carla joy bergman, editor of Trust Kids!, will be joined by contributors to discuss one of the central themes running through her new book from AK Press: confronting adult supremacy. This event is free and online only!

Youth oppression is part of the machine that keeps the forces of empire together. The deepening hold of capitalism on our everyday lives has made it more difficult than ever to imagine and enact social change and autonomy. Even when kids live in radical and supportive homes, they still face oppression and adult supremacy in their encounters with other adults.

Solidarity begins at home, with the human and more-than-human beings we depend on. From this perspective, Trust Kids! Stories on Youth Autonomy and Confronting Adult Supremacy is about amplifying stories and actions that reveal the liberatory potential of undoing the social borders that cut us off from each other and the world. Adults must contend with their personal and social power while they actively work to undo adult supremacy. This constructed and often violent social border between adults and kids is a massive barrier to youth autonomy. Unbuilding these walls will take a fierce commitment from us all. In doing so, we will provide beautiful openings for us all to co-create a truly intergenerational just future, one where we all can flourish and thrive more. Because as long as there are seeds of hierarchy in any of our relationships, justice will not take root and bloom. 

Noleca Radway is the Founder of Queer Media, a family production company specializing in audio and visual art though a Black Queer lens. She is the producer and host of the progressive parenting podcast Raising Rebels. She is also the former Executive Director of the Brooklyn Free School. 

Stacey Patton is a child abuse survivor and former foster youth turned an award-winning journalist, college professor, and child advocate. She is the author of That Mean Old Yesterday, Spare the Kids: Why Whupping Children Won't Save Black America, and the forthcoming Strung Up: The Lynching of Black Children in Jim Crow America.

Toby Rollo is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Lakehead University. His research interests focus on democratic theory, the history of political thought, disability and childhood. He has published on the intersections of childhood and race, colonialism, feminism, and contemporary democratic politics. 

Zach Bergman (he/him) is an artist, writer, record label owner, and a composer. He holds a MA in electro-acoustics and composition from the University of Birmingham, UK. You can find Zach’s music under the moniker Sour Gout, and Collapsed Structures.

carla joy bergman (she/they) is a joyarchist who dabbles with poetry, writing, and storytelling, often opening realms of autonomy, art, creativity, and challenging empire. carla has spent the past two decades creating intergenerational multi-media projects with community that are rooted in trust, and with youth autonomy and undoing adult supremacy at the heart of all she does.