True self-reflection will bring out both our strengths and our weaknesses. It guides us in deciding which aspects of ourselves we want to build upon and what we want to change. Experiencing this range with compassion makes it easier to also recognize that our way of being is not the only way of being. This is the life-long practice of cultural humility. It asks us to acknowledge that we have something to offer and something to learn in every interaction we experience, and it is a measure of our Equity Intelligence.
Creating equitable solutions to problems of discrimination and disproportionality require that we be able to hear and see the value in the voices of all stakeholders. This means listening to each other with an assumption of truth and the belief that even if your story is different from mine, I am still impacted by it and it is telling me something important about the space we share.
“If you have come here to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.” – Lilla Watson
When we are unable to approach each other with humility at our school sites, we end up working in silos, we don’t utilize all the resources that are available to us, we become disconnected from the impact of our choices, we end up duplicating work, reinventing the wheel and we become fatigued because we can’t see progress for all the initiative’s we undertake. How will you model cultural humility in your spaces? How will you be the courageous voice that acknowledges the voices of others?
