I Was Once an Oppressor, But I Found the Strength Within to Free Myself

In this short reflective essay, I share how I underwent a metamorphosis during the COVID-19 pandemic. For the first time in my life, I chose to use my education and my life experiences as a historically marginalized individual of color to decolonize my pedagogy. Thanks to the scholarship of Ladson-Billings (1995), I was able to transform my pedagogy into one where the cultural and racial identities and lived experiences of my students are acknowledged and validated in our classroom, one where my students—even just for a short period—can experience what it feels like to not be bound by the shackles of society’s oppressors