ONE
responded by putting together a three-part workshop
Introduction
series, though it should be said, not before several
of our members came to us hoping to make sense of
the attacks. When members of a Brotherhood chapter
This curriculum could not have been compiled 10 years
were at the end of their high school career, it created
ago. It comes from facilitating nearly 2000 workshops
a moment to weigh choices about going to college or
with Brotherhood/Sister Sol members in single-sex
to work and exposed fractures within a group whose
and coeducational settings, in programs focused on
individuals had opposing viewpoints about the next best
deconstructing mainstream messages and on organizing
life step. This too led to developing a workshop, one on
for social change, and taking place in Harlem, the South
examining how the historically oppressed are made to
Bronx, Cairo, Accra, Santo Domingo, and elsewhere.
see each other as competitors rather than allies.
Our work with young people began with a list of critical
Brother, Sister, Leader: The Official Curriculum
focus issues we thought essential for them to explore as
of The Brotherhood/Sister Sol is a compilation of
Black and Latino/a people, as young women and men,
strategies and over 50 workshops field-tested with
as recipients of a mis-education, and as residents of
our members since 1995. It brings to life issues we
neglected communities. Pan African & Latino/a History.
believe are linked to profound personal and social
Sexism & Misogyny. Leadership Development. The list
transformation. Liberating Voices/Liberating Minds, the
evolved along with changes in The Brotherhood/Sister
imprint under which we publish this and other books,
Sol (BHSS) growing from a single-sex to a co-educational
was carefully named to reflect an educational approach
organization, from establishing school-based chapters to
in which each of our members is helped to find his/her
assembling a cadre of youth organizers, from working
vision of liberation. It may be about freeing themselves
with teens only to including youth as young as age
from negative pressures of the street, redefining
six. Mind, Body & Spirit. Political Education & Social
constrictive gender roles within their significant
Justice. We spent a long time identifying key ideas and
relationships, or organizing against harmful forces in
skills we wanted young people to learn and acquire. We
their community. Games and roleplay, reflective writing
then began developing workshops for our members,
and discussion, visual and oral expression help them
some of whom go through 13 years of schooling with
choose brotherhood/sisterhood over violence, passion
little significance given to their history and culture, to
over rage, and hope over despair.
women’s contributions to the building and sustaining of
civilizations, or to young people’s own empowerment.
BHSS offers a space where young people feel free
to be themselves because they are respected and
Using the focus issues, BHSS staff continually create
appreciated. Jamaican, Puerto Rican, Black American,
curriculum to facilitate workshops in our different
Ghanaian, Dominican, Cuban, Haitian youth recognize
programs, but also because the constant flow of ideas
shared qualities of tradition, strength, and spirituality
and actions taking place in the world cannot be ignored.
instead of accepting the negative traits publicly ascribed
When our members were confronted with gang violence,
to them. We do not believe only adults of color can
we helped them deal with its personal, immediate effects
effectively teach and influence youth of color, but we
and develop skills for safely resolving conflict. We kept
understand the importance of having relationships with
the issue “real” by using the words of the rapper Biggie
educators with whom one has affinity – racial/ethnic,
Smalls, as we so often use Hip Hop as a teaching tool.
gender, class, and sexual orientation. Our members’
When helping Sister Sol members grasp the concept
reactions to an exhibit on lynching – of seeing dangling,
of sisterhood, our chapter leaders reflected on their
charred Black bodies and smiling white faces – were
life experiences, putting together an exhibit that was
instant, intense, and uncensored. Young people and
uniquely personal yet universal in its scope. When
their elders, together, truthfully expressed their pain
planes flew into the World Trade Center, far south of
and anger and connected to each other’s learning and
our brownstone but right in the face of our lives, we
7
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