Part 4: From Resistance to Restoration: What Are We Really Racing Toward?

Jun 1

In this moment, I’m reflecting on the cost and calling of living in your truth, especially when institutions, families, and cultures ask you to stay silent. Too often, what gets mistaken for a healthy workplace is really manufactured harmony. Behind the polished branding and carefully scripted morale, real concerns are buried, and dignity is deferred.

This final reflection of my four-part series, which to date has explored: (1) how truth disrupts the illusion of contentment; (2) how emotional honesty is leadership; (3) how cultures of silence betray missions; culminates with exploring (4) how we can dream new structures rooted in dignity and human value.

The world doesn’t change by accident. It changes when one brave voice honors their humanity, and in doing so, becomes a call others can answer.

My life’s work has always been about honoring that call. That sacred echo.

Hey, Collective,

This week was a study in contrasts.

I stood before three groups of middle schoolers (6th, 7th, and 8th grade) invited by two visionary school mental health professionals who reimagined Race Against Racism into something deeply local, personal, and student-centered.

They didn’t just partner. They reclaimed. They called it PRIDE: Promoting Respect, Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity, which is a culturally responsive PBIS program rooted in truth and belonging.

As a Black school psychologist, it moved me deeply.

They didn’t stage a moment. They curated meaning. And I was honored to keynote each grade level with the message:

We are not just racing against racism. We are racing toward what we can build, together.

And yet, within hours, I was reminded why so many of us struggle to cross the finish line fully intact.

Because too often, clarity is mistaken for threat.
Courage is punished.
And care, when it tells the truth, is treated like a betrayal.

This is Part 4 of a four-part series on The Cost and Calling of Living in Your Truth. This one explores what it means to build structures rooted in dignity and human value.

Because this work isn’t just theoretical. It’s deeply personal, and sometimes painfully revealing.

The Power of Discovery

To discover is to reclaim what the world tried to erase.

This week, I watched students, some of whom had seen our podcast and remembered Emma, stand taller in their voices. They didn’t shrink. They didn’t flinch. They remembered who they were.

That’s not small. That’s sacred.

Because when we stop pretending not to see what matters most, we stop disappearing.

Belonging is not a performance. It’s a practice.

And it starts by recognizing how many of us have been told to shrink to survive. That safety means silence. That professionalism means invisibility.

I’ve lived that story. I no longer carry it.

Discovery Curiosities:

What parts of you have been made to feel “too much?”
Who are you becoming now that you’ve stopped hiding?
What truth are you ready to return to?

The Power of Discernment

Discernment is deciding what you stand for before the world decides for you.

I asked the students a question that has stayed with me:

“Instead of just saying what you're against, what’s something you're for?”

Because like Dr. Shawn Ginwright reminds us: Anti-racism is a start, but it’s not the finish line. Belonging is.

That question doesn’t just apply to students. It applies to us, too. To leaders. To systems. To anyone who’s ever felt the cost of naming what others refuse to see.

I’ve recently witnessed what happens when truth disrupts image management: Truth-tellers often become targets not because they’re wrong, but because they make the invisible visible.

This week, I watched the mirror become the threat.

And still, I choose truth enveloped in compassionate curiosity because an image can’t transform what it refuses to face.

Discernment Curiosities:

What’s one value you’re willing to protect out loud?
What are you co-creating that reflects the kind of world you want to live in and leave for our children?
What does real safety look and feel like, in your workplace, in your community, for you and others?

The Power of Determination

Determination is the courage to build what never existed, but always should have for you and others.

This week, I watched students raise their fists and say together, “I rise to be seen.” They weren’t just repeating my words. They were reclaiming their birthright.

But when I stepped outside that auditorium, a different kind of story unfolded.

The message wasn’t loud, but it was clear:
Truth is welcome until it becomes inconvenient.
Care is offered until power feels vulnerable.

This isn’t because people don’t care.
It’s because many have forgotten how to listen without defending.
How to receive truth without retreating into control.

This pattern isn’t new.
It’s the “pet to threat” pattern.
The discomfort of clarity.
The quiet (and sometimes loud) dismissal of those who name what others avoid.

And if you’ve been there, you know—
It’s not just frustrating.
It’s deeply, deeply exhausting.

To the quiet executives in the room who look like a deer in headlights:
I see your body tell the truth your lips cannot.
This world teaches us that proximity to power will protect us.
But self-betrayal is not safety.
And shrinking to survive means the world never gets the fullness of your story.

I say this with hope because I have witnessed firsthand what unfolds when we walk in our fullness. This is when the power of building something better is activated.

Determination Curiosities:

What kind of world are you racing toward?
What truth do you need to speak, not just for yourself, but for someone else who can’t yet speak?
What would it look like to lead with restoration instead of reactivity?

For the Truth-Tellers Who Are Tired

If you’ve ever…

Been invited for your insight and punished for your honesty
Felt the weight of a whole team’s pain land in your lap
Been praised in public, then questioned in private
Watched people perform equity while avoiding repair

…I see you. You’re not alone. You’re just ahead of your time.

There are people who will read this and feel seen.
Maybe you’ve started wondering if your standards are too high.
Maybe you’ve felt punished for leading with integrity.
Maybe you’ve been made to feel like the problem just for naming the problem.

That’s not your fault.
It’s the system trying to keep its mirrors fogged.

The Invitation

To the educators, the school mental health professionals, the strategists, the culture shapers, the weary visionaries:

You are not too much.
You are not alone.
You are right on time.

We are not just racing against racism.

We are racing toward joy.
Toward wholeness.
Toward workplaces, classrooms, and communities where everyone can be seen, safe, and free.

So here’s your invitation:

Be the builder.
Be the mirror.
Be the one who helps others run free.

Your courage could be the restoration someone else has been waiting for.

If this reflection stirred something within you, I invite you to subscribe to my Substack for weekly roundups every Saturday and early access to new episodes of the Living in 3D Power podcast.

As always, please go to our website to suggest further questions or topics we can discuss. Also, please listen (or re-listen) to Episode 19 of Living in 3D Power on the power of being seen. Then send it to someone who helps you feel safe enough to be celebrated as your full, expansive self.

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Together, let's keep building spaces where authenticity leads and restoration follows.

And if you're a school leader or mental health professional ready to build a culture of restoration, belonging, and courageous leadership, let’s talk.

Because I don’t just want to speak truth.

I want to help you build the world that truth deserves.

In solidarity, action, and love,

Amber

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