Molly and Principled Struggle

Principled Struggle

In this video, Molly expands on the importance of building relationships by introducing N'Tanya Lee's Principled Struggle as a way to frame engagement in conversations with others. Principled Struggle stems from a Transformative Justice framework, and calls us to reflect on our own thoughts and feelings to recognize how they impact us and those around us in shared spaces. It contains six principles to guide intentionality and group norms:

• We struggle for the sake of deepening our collective understanding and getting to greater unity

• Be honest and direct - while holding compassion

• Take responsibility for your own feelings and actions

• Seek deeper understanding (ask, read first)

• Consider that this may or may not be the container to hold what you need to bring

• Side conversations/one-on-ones should help us get a better understanding, not check out. Test: could I bring the essence of this conversation back to the group?

As we move forward in our work to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly, we are required to examine the ways in which we can transform ourselves to realize the world we want to see within our own thoughts, feelings, and actions to prepare us for the work ahead.