Living Black Liberation.
Respectability politics. Keeping cool, calm, and collected. Actively silencing ourselves so as not to confirm the "angry black woman" stereotype. Choosing not to hold non-black folks accountable for their anti-black sentiments and behaviors in fear of "always playing the race card", This is the insidious nature of white supremacy culture. The toll is cumulative and impact is irreversible. This has unfortunately been the norm for many Black folks. This "norm" has been the path of survival. But, thank God we are no longer seeking to survive. Rather, we are breaking the shackles of white supremacy culture and choosing Black joy and liberation!
I am so excited to discuss the new age of resistance to white supremacy culture...living your authentic self. That's right, dare to imagine a world in which you do not code-switch, acquiesce to "grind culture" to prove your worth and value by metrics of productivity, engage in respectability politics, suppress your emotions to appear unbothered, or sacrifice your comfort to make non-black folks feel comfortable. All of these behaviors maintain white supremacy and anti-blackness, and that culture robs Black people of joy and liberation.
Let's gather and break free. Tune in today, Sunday, June 28th at 5 pm PST via Instagram and Facebook Live (@drlawandahill and @stevenachambers) as we close out the last of a three-part curated conversation on racial solidarity.
I will recap my conversation with Dr. Helen Hsu who provided historical context about the model minority, addressed the tensions between the Asian and Black communities, and gave insight on the plight of solidarity. Then, give insights from my conversation with Dr. Michele Haley as we wrestled with the tensions between Black and White folks. Dr. Haley and I named whiteness, white supremacy values, white fragility, white solidarity, and whitewashing as barriers to solidarity.
And then finally, I'll be joined with Steven A. Chambers as we empower Black folks to walk in their truth of Blackness. It is the path of resistance and liberation.
For those of you who aren't familiar with Steven, you are in for a treat! Steven A. Chambers [www.stevenachambers.com] is an Ohio native and contemporary change agent with a passion for healing people and communities. Steven describes his life’s work as disrupting systems of inequity and injustice through an innovative approach to ministry. He pulls from his experiences as a former classroom teacher, associate pastor, college access counselor, school district administrator, and co-founder of two youth mentoring programs to inform the work he refers to as “collective impact;” bridging the gaps between the sectors of education and faith-based entities. Over the past decade, Steven has served the community of Houston, Texas as a Teach for America elementary school teacher, campus pastor of St. John’s Downtown (UMC), church plant pastor of St. John’s Northwest (UMC), Houston Independent School District administrator, as well as running for political office as a member of the Texas State Board of Education.
Steven holds a bachelor's degree in marketing from Hampton University; a Master of Divinity from Vanderbilt University; and is currently pursuing a doctorate in education leadership at Harvard University. He will be completing his 10-month capstone residency with the New York City Department of Education in July 2020; the nation’s largest school district.
Tune in for tools to the journey of liberation and dare to give yourself permission to be un-apologetically Black. This is indeed the new resistance.
In solidarity,
LaWanda Hill
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