Author, minister, and liberation coach Courtney Napier illuminates below how the work of undoing racism and inequity is connected to the way in which we choose to conduct our conversations each day. She also invites us to explore three articles to dig deeper into the experiences of black women, a humanistic approach to wealth redistribution, and our belonging to place.
“The Way To Right Wrongs Is To Shine The Light Of Truth Upon Them.” Ida B. Wells-Barnett
It is a difficult time for humankind. There isn’t any one on our beloved planet who has not been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. What has also been revealed in this moment is that there are larger structures embedded in our institutions that have caused some to experience greater harm than others. This harm occurs everyday to vulnerable and marginalized individuals, but reaches a fever pitch in times of global crisis.
As a Black woman and someone who is engaged in antiracism and equity advocacy, I connected deeply with the insights by Werner Echard that Peter Block includes in his book, Community: The Structure of Belonging. When describing “The Power of Language, Context, and Possibility”, Block says, “If we want a change in culture, for example, the work is to change the conversation – or, more precisely, to have a conversation that we have not had before, and that has the power to create something new in the world.”
The lifeblood of racism is denial, and the principles that Echard created, and Block uplifts, are the first steps in clamping the vein. The following articles are selected to demonstrate and inspire new conversations about something many of us are ashamed to talk about, but now see that talking about it is the most potent weapon against it.
by Courtney Napier
By Chuck Collins
On Choosing to Belong to a Place
By Robin Wall Kimmerer
