Mutual Consent

Youth worker Orland Bishop explains how young people learn about power from adults. In the absence of elders who have cultivated wisdom in their lives and know how to transmit it to younger generations, young people see power abused and either reject it altogether or take it to an extreme. Violence, which Orland calls power without consciousness, is their cultural inheritance. And yet, when based on respect and consideration, human power is magical. Can we imagine if humanity collectively exercised power with love and mutual consent?

Orland Bishop
Orland Bishop is the founder and director of ShadeTree Multicultural Foundation in Los Angeles, where he has pioneered approaches to urban truces and mentoring at-risk youth that combine new ideas with traditional ways of knowledge. ShadeTree serves as an intentional community of mentors, elders, teachers, artists, healers and advocates for the healthy development of children and youth. Orland's work in healing and human development is framed by an extensive study of medicine, naturopathy, psychology and indigenous cosmologies, primarily those of South and West Africa. Full bio and links »