“What could be more important than to live and work with the oppressed, with the ‘rejects of life,’ with the ‘wretched of the earth’?” (133) writes Paulo Freire in his classic work "Pedagogy of the Oppressed." As I finish this book, I know it will be one that I return to throughout my life; it is a dense book, but it is a crucially important read for anyone who has a desire to work with the oppressed or the downtrodden in their struggle for human existence in our world.

I believe this book is especially helpful for those who might consider themselves "allies"--those who are not of the lower class or the marginalized group, but are perhaps lost in the middle or a part of the "dominant elite," but who have a strong desire to fight with the oppressed for liberation and justice. Freire encourages these allies to not approach this fight from the viewpoint of fighting FOR, but fighting WITH the oppressed; allies must stand in solidarity with the oppressed and the marginalized. Freire writes, “Attempting to liberate the oppressed without their reflective participation in the act of liberation is to treat them as objects which must be saved from a burning building" (65). Rather than objects, Freire encourages for the oppressed and those who stand in solidarity with them to view them as Subjects, who can, in fact, change and transform reality.

What I found very helpful in Freire's work is his emphasis on the dehumanizing nature of oppression, not only for those who are oppressed, but also for the ones oppressing. The oppressed are dehumanized, but so are the oppressors, for it is dehumanizing work to dehumanize another. It reminds me of the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., that "no one is free until we are all free." And as aboriginal activist Lilla Watson says, "If you have come here to help me you are wasting your time, but if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together."