Alethia Jones, CHJL, 2022

“Sometimes the quest for reverence is something that we have to really push against the grain, fight for within ourselves and to really cultivate in a very self-conscious and deliberate way, because the default setting of the routine practices of society, it’s not necessarily this. How does one find oneself in a practice, in an experience that can get you back to your humanity despite all of these dehumanizing experiences.”

Joining us as our second guest of Season 3, we welcome Alethia Jones, an educator, author, and liberation coach who creates spaces for transformative learning and dialogue to foster grassroots social change. Hosted by our co-hosts Ceasar McDowell and Ayushi Roy, this episode explores the edges of our personal growth, offering insights on how we can nurture this boundary to protect liberated spaces and sustain justice-based work.

A key focus of the discussion is the challenge of maintaining faith in human goodness while continuously facing evidence that suggests otherwise. Is it naive to hold this faith in people while consistently witnessing harmful acts?

Alethia suggests that pursuing liberation is always worth fighting for and that cultivating a shared sense of dignity for humanity can never be lost. However, in this pursuit, she stresses that we cannot misunderstand the personal preparation that is required. In efforts that great personal stake is demanded, we must first spend time in spaces that are equipped to incubate our intentions, restore worn and deteriorating parts of ourselves, and that can instill a sense of unshakable integrity that is able to resist threats on personal life. In her work, she cultivates spaces that integrate personal and spiritual reflection with professional guidance in order to infuse all levels of self with the wisdom that is required to do the hard things right.

However, Alethia offers caution to the act of putting one’s own personal sense of conviction and expression out for others to engage. Unfortunately, it is true that culturally suppressive practices exist in many domains of exchange and that protecting internal systems of belief and identity is necessary to insulate oneself from flagrant or unwitting violence. It cannot go unstated that in the absence of secure spaces, sharing oneself and culture is risky, and securing the survival of what you have left becomes a priority over offering an anchor for connection to outsiders.

So then, what does it take to build a bridge that is worth crossing? How do we as change agents balance the need for protection with the need to create space for learning, acceptance, and growth? Alethia points to trust as a driver and creating space that communicates that boundaries can be explored and pushed without threat of personal expression being targeted. Moving at the speed of trust is required when managing delicate relationships as Dasjon Jordan would say. Without it, there will always be an impasse blocking meaningful exchange and opportunities for new common ground to materialize.

But where do we turn when the pursuit of human dignity and understanding runs into a wall that only presses back harder when we push against it? How do we stand in the gap? Should we? To answer this, Alethia leaves us with a message of hope, drawing on the wisdom of those who came before us, highlighting Fannie Lou Hamer’s unwavering faith and commitment to the Civil Rights Movement. In the face of prejudice and barbaric violence, Hamer called on her Christian faith to transform hate into righteous power. For Hamer, faith was the force that shaped her journey, refining her advocacy into a tool that empowered the disinherited to condemn injustice rather than individuals, and to fight for liberation that included everyone, including those trapped by their own hate.

So for all of us who desire the integrity to bear the weight of showing up and doing the right thing, consider this question: Are you preparing your mind in spaces that are cultivating your heart?

Until next time! Look forward to our next release on February 19th where we connect with Elizabeth Garlow on Economy as a Garden.

For more information on liberatory coaching and work Alethia is excited about and supporting, check out Coaching for Healthing, Justice, and Liberation (CHJL).

To view selected readings of Alethia’s work, check out:

• “The Politics of “Healthy Love”: Positionality, Principles and Practices in the Combahee River Collective Statement.” 3rd Cuban Journada for the International Day of Afro-Latin Women of -Afro-Caribbean and the Diaspora, University of Havana, Cuba. July 22–24, 2024.
• Contextual Reading: Combahee River Collective Statement (1977)
• Jones, Alethia & Eubanks, Virginia with Smith, Barbara, Eds. “Chapter 1: Chronicling an Activist Life and Building This Book,” in Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around: Forty Years Of Movement Building With Barbara Smith. SUNY Press. (2014).