I firmly believe that there is a fine distinction between an educator & a scholar. I believe that, while a scholar can most certainly become an educator, the two are not inherently synonymous (& need not be).

An educator is one who is compelled to patiently walk with those who desire to expand & unsettle but may lack certain privileged access to resources & tools.

The knowledge of the educator is textured by care & concern. The educator is aware that everyone has to start somewhere.

An educator facilitates spaces for reflection. An educator is not invested in having throngs of people circle them with praises directed at their intellectual prowess. An educator is burdened precisely by the awareness that folks lack access to the circle or fear entering one.

While I take my position as an emerging scholar seriously, I am far more motivated by my commitments to grow and be held accountable as an educator.

Closing his remarks given at the Oxford Union Debate in 1964, Malcolm X declared, “And I, for one, will join in with anyone—don’t care what color you are—as long as you want to change this miserable condition that exists on this earth.”

Malcolm X was an educator’s educator.

*alongside X, I am most inspired by the works and examples of Black feminist and womanist educators who showed a fast-talking, insecure student from Central Texas “a more excellent way” simply because they cared about him.