“True community is based upon equality, mutuality, and reciprocity. It affirms the richness of individual diversity as well as the common human ties that bind us together.”
– Dr. Pauli Murray
“Beloved community is formed not by the eradication of difference but by its affirmation, by each of us claiming the identities and cultural legacies that shape who we are and how we live in the world.”
– bell hooks
Guided by the framework developed by Melanie Tervalon and Jann Murray-Garcia, we believe that cultural humility requires a lifelong commitment to learning, self-evaluation, and critique, to redressing imbalances of power, and to cultivating relationships with mutuality and collaboration – not simply as individuals but as an organization. As we embark upon this collective healing path, it is our intention to honor ancestral, cultural, and community knowledge and lived experience. As Dr. Pauli Murray and bell hooks remind us, true community, beloved community, intentional community, is forged in the fires of reciprocity, mutuality, and affirmation of diverse cultural legacies. These words affirm that to move toward true healing justice, we must continuously engage in the practices of cultural humility.
