Turn Up For Freedom: Notes for All the Tough Girls* Awakening to Their Collective Power

A guidebook for healing and resistance for young girls and gender-expansive youth of color, based on the principles of TUFF Girls (Turning Up for Freedom), which emphasizes youth leadership, healing, protection, and community organizing.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 192 pages
Publication date: 09 November 2023
Publisher: Common Notions

A comprehensive guidebook for young girls and gender-expansive youth of color, offering invaluable insights into healing, resistance, unity, protection, and leadership within their communities. This empowering resource empowers youth leaders to develop their skills and cultivate personal, emotional, and collective freedom. By embracing principled positions such as healer, protector, scholar-activist, community organizer, and radically joyful, youth leaders can build a strong foundation for personal growth and collective liberation.

Through engaging memoir, storytelling, and political education, author E Morales-Williams seamlessly weaves these principles into the lived experiences of working-class youth, reflecting on the possibilities and challenges of practicing them as a collective in under-resourced communities. These principles are rooted in the experiences of a Black and Brown girls and gender expansive youth-collective called TUFF Girls (Turning Up for Freedom), based in North Philadelphia. Morales-Williams provides a thoughtful and compassionate guide, empowering young readers to navigate the complex issues they face, recognizing the devastating impact of structural violence on Black and Brown communities. She also restores traditions of healing and collective care, while re-centering leadership in community as an abolitionist and decolonizing practice.

Turn Up For Freedom serves as a rallying call to young people, urging them to unite, heal, protect, and lead their communities. It encourages them to embrace their identities, challenge oppressive systems, and work towards a more just and equitable world. By following the principles outlined in this guide, youth leaders can become agents of change, fostering a sense of belonging, resilience, and empowerment among their peers.

In conclusion, Turn Up For Freedom is a transformative resource that empowers young girls and gender-expansive youth of color to heal, resist, unite, protect, and lead their communities. Through personal growth, collective liberation, and abolitionist practices, this guide equips youth leaders with the tools they need to make a positive impact and create a brighter future for themselves and their communities.

Dimension: 203 x 127 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781942173830