Transformation is possible — and our lives depend on it
A bold vision for a better future invites us to transform our selves, our communities, and our collective systems
I was an emotional wreck. It was April 28, 2015. Fifteen minutes up the road from my office, some stores in Baltimore were on fire as the world watched Black people’s — my people’s — pain and rage at a system that has been killing us since we first made contact, against our will, with this land. Two weeks before, Freddie Gray had been killed in the back of a police van.
I was angry, hurt, terrified, and in despair while (as women of color often are) holding the responsibility to provide a container for others. At the time I was the assistant director of a local sexual and domestic violence service providing agency. I wanted staff to be able to process their reactions and responses to what was happening.
Before I needed to go into a conference room to help comfort staff who’d gathered there, I shared my despair and anger with a colleague whose words in response ignited something in me that has propelled me ever since. She said, “This is how things have always been. This is not going to change.”
I fundamentally disagreed that day, and still do. Those words shape the way I do my work now. Because I believe as human beings that we are better than this. I believe that as humans we have the capacity to take responsibility for how we create, benefit from, or contribute to harmful systems. I believe as humans, we are capable of transforming ourselves and those systems.
Hearing those words that day, and many other times, I used to think I was naïve for having this kind of hope and determination. Yet today I am lucky enough to help organize and lead a network of folks across this country and beyond who believe in our human capacity for healing and transformation alongside me and who show the way through anger, despair, distrust, pessimism, and cynicism for us all.
Resonance Network members are aunties and uncles, storytellers and artists, time travelers, healers, and freedom dreamers. Some are movement professionals and some are folks who are just fed up and ready to take action to transform a culture of violence. We are people who know our survival depends on building other possibilities.
So, we travel in time and organize ourselves and our communities around a future vision for a world beyond violence, a world rooted in connection to ourselves, each other, and our planet. We are healing together and building this world every day by embodying our values in our selves and our communities, and taking action together to transform our collective systems.
I believe as human beings that we are better than this. I believe that as humans we have the capacity to take responsibility for how we create, benefit from, or contribute to harmful systems.
The approach we take starts with Our Selves, courageously asking:
- Am I willing to be transformed to live up to the fullest manifestation of my values?
- What does that require of me?
- Who must I become?
- What must I repair, unlearn, relearn, heal?
And then, from a place of deep commitment to individual transformation we turn to Our Communities and ask:
- Who is with me on this journey of transformation?
- How am I building connections with others — including my family, friends, coworkers, and neighbors?
- How am I deeply building relationships of equity and belonging?
- What am I doing to tell the truth about harm and injustice?
- How am I and working with others to create meaningful change?
When we are rooted and grounded in communities where we can love and lead and be accountable, we can reimagine and co-create Our Collective Systems that will replace those that have harmed us for generations. We ask:
- How are we taking action to shift norms, policies, and structures to be more equitable and just?
- How are we ensuring that we all matter and have a say in the decisions that impact our lives?
- How are we practicing shared decision-making and shared — leadership and building community-driven leadership and governance?
- What collective choices are we making to nurture the land and ecosystem that sustains us?
