--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: In addition to encouraging us to…" description: "\"In addition to encouraging us to participate in narratives of \"deservingness\" that cast large parts of our constituencies as \"undeserving,\" legal refor..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0e2/dean-spade-13866_casts_in-addition-to-encouraging-us-to-partici_476061.jpg" --- # In addition to encouraging us to participate in narratives… ![“In addition to encouraging us to participate in narratives of "deservingness" that cast large parts of our constituencies as "undeserving," legal reform strategies encourage us to valorize harmful systems that our movements should be seeking to dismantle.” quote by Dean Spade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0e2/dean-spade-13866_casts_in-addition-to-encouraging-us-to-partici_476061.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0e2/dean-spade-13866_casts_in-addition-to-encouraging-us-to-partici_476061.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0e2/dean-spade-13866_casts_in-addition-to-encouraging-us-to-partici_476061.jpg) > “In addition to encouraging us to participate in narratives of "deservingness" that cast large parts of our constituencies as "undeserving," legal reform strategies encourage us to valorize harmful systems that our movements should be seeking to dismantle.” [Dean Spade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dean-spade/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Legal reforms that celebrate existing oppressive systems can unintentionally reinforce the very harms movements aim to dismantle. **In simple terms:** Reforming law without challenging its foundations can uphold oppression. Key Takeaway Critique reforms that sustain harmful structures. Themes activism law systemic oppression social justice Mood critical analytical Type political philosophical When to use this quote - policy drafting - grassroots campaigns - legal advocacy - community organizing Key Concepts critical theory political strategy intersectionality Questions to Reflect On - What reforms can both aid and dismantle oppression? - How to balance immediate relief with long‑term systemic change? A Different Perspective May neglect pragmatic gains from incremental change. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Movement](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/movement/) [Narrative](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/narrative/) [Reform](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reform/) [Strategy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/strategy/) ## Related quotes > [More conservative advocacy work often encourages portrayals of trans people as people who deserve rights. Deservingness, of course, corresponds to national racial, gender and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dean-spade/more-conservative-advocacy-work-often-encourages-portrayals-of-trans/) [Dean Spade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dean-spade/) > [When we approach legal reform work, we can ask questions like: Will this provide actual relief to people facing violence or harm or will…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dean-spade/when-we-approach-legal-reform-work-we-can-ask-questions-like-will/) [Dean Spade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dean-spade/) > [We must experiment, fail, and try again, but beginning with a critique of legal reform and a commitment to center the most vulnerable moves…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dean-spade/we-must-experiment-fail-and-try-again-but-beginning-with-a-critique/) [Dean Spade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dean-spade/) > [I am not arguing that we should never use legal reform as a tactic. Instead, I argue that it should not be a goal.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dean-spade/i-am-not-arguing-that-we-should-never-use-legal-reform-as-a-tactic/) [Dean Spade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dean-spade/) > [We should interact with legal reform tactically, knowing that it will not meet our ultimate goals but asking whether there are ways that engaging…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dean-spade/we-should-interact-with-legal-reform-tactically-knowing-that-it-will/) [Dean Spade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dean-spade/) > [Legal reform has significant dangers: changing only the window-dressing of harmful systems but leaving the violence of the systems in tact, failing to provide…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dean-spade/legal-reform-has-significant-dangers-changing-only-the-window/) [Dean Spade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dean-spade/) > [“The concept of deservingness for one’s “sins” implies that certain acts are unquestionably under all conditions “sinful.” And this is impossible to prove.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-ellis/the-concept-of-deservingness-for-one-s-sins-implies-that-certain-acts/) [Albert Ellis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-ellis/) > [Legal reform in Russia is a must. And I keep track of it daily.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dmitry-medvedev/legal-reform-in-russia-is-a-must-and-i-keep-track-of-it-daily/) [Dmitry Medvedev](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dmitry-medvedev/) > [Work for legal reform takes place only within the framework of the social form created by the last revolution.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rosa-luxemburg/work-for-legal-reform-takes-place-only-within-the-framework-of-the/) [Rosa Luxemburg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rosa-luxemburg/) > [Moreover, from reforming the tax code to our immigration system, to commonsense legal reform, President Bush put America on notice that he will continue…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-sensenbrenner/moreover-from-reforming-the-tax-code-to-our-immigration-system-to/) [Jim Sensenbrenner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-sensenbrenner/) > [“there is only one solitude, and it is great and is not easy to bear, and to almost everyone there come hours when they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rainer-maria-rilke/there-is-only-one-solitude-and-it-is-great-and-is-not-easy-to-bear/) [Rainer Maria Rilke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rainer-maria-rilke/) > [Boy, I feel more and more undeserving each moment !!