By California’s Equity Warriors  Edwin Javius was the original Equity Warrior. He was a 6’6’’ giant of a man with a personality that dominated a room and heart to match his intensity. Javius was born July 13, 1965 in Richmond, CA and was raised by a single mother who worked hard to provide for her children. He was a bright student and a star athlete at the University of California, Berkeley. However, his real passion became educating students and eradicating educational inequities. At a time when schools and districts across the United States are pulling out all stops to close equity gaps, partners to support the work are in high demand. One such partner was Edwin Lou Javius. Javius’ death on March 6, 2020, came as a shock to the entire education community. Many colleagues have noted his legacy will live on through the educators and students he touched in his long and successful career.  He dedicated his life to making sure educators had the skill and will to create educational environments where students like him could thrive. Dissatisfied by the unchanging narrowing of the racial achievement, he became a well-known educator, leader, and advocate for equitable outcomes for students. Throughout his career, he has inspired hundreds of educators to eradicate barriers preventing students from achieving. In his career, he was a teacher, administrator, and renowned expert on Educational Equity. He supported educators in districts and schools to design, implement, and sustain promising practices to close the achievement gap.  Javius was Founder/President/CEO of EDEquity Inc., an educational consulting firm whose mission it was to mentor teachers on topics related to cultural sensitivity. He led his company to be one of the most sought-after educational consultant firms in the country. Javius was a motivational speaker with the ability to get students to buy into learning and get teachers to understand their students from a cultural sensitivity standpoint. Upon his insistence, educators listened and included student voice in all improvement efforts. A practice that now permeates the education community. He designed tools such as the Courageous Equity Leadership Toolkit. This tool taught the training school leaders and teachers the necessary leadership skills to close the racial and linguistic achievement gap. He taught leaders how to use Equity Walks as a process to conduct equity-focused classroom observations. Through a Culturally Conscious coaching Model, Javius integrated instructional coaching research with an equity lens to ensure that instructional coaches had the best techniques to improve the quality of instruction. At the end of the day, his work was about helping teachers engage better with black and brown students. He was passionate about the work, authored several articles on the topics of closing the achievement gap and culturally conscious leadership and received several rewards throughout his career such as California’s first statewide School Administrator Valuing Diversity Award in 2001 and NAACP’s Silicon Valley’s Educator of the Year Award in 2010.  He was a member of the Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity.  Javius holds a Master’s Degree in Urban Leadership from Fresno Pacific University and was a Doctoral Student in Transformation School Leadership. The words of Riverside County Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Judy White capture the essence of Edwin Lou Javius: A Tribute from the Field It was over twenty years ago you see That Edwin Javius came our way in SBCUSD  Not only did he know how to address equity  His tone and his manner was of the highest degree He taught us about walkthroughs, high expectations and such There was no one else like him who had that special touch As a keynote and expert and contributor to the field He reminded all educators that we had to keep this work real Our hearts in the Inland Empire are aching so much Because an equity warrior who was always there in a clutch Has transitioned to heaven and is still looking for us to act Knowing we will do all that we can to eliminate gaps The best tribute we can give in celebrating his life Is to continue the advocacy for equity and what is morally right