As a Black bi-racial CIS male who was born under a table in Pilsen, Chicago, because the ambulance never arrived and who moved west to Oak Park at the age of 4, I was forged in social and racial justice when my dad breathed life into me when I was turning blue.

Born on 18th in Pilsen

911 tricksters/ Light-skin afrobrit mixture

Then enter the picture/ study policy

Modestly/ it ain’t about sovereignty

Tried to burn us at the roots through

Racism and poverty

Growing up, my racial identity development was unique. I experienced bullying daily in elementary school and was the top academic performer in my school. Later, I became a three-season athlete and musician, supporting me to float two Americas and the false binaries I straddled. Home was a place of critical self-reflection, loving the skin I was in, and embracing Afrocentricity. The anti-miscegenation law made the skin I am in unique because it was only recently legal for interracial marriage to exist. On the other hand, the one-drop rule in America made being Black monolithic; from Barack Obama to Holly Berry to Tiger Woods; biracial was hidden and yet mainstream. I learned that Frederick Douglas and Langston Hughes were biracial.

As a light-skinned Black person in America who is the product of an interracial marriage, I identify as Black and biracial. Implicit bias and anchoring heuristics meant people would tell a story about me unless I told my own first. Between the binary of being the Black exception and not being Black enough, I learned the importance of cultural humility and also to live in self-defense by any means necessary. Colorism is an important aspect of racism, and using my privilege to advance racial equity and justice in the skin I am in is critical. I have learned to pour from my excess rather than my essence and to put my own mask on first. Mirror work is therapeutic, and window work can be a way to detour or circumnavigate our own critical self reflection.

My stance is to sustain transformative praxis with a focus on liberatory thinking, policy, and resource equity while leveraging my strengths and showing up holistically as an anti-racist practitioner. Recognizing that white supremacy thrives on pseudo-perfectionism, it’s important to air laundry in safe and brave spaces, including how I have upheld hegemony and supported the oppression of my brothers and sisters through well intentioned efforts. Part of my equity stance is to sustain inquiry around my own stance and schema, and what catalytic or interruptive experiences tomorrow will change how I view my actions and beliefs today?