We can’t keep using tools of oppression and expect to raise free people - we must examine privilege and power in our relationships with our children, the world’s most vulnerable citizens and embrace chaos in efforts to allow trust-based practices to emerge. We can do this through liberation work that centers a decolonization of childhood, allowing trust-based practices and language to emerge. My partner and I have embraced the work of trustful parenting, also known as unschooling. The practice brings forth a necessary chaos, a shedding of the power-over dynamic from adults toward children. The result is often deep social justice work that evolves into freedom in action for children and communities.
Learn more at https://tedxasburypark.com/
Akilah S. Richards is a writer, an unschooling organizer and podcaster, and a founding board member of The Alliance for Self-Directed Education.
She is the primary voice behind Raising Free People Network, a community-oriented project that uses various media and trainings to challenge and encourage social justice-minded people to explore privilege and power in their relationships with children. Akilah's focus is on sharing the ways Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities are continuing to utilize unschooling as a tool for decolonizing learning, and for liberating themselves from oppressive, exclusive systems.