she’s gonna have to adjust to this red
circle because I’m an educator and I
want to walk around and talk to each of
you young people are everything they are
innovative they are inquisitive they are
radical and they are loving young people
have so much to offer us and so much to
teach as co-founder and CEO of the youth
mentoring Action Network a mentoring
nonprofit here in the Inland Empire I
have had ample opportunity to listen to
and build alongside young people now
while some of these moments have been
difficult and challenging all of them
have been absolutely worthwhile folks
engaged in youth work today have a
really big responsibility there’s a lot
happening in our world we are engaged in
epic in real-life battles against racism
hetero patriarchy rape culture and so
much more if there’s one thing that
young people need it is a network of
support people that can help them to
process and navigate the myriad of
issues that they face young people have
an incredible opportunity to build the
world anew but they need the love
support and dedication of critical
mentors to help them do it so that young
people face a myriad of issues this is
what I mean these images are for young
people and some of these faces may be
immediately recognizable to you they may
in fact help to sort of get you to
understand the theme that is going to
emerge here each of these young people
have been victims of murder or assault
the first picture is of Trayvon Martin
who was 17 when he was shot and killed
by a neighborhood watchman the second
picture is a Monique Tillman who was
assaulted by a mall cop when she was
riding her bike through the parking lot
the third picture is a Tamir rice a 12
year old who was playing in a park when
he was shot and killed by a police
sir and the fourth picture is of de JIRA
Becton who was pinned down and sat upon
when she when she intended when she
attended a pool party it’s important for
us to say their names when each of these
young people have in common is not only
that they have been victims but that
their victimhood is a result of race
class and hetero patriarchy so how do
mentors help I’ve had the opportunity to
travel around the country and talk to
and train mentors about these issues and
I often show them these slides I show
them these visuals with a purpose of
asking them this question if you had
been a mentor to one of these young
people what kinds of conversations might
you have had with them now given the
stories of each of these young people
that kind of questioning typically
evokes a lot of gasps and sighs because
this is a difficult conversation to have
with young people it’s a difficult
conversation to have with one another
and so we often avoid these
conversations in favor of our own
comfort but these are conversations that
we must have if we are to equip young
people with the tools that they need to
make change critical mentoring is a
powerful tool it’s a blend of critical
race theory and mentoring elements that
help us to focus on addressing the
contexts that youth exist in critical
race Theory says or we use critical race
theory to discuss and engage in
conversations about racism to reject
colorblindness and liberalism and to
value the narratives of marginalized
people critical mentoring essentially
says that if young people’s contexts
were water and air they’d be toxic and
possible to drink impossible to breathe
mentoring must move to clear the water
and purify the air it is not about using
mentoring to manage symptoms
it’s about leveraging mentoring to
address root causes when we are engaged
in youth mentoring we are often asking
young people to fix themselves and we do
that when we know full well that their
contexts are toxic why do we ask black
youth for example to pull up their pants
and appear more respectable when we know
that black men in suits are harassed why
do we ask marginalized youth to engage
in schools when we know that schools are
often sites of trauma for young people
so critical mentoring asks mentors to
consider the context that youth exist in
and then and to then alter their
mentoring praxis to help young people to
address these issues critical mentoring
is also about being youth centric now
this is not separate or neatly divorced
from the idea of critically considering
context in fact if you are a youth
mentor who’s working with a marginalized
young person it’s your responsibility to
ensure that young people who are
typically without voice power and choice
have voice power and choice there are
four elements that are involved in being
used centric and typically my youth
co-facilitators give this slide so I
give them full credit for all of these
points those four elements are
recognizing that youth are capable
providing youth with a platform passing
the mic and letting youth lead
recognizing that youth are capable is
about combatting our adult ism adult ism
that says that young people should have
opinions and that they’re not ready to
lead in this in this way providing a
platform is about ensuring that young
people have space and place to innovate
and partner with us in this work passing
the mic is exactly that there’s a saying
that you don’t need to be a voice for
the voiceless just pass the mic in the
same way we should not always have to
speak
on behalf of young people we should just
give them opportunities to speak for
themselves and finally we need to let
young people lead and they should be
leading in various ways they should be
running our programs they should be
running this event they should be
prepared and poised to take over our
positions when we move on and young
people are more than capable they can do
it Angela Davis said that young people
should be able to see further since they
are standing on our shoulders letting
youth lead and youth centrism in general
is not about adults disappearing or
leaving the picture as a matter of fact
one of the most important components of
critical mentoring is the concept of
intergenerational dialogue I want young
people to understand that mentors have
what Reverend Alfonzo Wyatt calls elder
wisdom we have sacred knowledge to pass
down and share if only young people will
listen mentoring is supposed to be a
reciprocal process an exchange in which
mentor and protege are in this ongoing
process of locus
there’s so much work to be done in our
world in mentoring should be at the very
heart of that liberation work if only
adults would be willing to make
themselves more relevant young people
deserve the best of us so that they can
be better than us thank you
[Applause]
