Emmanuel Williams is a man who’s life mission is to nullify the effects of global supremacy on those who are not included in the dominant culture. As an 80’s baby that was born and raised in NE Portland, he’s experienced the bliss of growing up in a black community and the sting of being treated as ‘other’ when traveling just 5-10 minutes out any direction into the Portland-Metro Area. Growing up black in what is known as the “whitest city in America” will give you an involuntary crash course on racism. However, the combination of the formal US education system and his life experience did not equip him to understand why racism was such a strong and pervasive force in the world. Not even his amazing undergrad education and life experience at Texas Southern University in Houston Texas could have given him all that he needed to know about the matter. 

The murders of Trayvon Martin, Oscar Grant, Mike Brown, Tamir Rice, Sandra Bland, Freddie Gray, Alton Sterling, Philando Castile, Terence Crutcher, and others, left him with a profound sense confusion. He was confronted with racism in a way he couldn’t ignore. In 2014 he set himself on a path to find the root of this problem that’s been predicated on something so simple as skin color, yet is so powerful as to divide co-workers, friends, family, and even church congregations. In 2017 he created the Sox and Sandals Podcast to create a platform of unapologetic expression and free thought. A show designed to openly discuss topics of society, culture, history, and Religion. Over the years he has been solicited to create content in collaboration with the Central Library of Multnomah County, Black Voices United PDX Candidates Forum, Portland Sneaker Week, Camp ELSO, Albina Vision Trust, KairosPDX, and Self Enhancement Inc’s after school program. 

In August 2020 Emmanuel launched Youniversal Professional Development and from October to December led an eight-week ten person cohort through a live course titled, “Know Your Enemy: The Evolution of Racism.” The course is a culmination of the dozens of books consumed and the hundreds of hours of interviews with subject matter experts on the topic of race and racism. He continues to privately teach the course, teach a podcasting class at SEI and conduct organizational training that pertain to the social construction of race, mitigating the effects of racism, and producing justice, correctness, peace, and harmony among all people.