28 days --- 56 ways to be Young, Gifted and Black: Amber Johnson

How do you spend your days?

I am a professor by trade. I teach Communication and Social Justice at Saint Louis University. I spend most of the daylight hours prepping for class, conducting research, and engaging in art activism.

What brings you joy?

Swimming, thoughtful conversations, watching people's light bulbs illuminate when they learn something new and tackle an old challenge, being around my QTIPOC family and being able to let all guards down and practice community, watching my children grow into themselves and listening to their laughter, eating food made with love, and spending intentional time with my partner.

What is liberation to you?

Liberation is a state of thinking that allows our minds to explore the depths of our imagination. Liberation is a state of being that allows our bodies to walk in their truths no matter what that truth looks like. Liberation is a state of living that allows each and every one of us to thrive beyond mere survival. To liberate is to allow ALL life to expand and fold in on itself in love. Liberation cannot exist in the master's house or with the mater's tool as Audre Lorde reminds us. It cannot exist under this existing sun as Octavia Butler teaches us. It must be a wholly new experience that generates a new sun and a new ideology. I don't think liberation can exist in the United States of America. Domination, hate, fear, and dis-ease are too pervasive. True liberation will also liberate us from the geographic trenches that keep us from thriving. That is what I am seeking. A liberation that gives legs to the possibility of new suns, new language, new worlds.

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The fantastic adventures of Koach Baruch

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