“Attempting to liberate the oppressed without their reflective participation in the act of liberation is to treat them as objects that must be saved from a burning building.”  -Paulo Freire

Years of history repeating itself and deeply ingrained social conditioning have us taking things for granted, like the luxuries and privilege that we benefit from. Ordinarily, we’re not expected to look beyond the surface to identify and acknowledge our own role in perpetuating cycles of oppression. For most of us this is a difficult reality to face.

Truths: We are often blind to our own privilege and how it plays itself out in our lives. We are all products of a culture of sexism, racism, homophobia, ageism, etc.  When we’re confronted with this view, we get defensive and claim that we’ve “done this before” and have already achieved an inclusive and enlightened mind.

Due to these defensive mechanisms, radical inclusion (too easily referred to as “diversity”) is an afterthought in our social change work, by which minorities and oppressed people are brought on in the last stages of planning and are thereby tokenized. We often speak for (not with) these most marginalized and vulnerable communities: indigenous peoples, those living on the front lines, people of color, queer and transgender individuals, and women – to name a few.  Overcoming these automatic modes of behavior takes time and a profound commitment to work that can be challenging and at times crack us open emotionally.