On the subject of the term, “worth”: While I find myself significantly moved by statements that the actual experience of some people is one of harm, I’m also strongly persuaded by current and historic usage of the phrase “inherent worth” in civil rights and social equity contexts. Here are just a few quotations, selected from the many that can easily be found:
From: Shirley Chisholm, “Speech at Howard University,” American RadioWorks, April 21, 1969, http://americanradioworks.publicradio.org/features/blackspeech/schisholm-2.html:
“We need a liberated and developing black community in America that once it has fully discovered it’s inherent worth and power, turns to the even greater task of protecting and enlarging upon it’s triumphs by further enriching an American culture that already has drawn so much from the black life stream.”
From: “Xernona Clayton on Civil Rights and the Power of Conversations,” on On Second Thought, by Virginia Prescott and Pria Mahadevan, Georgia Public Broadcasting, January 16, 2020, Xernona Clayton On Civil Rights And The Power Of Conversations | Georgia Public Broadcasting):
“The Reverend Dr. Bernice King, CEO of The King Center, says her father’s message of the ‘beloved community’ operates out of unconditional love, adding, ‘it’s not about who deserves anything…it’s about all human beings having this inherent worth and value.’”
From: Colonial Area Anti-Racism and Social Equity Alliance, FaceBook, April 23, 2021, https://www.facebook.com/CAARSEA/posts/george-floyd-was-murdered-at-the-hands-of-police-on-tuesday-his-murderer-was-fou/215330000352826/:
“George Floyd was murdered at the hands of police. On Tuesday, his murderer was found guilty. This accountability is a step in the right direction, but it’s just the beginning. True justice can only be realized when our policies, laws, and practices reflect the inherent worth and dignity of every human being”
From: Aswad Walker, “Top 7 Most Sanctified Moments in Black Church History.” Defender Network, February 9, 2022, https://defendernetwork.com/news/opinion/top-7-most-sanctified-moments-in-black-church-history/"
“… [R]isking their lives and well-being, …enslaved sisters and brothers began sneaking away on Sunday afternoons and evenings to go out to the forests and swamps and hold worship services of their own….These acts reflected the fact that even though we heard constant messages meant to blind us to our inherent worth and connection to God during those ‘massa-led’ services, we fought to reject that nonsense, and to nurture our own relationship with the Great I AM.”
From: Marissa Jackson Sow, “(Re)Building the Master’s House: Dismantling America’s Colonial Politics of Extraction and Exclusion,” in Michigan Law Review, April 2023, https://michiganlawreview.org/rebuilding-the-masters-house-dismantling-americas-colonial-politics-of-extraction-and-exclusion/:
“Understanding that race is neither a personal birthright nor a curse, but a designation reflecting a society’s arrangement of capital—that it reflects society’s decisions about how to delegate labor and resources and not a person’s inherent worth—is also personally empowering for anyone willing commit to antiracism.”
From the publisher’s description of Michael Phillips’ Wrong Lanes Have Right Turns: A Pardoned Man’s Escape from the School-to-Prison Pipeline and What We Can Do to Dismantle It, WaterBrook, 2022, https://waterbrookmultnomah.com/books/673913/wrong-lanes-have-right-turns-by-michael-phillips/:
“[Phillips] explores ways in which the readers can help advocate and provide resources for students, and points us to the one thing anyone can start doing, no matter who we are or what our role is: speak into young kids’ lives. Tell them of their inherent worth and purpose.”
From the publisher’s description of Colin Kaepernick’s I Color Myself Different, Scholastic, 2022, Errors | Scholastic Canada
“What young Colin does next with his brown crayon changes his whole world and worldview, providing a valuable lesson on embracing and celebrating his Black identity through the power of radical self-love and knowing your inherent worth.”
I’m also persuaded by a rationale for an amendment idea (#98) put forward by Sheri Thomas, who addresses the significance of the phrase “inherent worth and dignity” from a disabilities standpoint.