Davia Young

Hey Y’all! 

My name is Davia Young (I use she/her/hers pronouns) and I am the new Tzedek Fellow working with CoThinkk. I was born and raised as a Reform Jew in Durham, North Carolina and I just graduated from Guilford College with a degree in Community & Justice Studies, a double minor in Environmental Studies and Gender Studies, and a language focus in Arabic. 

After traveling to Israel/Palestine, I realized I identify as an anti-Zionist Jew, and found a religious and cultural home as a Fellow for Jewish Voice for Peace in the Triangle, an organization committed to Palestinian solidarity work rooted in Jewish values. Through my undergraduate studies, I developed a passion for Participatory Action Research, which aims to disrupt conventional forms of knowledge production by centering community voices and narratives, and finding community-led solutions. PAR is dedicated to changing who our society deems “experts” and who decides what makes research “valid.” I have also been a student organizer with Integrity for Guilford, a multi-issue and multi-racial student led coalition, which advocated around issues of institutionalized racism in higher education, specifically working to hold Guilford College accountable to their core values.

I consider the struggle for justice and equity to be interdisciplinary and intersectional. To me, building community, coalition work, and sharing spaces are some of the most powerful tools for change. I am committed to using my identities and privileges to fight for justice by accessing my various communities that perpetuate oppression. I aim to create conversations about what it means to be white and how we can disempower, dismantle, and divest from white supremacy. The fight for collective liberation is intertwined, from Palestine to Asheville, North Carolina 

I am thrilled to be welcomed into the CoThinkk family and look forward to offering my skill sets to this incredible organization doing crucial work for communities of color in Western North Carolina.