Safer spaces are spaces – physical or mental – wherein which a policy of awareness is activated so that people experiencing discrimination can come together with fewer points of friction and attack. Safer spaces are essential for survival and empowerment. Because we need to rest and because we deserve spaces that are safe. However, people who experience discrimination also need and want to be critical with themselves, to continue and learn new things and to (challenge) themselves. That is why we now also provide braver spaces. Having emerged primarily in queer Black spaces, Braver Spaces are understood not as a replacement for, but an extension of the Safer Spaces concept. A space in which knowledge is challenged and critically questioned, (re)learned and shared with the policies of safer spaces. A specific space where we address issues that are difficult: for us and for our communities. Topics that have been erased, overwritten, silenced or simply not discussed enough (by us) until today. Topics that require us to be brave together!
“Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” – James Baldwin