Issue 1: Liberation

Photo by Esperanza Doronila on Unsplash

Check-In:

What is liberation?

I know what isn’t liberation. Where we are now.

Liberation isn’t oppressive. Paule Friere said, “Leaders who do not act dialogically but insist on imposing their decisions, do not organize the people--they manipulate them. They do not liberate, nor are they liberated: they oppress.”

Liberation isn’t fixed. “Sometimes people hold a core belief that is very strong. When they are presented with evidence that works against that belief, the new
evidence cannot be accepted. It would create a feeling that is
extremely uncomfortable, called cognitive dissonance. And because it
is so important to protect the core belief, they will rationalize,
ignore and even deny anything that doesn't fit in with the core belief.”― Frantz Fanon

Liberation isn’t focused on a single issue. bell hooks taught me, “..the struggle to end sexist oppression that focuses on destroying the cultural basis for such domination strengthens other liberation struggles. Individuals who fight for the eradication of sexism without struggling to end racism or classism undermine their own efforts. Individuals who fight for the eradication of racism or classism while supporting sexist oppression are helping to maintain the cultural basis of all forms of group oppression.”

What is liberation?

A definition: “The creation of relationships, societies, communities, organizations, and collective spaces characterized by equity, fairness, and the implementation of systems for the allocation of goods, services, benefits, and rewards that support the full participation of each human and the promotion of their full humanness.” -Critical Liberation Theory, Barbara J. Love, Keri DeJong, and Christopher Hughbanks (UMASS, Amherst, 2007).

Liberation is community. “Without community, there is no liberation...but community must not mean a shedding of our differences, nor the pathetic pretense that these differences do not exist.” -Audre Lorde

Liberation is love. "The moment we choose to love, we begin to move towards freedom, to act in ways that liberate ourselves and others.” -bell hooks

Liberation is sustainability. “There’s a lot of liberation in being able to occupy your own story and tell it in your own way.” -Cole Arthur Riley, creator of Black Liturgies

Liberation is a daily action. Knowledge of oppression isn’t enough. You need knowledge AND a vision of liberation and daily actions that will move you towards that vision. -Barbara J. Love, Keri DeJong, and Christopher Hughbanks

Liberation to me…It will feel like a hug from my kids, a laugh with my sister. It is a feeling of safety, appreciation, and collective care. It will feel like a sunrise run on a beach, a new book to read, and a piece of writing with no grammatical errors. It will be a school experience for my kids where they speak of feeling heard, loved, valued, and academically challenged. Liberation to me is limitlessness and joy for everyone.

What’s liberation for you?

Some #mondaymovitation for you:

“Survival is not an academic skill. It is learning how to stand alone, unpopular, and sometimes reviled, and how to make common cause with those others identified as outside the structures in order to define and seek a world in which we can all flourish. It is learning how to take our differences and make them strengths. For the master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house. They may allow us temporarily to beat him at his own game, but they will never enable us to bring about genuine change. And this fact is only threatening to those women who still define the master’s house as their only source of support.” -Audre Lorde

Profile of a Leader of the Global Majority:

Tommy Welch is the Chief Equity Officer of Gwinnett County Public Schools in Georgia. He is going into his fourth year in the role of the chief equity officer. Below is an excerpt from our conversation:

Mary: Tell me a little bit about your journey and what led you to want to take this job?

Tommy: My passion is always to provide quality education for students, no matter where they live or who they are. That's my purpose.

Mary: Gwinnett is a big district with lots of changing student demographics and changing district leadership. How'd you start off and how did you decide how to start?

Tommy: In that first year, I had to figure it out. I had to trailblaze the behaviors and actions of the Chief Equity Officer within the existing organizational structure to provide a glimpse and desire for what it could become. I began to leverage ask 1. where/when should I engage others to empower others to become their best for each and every student? 2. At what tables would my presence have the greatest impact on decisions and the culture of the organization? 3. What resources are needed and where within the current organization could I leverage the existing resources? By doing that, I was able to identify the informal and formal power structure of the 11th largest district in the Nation to begin to access resources and create sustainable change for each and every student. After figuring out the informal and formal power structures, I would ask if I could be invited to their meetings, in these meetings I would wait for the opportunity to engage as a mirror for the organization, asking reflective equity-focused questions as a partner in their work caused us to rethink our intent versus our impact on each and every student. 