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hrithik-roshan/boy-i-feel-more-and-more-undeserving-each-moment/) [Hrithik Roshan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hrithik-roshan/) > [She explained that many people, but especially women, feel fraudulent when they are praised for their accomplishments. Instead of feeling worthy of recognition, they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sheryl-sandberg/she-explained-that-many-people-but-especially-women-feel-fraudulent/) [Sheryl Sandberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sheryl-sandberg/) > [“Jesus came to give his righteousness not to condemn the unrighteous.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mac-canoza/jesus-came-to-give-his-righteousness-not-to-condemn-the-unrighteous/) [Mac Canoza](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mac-canoza/) > [Grow up? Get herself straightened out? Her mind reeled from the verbal battering. No matter what she did, her father would tell her she…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-dekker/grow-up-get-herself-straightened-out-her-mind-reeled-from-the-verbal/) [Ted Dekker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-dekker/) ## More by Dean Spade > [Because my graduate academic training at law school was not one that included most of the intellectual traditions I find useful for understanding the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dean-spade/because-my-graduate-academic-training-at-law-school-was-not-one-that/) [Dean Spade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dean-spade/) > [One of the concepts I was having trouble illustrating was the concept that administrative systems create narrow categories of gender and force people into…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dean-spade/one-of-the-concepts-i-was-having-trouble-illustrating-was-the-concept/) [Dean Spade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dean-spade/) > [Let’s be gentle with ourselves and each other and fierce as we fight oppression.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dean-spade/let-s-be-gentle-with-ourselves-and-each-other-and-fierce-as-we-fight/) [Dean Spade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dean-spade/) > [More conservative advocacy work often encourages portrayals of trans people as people who deserve rights. Deservingness, of course, corresponds to national racial, gender and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dean-spade/more-conservative-advocacy-work-often-encourages-portrayals-of-trans/) [Dean Spade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dean-spade/) > [Instead of focusing on what the law says about trans people, which is really what the law is saying about itself as a protector…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dean-spade/instead-of-focusing-on-what-the-law-says-about-trans-people-which-is/) [Dean Spade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dean-spade/) > ["Oppression" or "systems of oppression" operate as a shorthand terms in much writing and speaking so that we do not have to list all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dean-spade/oppression-or-systems-of-oppression-operate-as-a-shorthand-terms-in/) [Dean Spade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dean-spade/) > [I am interested in recent scholarly work examining the emergence of women's studies and ethnic studies departments and the development of the neoliberal university.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dean-spade/i-am-interested-in-recent-scholarly-work-examining-the-emergence-of/) [Dean Spade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dean-spade/) > [Choosing an agenda that supports the apparatuses of racial violence always pays better.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dean-spade/choosing-an-agenda-that-supports-the-apparatuses-of-racial-violence/) [Dean Spade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dean-spade/) > [My work is heavily influenced by critiques that many critical intellectual traditions, especially Critical Race Theory, have made of reform projects focused on legal…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dean-spade/my-work-is-heavily-influenced-by-critiques-that-many-critical/) [Dean Spade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dean-spade/) > [Legal reform organizations are usually trying to portray their constituents as "hard workers," as "not criminals," as citizens, as part of normative family arrangements,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dean-spade/legal-reform-organizations-are-usually-trying-to-portray-their/) [Dean Spade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dean-spade/) > [One particular debate that I have seen play out again and again is whether trans people who have more traditional gender expressions or who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dean-spade/one-particular-debate-that-i-have-seen-play-out-again-and-again-is/) [Dean Spade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dean-spade/) > [There are sharply different, competing models of what trans advocacy looks like - those that seek to follow the path laid out by the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dean-spade/there-are-sharply-different-competing-models-of-what-trans-advocacy/) [Dean Spade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dean-spade/) > [Legal reform has significant dangers: changing only the window-dressing of harmful systems but leaving the violence of the systems in tact, failing to provide…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dean-spade/legal-reform-has-significant-dangers-changing-only-the-window/) [Dean Spade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dean-spade/) > [Law reforms in the US, ostensibly enacted to prohibit racism, have proven ineffective because they focus on bad intentions of individuals and fail to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dean-spade/law-reforms-in-the-us-ostensibly-enacted-to-prohibit-racism-have/) [Dean Spade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dean-spade/) > [I often notice how students can gain the capacity to use certain critical methodologies through engaging with very different texts - how a graphic…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dean-spade/i-often-notice-how-students-can-gain-the-capacity-to-use-certain/) [Dean Spade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dean-spade/) [Explore all 49 Dean Spade quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dean-spade/) ## More Casts quotes > [Everything comes home, my mother used to say; every word spoken, every shadow cast, every footprint in the sand. It can't be