Hakim Mohandas Amani Williams

• Director of Peace and Justice Studies, Gettysburg College
• Morton Deutsch International Center for Cooperation and Conflict Resolution at Teachers College, Columbia University

Trinidad & Tobago is a small and multi-racial, multi-religious society. The society today is as a result of colonialism, slavery and indentureship. There exist lingering colonialities that affect society. My work is with youth and socio-economically depressed communities. I share knowledge with youth and adults about restorative circles so that they can reflect on their histories, heal themselves and together envision and hopefully enact more just and sustainable futures. Working with youth keeps me going. When they invite me back to do continue sharing knowledge with them, my fire remains alit.

I am not sure there is an exact moment. I did indeed attend grad school for peace education but I feel as if my spirit was called to this work a long time ago, long before I even recognized my own self.

It is not striking in terms of being a one time thing, but it is the persistence of the human spirit to keep on seeking, this striving to be better. sometimes collectively we can’t see that, but when you work in communities you see the troubled mix of that energy alongside globalizing forces that divide us from enacting alternative futures.