Why I Do This Work...and Want To Do More...

There I was, unbagging my food delivery, getting giddy that I have a new carton of moose tracks with brownie bits ice cream AND a couple of those little pies in a box, pecan to be exact, feeling like a seven year old - who just got a carton of ice cream and two little pies in a box. And, as my mind works, I think of my ability to access those and other more substantial food resources and how that ease, that privilege, that human right is not a universally accessed dynamic. I think and feel, also, into the experience of people in the DR Congo, Sudan, Palestine, Haiti, Venezuela, Detroit Michigan, Camden New Jersey. I can quickly point to areas of great suffering, pain and trauma and also with nearly equal facility can reference peoples and organizations and communities and groups that are surviving, resisting, fighting and thriving against deep and abiding odds that would push them toward imminent failure.

Portrait of Ukumbwa Sauti from photo by Nancy Capaccio, digitally rendered by Carrie

I haven't worked at and intend more of my work for social justice, healing and liberation because I have direct impact on the people and lands (those elements go together...always) of the Congo or Minneapolis Minnesota, Port au Prince, Oakland California or Occupied Azania/South Africa. I may or may not know people in all of those places and liberation struggles that are historical there and/or in present manifestation. I do this work because I know these struggles are all connected.

"Strengthening justice anywhere strengthens justice everywhere"

I do this work because I feel for myself, my desire for justice and liberation and hear and feel that in the lives of people and lands everywhere. As Water Clan in the Dagara spiritual tradition, I sense and see large and systemic scales of energy and power, of struggle, of resistance, of the long walk toward liberation, the long walk home. I also see, feel and experience directly the people and struggles closest to me, the imbalances and oppressions that live in my communities and beloved social circles. 

For those of us that inhabit identities that are targeted by oppressive forces, systems, narratives and social structures, I want us to be able to connect more deeply with ourselves, our pasts, our brave presences, our best and brightest, most badass futures defined by continuing and renewed agency as individuals in community of culture, history and the loving fight for our best, unedited, fully flowered selves. I want us to know that we have powerful pasts and can see with new clarity into healing presence and healed and flowering futures.

For those of us that inhabit identities that are privileged and empowered by the oppressive powers of ableism, patriarchy, racism or economic class, I want us to be able to be clear in how we participate and contribute to the harms these oppressions mete out upon their targeted populations, how inaction and silence is violence and how indifference brings pain, how "peace and love" and unity intended is deferred as wishes and words are not wisdom until we can illuminate and reconcile systemic, cultural and interpersonal harm and trauma in material and embodied ways so that love can actually be a lived reality for all.

I do this because, if the people want pecan pie...or fufu or rice and beans or thiebou djienne, that they can have it because we've figured out the systems and ways of thinking that have blocked the people's Ancestral knowing and genius, ancient and new and functional foodways, women's historical penchant for egalitarianism, leadership and communal provision and the informed support for children growing up in cultural contexts that make sense for their safety, education and thriving.

I do this because I need healing, love, full flowering, freedom and liberation as an African man on Turtle Island, living, struggling within a racist and patriarchal capitalist settler colony. I do this because I want the same for those around me. And, yes....beyond, in all the ways we as humans live and work and struggle and fight and love and dream, no matter where we are.  I want us all to understand, know, sense, feel, critique and beautifully advance into the projections of our best personal and communal selves, safe, strong and connected to the lands, waters, air, animal family and each other in the best ways possible.

I would love to have conversations with people, with groups, communities that also feel that within all of the hardships and beauty of human life on Earth right now, that there is hard work, good work, necessary work to do to live in a world based on truth, love, justice, consent respected and respect for life beyond our own.  I would love to talk about how my work as a consultant, educator, facilitator, guide and counsel can help people move forward to what we know is possible, to help us all find ways to make it more visible to the heart, validated upon the Earth.