circle because I’m an educator and I
want to walk around and talk to each of
you young people are everything they are
innovative they are inquisitive they are
radical and they are loving young people
have so much to offer us and so much to
teach as co-founder and CEO of the youth
mentoring Action Network a mentoring
nonprofit here in the Inland Empire I
have had ample opportunity to listen to
and build alongside young people now
while some of these moments have been
difficult and challenging all of them
have been absolutely worthwhile folks
engaged in youth work today have a
really big responsibility there’s a lot
happening in our world we are engaged in
epic in real-life battles against racism
hetero patriarchy rape culture and so
much more if there’s one thing that
young people need it is a network of
support people that can help them to
process and navigate the myriad of
issues that they face young people have
an incredible opportunity to build the
world anew but they need the love
support and dedication of critical
mentors to help them do it so that young
people face a myriad of issues this is
what I mean these images are for young
people and some of these faces may be
immediately recognizable to you they may
in fact help to sort of get you to
understand the theme that is going to
emerge here each of these young people
have been victims of murder or assault
the first picture is of Trayvon Martin
who was 17 when he was shot and killed
by a neighborhood watchman the second
picture is a Monique Tillman who was
assaulted by a mall cop when she was
riding her bike through the parking lot
the third picture is a Tamir rice a 12
year old who was playing in a park when
he was shot and killed by a police
sir and the fourth picture is of de JIRA
Becton who was pinned down and sat upon
when she when she intended when she
attended a pool party it’s important for
us to say their names when each of these
young people have in common is not only
that they have been victims but that
their victimhood is a result of race
class and hetero patriarchy so how do
mentors help I’ve had the opportunity to
travel around the country and talk to
and train mentors about these issues and
I often show them these slides I show
them these visuals with a purpose of
asking them this question if you had
been a mentor to one of these young
people what kinds of conversations might
you have had with them now given the
stories of each of these young people
that kind of questioning typically
evokes a lot of gasps and sighs because
this is a difficult conversation to have
with young people it’s a difficult
conversation to have with one another
and so we often avoid these
conversations in favor of our own
comfort but these are conversations that
we must have if we are to equip young
people with the tools that they need to
make change critical mentoring is a
powerful tool it’s a blend of critical
race theory and mentoring elements that
help us to focus on addressing the
contexts that youth exist in critical
race Theory says or we use critical race
theory to discuss and engage in
conversations about racism to reject
colorblindness and liberalism and to
value the narratives of marginalized
people critical mentoring essentially
says that if young people’s contexts
were water and air they’d be toxic and
possible to drink impossible to breathe
mentoring must move to clear the water
and purify the air it is not about using
mentoring to manage symptoms
it’s about leveraging mentoring to
address root causes when we are engaged
in youth mentoring we are often asking
young people to fix themselves and we do
that when we know full well that their
contexts are toxic why do we ask black
youth for example to pull up their pants
and appear more respectable when we know
that black men in suits are harassed why
do we ask marginalized youth to engage
in schools when we know that schools are
often sites of trauma for young people
so critical mentoring asks mentors to
consider the context that youth exist in
and then and to then alter their
mentoring praxis to help young people to
address these issues critical mentoring
is also about being youth centric now
this is not separate or neatly divorced
from the idea of critically considering
context in fact if you are a youth
mentor who’s working with a marginalized
young person it’s your responsibility to
ensure that young people who are
typically without voice power and choice
have voice power and choice there are
four elements that are involved in being
used centric and typically my youth
co-facilitators give this slide so I
give them full credit for all of these
points those four elements are
recognizing that youth are capable
providing youth with a platform passing
the mic and letting youth lead
recognizing that youth are capable is
about combatting our adult ism adult ism
that says that young people should have
opinions and that they’re not ready to
lead in this in this way providing a
platform is about ensuring that young
people have space and place to innovate
and partner with us in this work passing
the mic is exactly that there’s a saying
that you don’t need to be a voice for
the voiceless just pass the mic in the
same way we should not always have to
speak
on behalf of young people we should just
give them opportunities to speak for
themselves and finally we need to let
young people lead and they should be
leading in various ways they should be
running our programs they should be
running this event they should be
prepared and poised to take over our
positions when we move on and young
people are more than capable they can do
it Angela Davis said that young people
should be able to see further since they
are standing on our shoulders letting
youth lead and youth centrism in general
is not about adults disappearing or
leaving the picture as a matter of fact
one of the most important components of
critical mentoring is the concept of
intergenerational dialogue I want young
people to understand that mentors have
what Reverend Alfonzo Wyatt calls elder
wisdom we have sacred knowledge to pass
down and share if only young people will
listen mentoring is supposed to be a
reciprocal process an exchange in which
mentor and protege are in this ongoing
process of locus
there’s so much work to be done in our
world in mentoring should be at the very
heart of that liberation work if only
adults would be willing to make
themselves more relevant young people
deserve the best of us so that they can
be better than us thank you
[Applause]
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