helped; it's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joanne-harris/everything-comes-home-my-mother-used-to-say-every-word-spoken-every/) [Joanne Harris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joanne-harris/) > [Politics only makes the difficult challenge of marriage even harder, with the demands of the job and the public spotlight it casts on a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-mckinnon/politics-only-makes-the-difficult-challenge-of-marriage-even-harder/) [Mark McKinnon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-mckinnon/) > [I've done so many other projects where you're in a room with a reader and you're acting your lines out: 'We have to get…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-cummings/i-ve-done-so-many-other-projects-where-you-re-in-a-room-with-a-reader/) [Jim Cummings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-cummings/) > [The God in whose hands are all our days and ways, did cast into my hand one day a book of Martin Luthers; it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-bunyan/the-god-in-whose-hands-are-all-our-days-and-ways-did-cast-into-my/) [John Bunyan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-bunyan/) > [I was focused on The Hunger Games movie with my director, with the studio, and with the cast and crew. We all just focused…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nina-jacobson/i-was-focused-on-the-hunger-games-movie-with-my-director-with-the/) [Nina Jacobson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nina-jacobson/) > [All my life I've been involved with racial politics. I was a Freedom Rider in the South. I was the author of books on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-hayden/all-my-life-i-ve-been-involved-with-racial-politics-i-was-a-freedom/) [Tom Hayden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-hayden/) > [God hath work to do in this world; and to desert it because of its difficulties and entanglements, is to cast off His authority.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-owen/god-hath-work-to-do-in-this-world-and-to-desert-it-because-of-its/) [John Owen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-owen/) > [The bullet that will kill me is not yet cast.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/napoleon-bonaparte/the-bullet-that-will-kill-me-is-not-yet-cast/) [Napoleon Bonaparte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/napoleon-bonaparte/) > [All progress in literary style lies in the heroic resolve to cast aside accretions and exuberances, all the conventions of a past age that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/havelock-ellis/all-progress-in-literary-style-lies-in-the-heroic-resolve-to-cast/) [Havelock Ellis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/havelock-ellis/) > [And as regards Adam and Eve we must maintain that before the fall they were virgins in Paradise: but after they sinned, and were…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/st-jerome/and-as-regards-adam-and-eve-we-must-maintain-that-before-the-fall/) [St. Jerome](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/st-jerome/) > [I think that people who stand up for what they believe in, no matter how unpopular, should be celebrated, not cast aside.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/craig-lancaster/i-think-that-people-who-stand-up-for-what-they-believe-in-no-matter/) [Craig Lancaster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/craig-lancaster/) > [Unless a man gives himself entirely to the Cross, in a spirit of humility and self-abasement; unless he casts himself down to be trampled…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-the-evangelist/unless-a-man-gives-himself-entirely-to-the-cross-in-a-spirit-of/) [Mark the Evangelist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-the-evangelist/) > [Now, we are agreed, I and my destinies. The total world, Above, below, whate'er is seen or known, And all that men, and all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hartley-coleridge/now-we-are-agreed-i-and-my-destinies-the-total-world-above-below/) [Hartley Coleridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hartley-coleridge/) > [Sometimes you choose the wrong actor, he could be the best actor ever, but hes not cast in the right part then it doesnt…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sophie-marceau/sometimes-you-choose-the-wrong-actor-he-could-be-the-best-actor-ever/) [Sophie Marceau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sophie-marceau/) > [I would always cast Meryl Streep for everything. I would do with something inspired by the work of Guy Bourdin, my favorite photographer.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/penelope-cruz/i-would-always-cast-meryl-streep-for-everything-i-would-do-with/) [Penelope Cruz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/penelope-cruz/) Browse all 2,106 Casts quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "In addition to encouraging us to participate in narratives of \"deservingness\" that cast large parts of our constituencies as \"undeserving,\" legal reform strategies encourage us to valorize harmful systems that our movements should be seeking to dismantle.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Dean Spade" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dean-spade/in-addition-to-encouraging-us-to-participate-in-narratives-of/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Casts" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dean-spade/in-addition-to-encouraging-us-to-participate-in-narratives-of/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0e2/dean-spade-13866_casts_in-addition-to-encouraging-us-to-partici_476061.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0e2/dean-spade-13866_casts_in-addition-to-encouraging-us-to-partici_476061.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0e2/dean-spade-13866_casts_in-addition-to-encouraging-us-to-partici_476061.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“In addition to encouraging us to participate in narratives of \"deservingness\" that cast large parts of our…” — Dean Spade", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Dean Spade", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dean-spade/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "In addition to encouraging us to...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dean-spade/in-addition-to-encouraging-us-to-participate-in-narratives-of/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dean-spade/in-addition-to-encouraging-us-to-participate-in-narratives-of/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```