My next step was to begin looking at the strategic planning process, proactively getting involved to ensure that the voice of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging was there, but not just a voice, a proactive intended outcome. I had to be very strategic about that. So I'd begin to ask questions. "Where in the mission, and vision, and our foundational documents can we find evidence of educational equity, inclusion and belonging ?"

Mary: I'm curious about Georgia, last year the board of education passed an anti-CRT resolution. Is there any noise that you are experiencing as a result of that and how are you navigating those waters?

Tommy: This is a very challenging time. I try to let everyone know that that's an adult issue and I know that we're here for our students. So I say, look, it's whatever the student brings to the table, they need to feel like they belong and accepted because of who they are. So I'm not going to stop at race or at social economic status it is everything that the student brings to the table. I have to make sure people know I'm an advocate for all students. No matter your gender, your sexual orientation, your religion and it changes the conversation because they say, "Okay, so it's not just about race?" Race is a variable, an important variable, but not the only. So we get that now and for some reason in Gwinnett it’s worked so when they get to me, they're good.

Mary: Where should the focus be for systemic change in school systems?

Tommy: There are three things to focus on if you're going to do systemic change or transformation-

1. Systems

2. Processes that run those systems

3. The people

You can hear more from Tommy when my book is published in April 2023. Let me know if you would like to be interviewed and/or recommend someone to be profiled in this section.

What I’m Reading:

Inclusion Revolution: The Essential Guide to Dismantling Racial Inequity in the Workplace by Daisy Auger-Dominguez

• About the author: Current chief people officer at Vice Media Group. Formerly leading diversity and talent efforts at Google and Disney ABC Television Group.

• Book Audience: BIPOC or white organizational leader/hiring manager

Book Highlights:

The end of every chapter is a “road map to revolution” which gives actionable steps that you can take as a manager. The author recognizes there is no ONE way to build an inclusive environment so gives a variety of suggestions that a leader can take and apply. The suggestions flow between individual actions, policies, and procedures which is a necessary mix to shift culture. Although the examples she shares mostly come from corporate settings, the lessons and stories are transferable to the education setting.

Some suggested actions that I will be putting into practice:

• Confront your fears. What are you nervous or uncomfortable about? Embrace courage and know that you’re going to make mistakes along the way (chapter 1)

• Continually examine bias throughout the hiring process. Call your perceptions and assumptions into question, again and again. (chapter 4)

• Foster speak-up culture. Become a more effective ally by amplifying the voice of everyone on your team, especially those who feel the most silenced. (chapter 6)

• Embrace being open to tough conversations. As a manager, it’s important that you make yourself available so that your teams can access you when and if they need you. You need to show a willingness to listen. (chapter 7)

• Champion vulnerability that is rooted in curiosity. Ask for their views of what could be better and what they want you to understand about their work environment or circumstances (chapter 10).

Auger-Dominguez ends the book focusing on “persistence.” This is such a valuable perspective to have when you are pushing up against so many forces inside and outside the “walls” of your organization. The importance of “persistence” is also part of my upcoming book.

Next Book: Stuck Improving: Racial Equity and School Leadership by Decoteau J. Irby

You can find a full list of book recommendations here.

Resources:

• Book banning and misinformation will continue this upcoming school year. The guide “Resources Against False Narratives and Misinformation,” offers definitions for the words being misused as well as links to sources that better explain how these words and the information being spread across school board meetings and social media is being twisted. This guide is worth replicating to fit your community.

• Since you may be putting together professional development sessions for teachers and leaders in the upcoming weeks, a reminder of Project Zero from the Harvard School of Education. This website features Thinking Routines developed across a number of research projects at PZ.

If this is your first time reading, please go back and read my Introductions post.

Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think. If you like it please share it with your network!