June 3, 2020

Never forget that justice
is what love looks like in public.

Cornel West

But if you are a person who believes in love, justice, integrity, and equity for all people, then you know that this work is nonnegotiable.

If you are a person who wants to become a good ancestor, then you know that this work is some of the most important work that you will be called to do in your lifetime. Here’s to doing what is right and not what is easy.

Layla F. Saad

Beannacht,
Judith – judith@stonefires.com

June 2, 2020

On June 17, 2013, Erdem Gunduz stood in Istanbul’s Taksim Square, facing the Turkish flag and portrait of Turkey’s founder.

He remained there in silence for hours. Alone. Unmoving. His image spread on Twitter. Within hours, several hundred people joined him.

And within one day, similar silent protests sprung up around the country. 

There was no need to yell and rage and march. There was no need to hold a sign. Everyone knew exactly why he was standing and what he was standing for. The power of silence and solidarity. And that silence reverberated across the country. 

Right now so many are wondering what to do within the noise and chaos and cacophony of protests. It seems to me that Erdem was saying, I am beyond all that. What is wrong is blatant and clear, and I don’t need to march or speak or hold a sign for you to know why I’m standing here and what I am standing for. You already know. As did the hundreds that joined him. As did the thousands who saw this photo. 

As we see the protests and violence unfolding across our nation, I wonder. What might happen if we change tactics? What might happen if we break the patterns that leads to violent clashes, especially with the police? What might happen if we gathered together and simply stood our ground? What might happen if we all took a knee?

Beannacht,
Judith – judith@stonefires.com

June 1, 2020

Black Lives Matter.

Right now, I’m not feeling it. Not because it’s so clear that for too many in our country, they don’t matter. But because there’s a sense in this that Black lives matter too. As if in addition to something. As if in addition to white people who of course matter most.

Black Lives Matter is an important narrative from and within the Black Lives Matter movement. I totally honor that.

Yet as a white woman, I say to my white sisters and brothers that these precious lives are not an adjunct, they are vitally implicit to the integrity, the wholeness, of our national culture. Beyond mattering, they are essential. 

They are marginalized to the fringe of our society. But they are not fringe. Our Black sisters and brothers are essential threads in the fabric of our nation and national identity. A national fabric of hope and social justice, of love and compassion, of aspiration and inspiration. This is the fabric of the nation I choose to live in. This is the fabric of the nation I choose to co-create. With my Black sisters and brothers. My Indigenous American sisters and brothers. My Hispanic sisters and brothers. My Asian sisters and brothers. My Arab sisters and brothers. All essential threads in this tapestry. 

Beannacht,
Judith – judith@stonefires.com