SocialJustice Editorial – Language, Literature, and Interdisciplinary Studies

The Problem of Social Justice: Global Perspectives and Personal Narratives (Editors’ Note)

James S. Baumlin | Missouri State University

ORCiD ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5837-8669

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Publication: Social Justice Special Issue

Excerpt | On November 4, 2025, citizens of New York City elected Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani “as its first Muslim and first South-Asian mayor” (Goodwin). Though a local election merely, the results were closely watched nationally—and not just in the U.S., as BBC News made its morning-after report:

Since democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani first entered New York City’s mayoral race, the 34-year-old state assemblyman from Queens has risen from near-total obscurity into the national spotlight. His bold, left-wing platform has energised progressives, shaken up his Democratic Party, and drawn harsh criticism from President Donald Trump and other Republicans. “Today we have spoken in a clear voice: hope is alive,” Mamdani told supporters after triumphing in the contest. Unlike his more established opponents, Mamdani’s new perspective, youth and new left-wing platform excited and ultimately won over voters eager for a fresher politician. “Let City Hall, with our compassion, our conviction and our clarity, be the light that our city and our nation so desperately need,” Mamdani said on the week he was elected. (Goodwin)

“Ugandan-born of Indian parents” (Goodwin), Mamdani ran a successful campaign based in issues of affordability and access. Having promised to freeze rents in city-subsidized housing, reduce energy bills, and offer free public transport, Mamdani must now enact a series of progressive policy changes that New York’s city government will have to find ways to fund, administer, and enforce. If his mayoralty succeeds, Mamdani will be seen as an embodiment of social justice. “Hope is alive,” says the mayor-elect, and most New Yorkers now share in this hope. But the onus falls on City Hall as Mamdani himself notes, since one man’s campaign promises will require city-wide changes in government institutions and policies, including laws and law enforcement, taxation levels, and basic infrastructure.

Key words | Social Justice, SJ Theory, Academic Freedom, Politics of Language, Factionalism, Diversity, Ethicality, Communified Species, Consubstantiality

James S. Baumlin (jbaumlin@missouristate.edu; ORCID iD: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5837-8669) is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Missouri State University, USA, where he has taught coursework in early-modern English literature (Shakespeare, Donne, and Milton), critical theories, and the history of rhetoric. He has published extensively in these fields, as well as in rhetorical theory, creative nonfiction, and composition pedagogy. His current research focuses on the history of Western ethos from antiquity to the present day. Among his many honors and awards is an election to membership in the International Association of University Professors of English (IAUPE, an affiliate of the UNESCO-sponsored International Federation of Modern Languages and Literatures) and receipt of an Excellence in English award, presented by the English-Speaking Union, H.R.H. Prince Philip presiding.

MLA Citation for this Article:

Baumlin, James S. “Editors’ Note.” Language, Literature, and Interdisciplinary Studies, Social Justice Special Issue, 31 Dec. 2025, pp. v–x, https://doi.org/10.71106/BJFD4323.