Please take some time to look at my Linktree site, http://linktr.ee/UkumbwaSautiConsultantEducator or navigate around this blog site. Please reach out by email - ukumbwa @ gmail.com - if you would like to book a time to inquire more about what I might be able to do for you and to let me know what your needs and visions are.

Let's Talk About You and Your Work

 Warm greetings. I'm Ukumbwa Sauti (oo-KOOM-bwah sah-OO-tee) and I am an independent Consultant, Educator, Facilitator, also providing 1-to-1 guidance and counsel on issues of anti-racism, anti-patriarchy, Men's Work, consent and culture. I assist groups, communities, organizations and individuals in manifesting deepening awareness, development and embodied, relational social justice work. My goal is to support all communities I am able to in their collective and individual growth as I engage my own in the process. 

This work is intensely important and personal for me. My lived experience as an African in America, a cis heterosexual+ man has brought me into awareness of differing levels and sources of abuses of power, whether interpersonally or systemically. What many of us are seeing and experiencing in our current political and social challenges, whether we are being targeted and/or are complicit with varied intersectional expressions of oppressive power, are formations of historical and present dynamics. These serious challenges require us to take committed time and effort to engage, face with authenticity and integrity, feel emotionally and in other embodied ways, while opening up pathways to justice, liberation and healing.

I invite you, others that you feel and know would benefit from engaging in this work with me toward social justice and personal growth to contact me. (information following)

This work is informed by my lived and deeply considered personal and communal experiences and also decades of leading, co-leading and participating in cultural and political actions, groups and organizations with youth and adults within the African diasporan/Black community and across cultural, gendered, class and spiritual environments. Sixteen years of teaching racial, gendered, political, environmental and technological dynamics through the lens of cultural media studies was foundational to my development in this work. 

Opportunities include 1-to-1 or small group video call sessions, larger group video workshops and in-person discussions, presentations and workshops for groups, communities, schools, higher education and organizations.

I ask that you visit https://linktr.ee/UkumbwaSautiConsultantEducator and share my link with others as you are inspired to do so. Please reach out by email (ukumbwa @ gmail.com) to set up a half-hour informational conversation for me to find out more about you and your needs, answer questions and talk about powerful possibilities. 

Thanks so much for reading and please be free to share this post. 

Fundamental Political, Cultural, Historical Context for Understanding

These concepts and understandings are not easy for a lot of people in and outside of the USAmerican Settler Colony to accept. They are grounded in historical reality, though are constantly pushed back against to allow systems of oppression and exploitation to continue to operate without substantive  resistance.  That said, many individuals and organizations, movements do accept and operate with consciousness and principled integrity within these contexts which allows them a level of effectiveness in their work toward justice, liberation and freedom that others can and will not achieve.

• The USAmerica is a christian imperialist European settler colony founded in violence, genocide, land theft and brutal chattel enslavement.
• European capitalist colonialism and imperialism continues to devastate Indigenous peoples, the Global Majority, poor people everywhere and the Earth's ecosystems.
• White supremacy, racism and patriarchy are intersecting systems of violent oppression sustained within European colonialism to secure power, labor, land and resource access.
• Racism and patriarchy are global intersecting systems of power and control that empower and privilege European/white people and men while limiting access and autonomy to others. White people and men are negatively affected in differing ways. Whiteness is a problematic and damaging dynamic/identity. Men and masculinity can shed and heal from problematic behaviors and associations.
• Freedom and liberation require the dissolution and dismantling of oppressive ideas, systems, structures and (anti-)cultural processes. Peace will not be achieved without justice. Justice requires the liberation of humanity and all of Nature, the Earth.

Please contact me, as always, by email - ukumbwa@gmail.com - to talk about an introductory informational meeting to inquire about and begin work together 1-to-1 or with your organization, group or community toward the work that must be done and the outcomes we know in our hearts are necessary for the health and development of empowered social change. Thank you.

(C) 2026 Ukumbwa Sauti