Raising Free & Aware People

Why This Now (A note from Zakiyya Ismail)

”There’s a contestation between the dominant messaging in our society and our goals as unschoolers in raising free people. The dominant society we live in is patriarchal, racist, ableist, homophobic and adultist.  It’s evident in in the way language is used, TV shows, jokes, books etc. Our inevitable participation in this society means we end up absorbing and internalising many of these messages, reproducing them subconsciously (or consciously) and inadvertently upholding the very systems of domination and oppression we’re experiencing and fighting against.

We need to have a conversation about developing a set of tools and a solidarity around raising free people who are also aware people. This is vital especially since we’re not using tools of oppression in attempts force our children into an awareness of our deeply unjust society. We need to normalize the conversation and safe space-making in takes to explore this, and this is one effort in that direction.

We’re not raising children in a bubble, so the conversation and tools are an inevitably necessary part of the journey to raising free and aware people.  Raising free aware people is how we work toward dismantling oppressive systems – systems that they will inevitably face and be oppressed by, or systems they will face and benefit from while oppressing others.  It’s a cycle that we need to break, and it will not happen if we are not deliberate and clear about our intentions. Raising free, aware people isn’t a mere conversation topic, it is a responsibility we have in endeavoring to help transform our world.”  #BIPOCinSDE