to advance our individual and group interests.  The "Disagree Better" campaign is one example. Another example are the conciliators who used to work for the U.S. Department of Justice's Community Relations Service (before it was disbanded by Trump and DOGE. The CRS was created as part of the 1964 Civil Rights Act to help communities deal with the civil rights controversies that were expected to emerge during (and after) the implementation of that Act.  While their primary activity was conciliation (what we would call "mediation") between people of color and the power structure (and now also gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, and disability conflicts), they did this work with the goal of  promoting social justice and fairness. This means that, while they were powerful advocates for minorities, they also held themselves to high ethical standards that enabled them to work effectively with and be trusted by the white power structure. By treating all parties fairly, they were frequently able to resolve the immediate disputes in ways that lay the groundwork for structural changes that would prevent repeat incidents. We have written a lot more about their efforts in the first, and soon-to-be-coming second edition of the Civil Rights Oral History Project. 

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