Speaking Truth to Power

Critical Reflection #9

What?: My time at RotaCare clinic has shown me that if one person acknowledges an issue in their community and actually decides to take action and figure out how to help, it can make a huge difference in someone else’s life. I vividly remember my second week of volunteering, the coordinator and another volunteer who has been there for almost 20 years were discussing one of the patients who seems to have just not gotten the right care from a particular doctor at the clinic. They were not saying that the doctor was not a good doctor, but that it seemed that he was not handling the patient’s well-being accordingly. Moreover, this patient, from what we could speculate, was an immigrant from Florida; but what I heard from the conversation, was that he was in jail for a while there, or maybe that was the reason he was there (caught crossing the border with his group). Also, they mentioned that he may have been shackled or had some type of ankle bracelet, that for some reason, was still on him. I met the man, I interpreted for him. He was no criminal. He was timid, perhaps a little fearful, as to be expected when you are living the life of an undocumented immigrant. Something about his story just validated even more the reality of our nations immigration issue and the reality of what these people have faced and are facing.

This story among the others I have lived and written about are now all pieces of me and my “social consciousness.” I am more attuned to the stories heard on TV, to the faces of the patients who come in the clinic, and to the words spoken from my mother’s mouth and the fear and distrust she has for our nation. To all these things, I am more attuned. I am more attuned to my actions, my faces, my words and how speaking my truth is much more powerful than staying silent.

So What?: Racial discrimination is experienced across a spectrum. It may occur in a passive way by excluding people socially or by being indifferent to their views and experiences. It may take the form of prejudice and stereotyping of different groups in our community; in name calling, taunting or insults; or in actively and directly excluding or discriminating against people from services on opportunities.

In the TedTalk video, Clint Smith gives a powerful performance on how silence in the midst of injustice and hate is more powerful and more harmful than anything else. Clint reflects on his own failures to tell his truth. For lent one year Clint gave up his speech, and realized that he had refused to speak up so much that he may as well be silent. He talked of times where he ignored or held his tongue against a gay friend being bashed, ignored a homeless person, let a woman insult his “unintelligent” students at a fundraising event. He ends his speech with, “Live every day as if there is a microphone under your tongue, you don’t need a soapbox, you just need your voice.”

This last bit of his speech was powerful because he encourages the rest of us to examine the areas of our lives where we have been silent, and to raise our voices for justice. I believe that this last line of Smith’s speech connected with the work I have been doing at RotaCare clinic because before I began volunteering, I never knew that places such as this existed. I had no idea that there was an actual clinic who provided FREE health services to individuals who had the greatest need for it. Until I did my research and observed what was happening at the clinic, did I finally realize the larger context as to why I was there or perhaps why I was called to be there.

Now I am learning, experiencing, and understanding what speaking truth to power means. When certain groups are not given the chance or opportunity for their voices to be heard, we as a society are allowing the practice of institutionalized racism to continue, and ultimately, crippling the lives of those being affected by the words and actions heard through media. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.

Now What?: Too often, people are trying to replace experience with knowledge. As Glass states, “The struggle for justice is not some particular action; it is a way of life that finds room for transformative action in every domain” (3). Thus suggesting that just because one learns about a certain injustice or participates in a march does not mean they understand the struggle for justice. Through history and current events we can see why certain injustices still exist, but we will not know what it means if we just stand back and say nothing else about it.

This course has illustrated the power in our voices and in our writing. While we may believe that it is too much work or too big of a job to start something, such as the WOKE group, it is not! If anything, WOKE should have taught us to see that it is possible, and that transformative action can become a way of life. From a young age my grandmother told me to find one thing that I am most passionate about. One thing. Once I have found that, she said I had to put the time and to everyday, find something new and exciting about the issue. Times are always changing, but it does not mean that our beliefs, values and ideas should be compromised because of it. My favorite quote from the Glass reading states that, “Speaking truth to power not only preserved my own sense of integrity but also showed my white teammates that racism need not be tolerated from anyone at any time” (2). It is okay to agree and disagree but we should also never forget that our consciousness points us toward an extraordinary responsibility to create a better world for all beings.

I am more aware of how I speak and how I approach speaking to others. I am more aware of others and how they interact with others. I am more attuned with my thoughts and how I want to continue to practice what I have learned in the course to my future endeavors. Because as Bryan Stevenson affirms, we are all broken, and with that, we each hold the power to speak the truth and to not remain silent.