Listening In
In Conversation
Much of my work has emerged through dialogue: with organizers, scholars, activists, writers, practitioners, and communities.
The SHARP Framework did not develop in isolation. It was shaped by decades of listening, questioning, organizing, teaching, writing, and learning alongside others who have challenged me to see systems more clearly and imagine different possibilities.
These conversations explore questions that continue to guide my work:
- How do systems create the conditions we experience?
- What can ordinary people do to change them?
- What histories must we understand to move forward?
- What futures become possible when we begin to imagine differently?
I invite you to listen in.
Power, Organizing, and Systems Change
A Conversation with Dr. Ron Chisom
Dr. Ron Chisom is a co-founder of the People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond and one of the most influential organizers and racial justice educators in the United States. His work has shaped generations of practitioners seeking to understand the relationship between power, race, and systemic change.
In this conversation, we explore the distinction between meeting needs and changing systems, the importance of power analysis, and the role of organizing in creating lasting transformation.
Part 1: Using a Power Analysis
Part 2: Building a Power Base
Housing, History, and Just Action
A Conversation with Richard and Leah Rothstein
How did residential segregation become so deeply embedded in American life? And what can communities do about it today?
In this conversation, I speak with Richard Rothstein and Leah Rothstein about the policies and practices that created racial segregation in the United States and the practical actions communities can take to address its consequences.
Healing, Community, and Human Dignity
A Conversation with Jacqueline Clemens
What does it mean to be fully seen and fully heard in systems that were not designed with your well-being in mind?
In this conversation, I speak with Jacqueline Clemens, founder and CEO of the Okiyonu Birth Foundation, about Black maternal health, systemic racism in healthcare, self-advocacy, community care, and the importance of restoring human dignity within birth and postpartum experiences. Together we explore the ways historical and structural forces shape individual outcomes and the role that community, voice, and collective care play in healing.
What struck me most about this conversation is that it extends themes that appear throughout my work: the importance of being seen, the consequences of systems that deny human dignity, and the power of community in creating different possibilities for the future.
Afrofuturism, Liberation, and the Work of Imagination
A Conversation with the Black Radical Justice Alliance
What role does imagination play in social change?
This conversation explores the ideas behind The Black Cell and the ways Afrofuturism can help us think differently about history, community, liberation, and the future.
Why These Conversations Matter
These conversations reflect many of the ideas that continue to shape my teaching, writing, leadership development, and systems change work.
The work continues at The SHARP Institute.
How do we learn to see more clearly so that we can participate more intentionally in creating the future?