Overview of Main Discussion Points

We started our time together by centering the wisdom and love of the group. Many of the practitioners in the group have a lot of experience dismantling issues of injustice (racial, gender, language, etc.) in their own communities. By bringing together and unpacking common terms we hear such as equity versus justice, we grounded ourselves in our true mission of liberation. The advisory council co-constructed the following definition of liberation as a guiding light to ensure we achieve liberation for all, but most specifically communities who deviate from colonists’ perceived notion of “perfect” (white, male, able-bodied, neurotypical, wealthy, cis, heterosexual, slim, etc.):

Liberation is access to opportunities, success, programs, protections, supports, and the ability to just be, that is not predicated on the hidden or invisible abilities, attributes, characteristics, or dialects that create disparities in the way that individuals are viewed, taught, or loved.

“What does liberation look like?” Whether its engaging in reciprocal community and relationship-building with your local Indigenous tribe to support language revitalization as part of a broader cultural revitalization, researching and applying other global pedagogical approaches and perspectives to our work, or equalizing power dynamics and building stronger communities for social and racial justice, liberation requires imagination. Liberation is more than just differentiating instruction. It is the dismantling of the sources of inequity and creating larger cultural change.