Part I. Harmonizing in Justice: A Conversation with a Lioness and Other Opportunities of Influence and Favor

This article is the first of a three-part series devoted to: (a) the Praxis Lecturer for the 2026 National Association of Kinesiology in Higher Education (NAKHE) Conference, (b) a conversation about America’s ideologies of race and justice, and (c) an Epilogue: Advocacy, Agency, and Action. In this article (Part I), I acknowledge and express gratitude to lionesses DeSensi, Corbett-Johnson, Meshelemiah, and Blackshear, each of whom have had a lasting impact on my academic career and life. Moreover, I dedicated the 2026 Praxis Lecture to Lioness Camille P. O’Bryant. In Part II, my coauthors and I, scrutinize America’s caste structure and explore its ideologies of race and justice in an article titled, America is (Still) America: Ideologies of Race, Justice, and Institutional Policy. In Part III, Epilogue: Advocacy, Agency, and Action, I advanced a justice praxis framework grounded in advocacy, agency, and strategic action to support faculty and academic leaders committed to equity-oriented institutional change.