I am an educator, scholar and activist committed to equity and racial justice in the service of liberatory education. As an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education at York University, my research explores anti-racist and decolonial approaches to leadership in schools, communities, and school districts. I also explore educational barriers to the success and well-being of Black, Indigenous, and racialized students. As a teacher, researcher, speakers, and community activist, I am committed bridging the gaps between communities, classrooms, school districts and the academy, to re/imagine emancipatory possibilities for education.
Becoming a facilitator with the Center for Courage and Renewal has been a heart calling for 2 decades, as I have been drawn to understand the inner worlds of educators and leaders and foster communal spaces for deep self- and community-reflection. You can learn more about my work at https://www.yorku.ca/edu/unleading/.
"But between us, interpersonally, relationally, true innocence is more evasive. Often that determination becomes the focal point of our efforts instead of tending to the pain, instead of protecting who and what needs protection, instead of all and any parties having space to learn and transform. What if we could see ourselves less as innocent, but as harmed and harming, more or less honest, more or less able to be conscious when triggered, more or less manipulative, more or less willing to take responsibility for our own change, more or less caught in patterns. Would we be better able to create and respect boundaries between each other? Would we be more likely to interrupt our own violence if we didn’t insist on our innocence and the accompanying justifications for our actions? Could we let the word have meaning again? Allowing ourselves to pay real attention to places where what we’re told is collateral are people, families, communities, life. Can we ween ourselves off of the myth of purity, of innocence embedded in our supremacist and exceptionalist structures? Can we tolerate knowing ourselves?"
Prentis Hemphill - https://prentishemphill.com/selectwritings/2019/7/5/letting-go-of-innocence
Vanessa Machado de Oliveria bell hooks Nayyirah Waheed Sonya Renee Taylor adrienne marie brown
Please confirm you want to block this member.
You will no longer be able to:
Please note: This action will also remove this member from your connections and send a report to the site admin. Please allow a few minutes for this process to complete.
