ABSTRACT
Social equity is directly related to the democratic principle of justice and it is the concept of fairness applied to all, not just select groups. In some instances, achieving justice requires treating everyone the same; in other cases it means treating groups differently based upon current and/or past inequities. The implementation of justice is context-based; determining what is fair is dependent upon understanding a complex array of historical, political, and social factors. Specific to racial equity, senior public administrators communicate important messages and allocate resources that influence the overall value of public justice and the administration of social equity. They operate as important translators of the external racial-equity triggers. Their actions influence nervousness intensity and largely determine the acceptable racial analysis boundaries within the agency. However, the racial-equity component within social equity produces considerable nervousness, which has both emotional and physical characteristics. Public servants include the bulk of the agency's employees, frontline staff, managers, and midlevel supervisors.
