Shouting Out! Just Shouting Out! Just Processing! & Simply Shouting Out. @YohuruWilliams

Once upon a time, Yohuru William's wisdom was part of the way things ebbed and flowed at Fairfield University, and his leadership was paramount, felt, and historical. Because life is complex, but beautiful, and ponds are small, yet grow bigger (sometimes they become oceans), Dr. Yohuru Williams moved his sails to the midwest (they are fortunate, indeed). Last week he visited the City of Bridgeport and last night he graced our campus once again with his thinking, wisdom, passion and vision. It was one of those rare occasions where I REALLY wish I had videotaped it all because I wanted to absorb what he had to say...

...it paralleled everything Dr. Kris Sealy also had to say as the recipient of this year's MLK Vision Award for faculty. She speaks truth, too.

for many of us at Fairfield University, we are who we are because of Kris Sealy. She uplifts us. She teaches us. She believes in us. She challenges us. And she guides us with kindness, backbone, knowledge, and a pursuit for truth. 

She seeks to listen. She works to make the world a better place. And what does she do in an acceptance speech? She thanked everyone else for the work they do, including her family - her wonderful, whacky, vibrant and brilliant coterie of boys - who live around the corner from me.

Two giants. Two individuals who work to promote the gigantic potential in everyone else.

Let me repeat that, "TWO INDIVIDUALS WHO WORK TO PROMOTE THE GIGANTIC POTENTIAL IN EVERYONE ELSE."

We are all giants, and we must stand on the shoulders of one another.

It was an honor, once again, to present awards with Sonya Huber on behalf of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Essay Committee. This year, we gave out four awards for outstanding writing, and CWP-Fairfield provided books: Flying Lessons and Other Stories, Dear Martin, and The Hate U Give. In addition, the four young, middle schoolers from Bridgeport Public Schools were given scholarship to attend a Young Adult Literacy Labs  hosted on campus each summer. The young people, as always, were a highlight of the evening and, once again, so many rounds of applause need to be given to the the committee behind all the MLK events. The work provides hope - a faith in the best of humanity.

The best of humanity. That was what Dr. Yohuru Williams reminded us of last night as he, too, stood on the shoulders of giants, reminding the audience that Rosa Parks and MLK were shorter than he is. He accomplished this through referencing the wisdom (and history) offered to him through his academic work.

From Arrive, Pedro, S.J. (1973). Men and women for others. Valencia Spain. To do the work of justice and to fulfill the mission of the work of a Jesuit University, the following must occur.

First, a basic attitude of respect for all people which forbids us ever to use them as instruments for our own profit.

Second, a firm resolve never to profit from, or allow ourselves to be suborned by, positions of power deriving from privilege, for to do so, even passively, is equivalent to active oppression. To be drugged by the comforts of privilege is to become contributors to injustice as silent beneficiaries of the fruits of injustice.

Third, an attitude not simply of refusal but of counterattack against injustice; a decision to work with others towards dismantling of unjust social structures so that the weak, the oppressed, the marginalized of this world may be set free.

This, Williams argue, should be central to what we teach our students and promote in our actions each and every day. We should not use others to the benefit of our own economic gain. We should question our privileges and comforts to see how we benefit from societal constructions as a result of keeping others oppressed, and to find strength to help others become free: to fight for the weak and to give voice for those who go unheard.

Dr. Williams also borrowed from Edward R. Murrow (1958),

We are currently wealthy, fat, comfortable and complacent. We have currently a built-in allergy to unpleasant or disturbing information. Our mass media [note, this is 1958] reflect this. But unless we get up off our fat surpluses and recognize that television and this who finance it, those who look at it and those who work at it, may see a totally different picture too late. Our history will be what we make it. And if there are historians about fifty or a hundred years from now [2008/2058], and there should be preserved the kinescopes for one week of all three networks, they will there find recorded in black and white, or color, evidence of decadence, escapism and insulation from the realities of the world in which we live.

My generation (born 1972) has had conflict, of course, but have totally been brought up in a cable news, flash media, entertained culture. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a soundbite for us on MTV - We have not see that vibrancy in our nation since. We've been pampered by gulf wars brought to us by CNN and Fox news, and 'made for t.v. movies' and Oscar-winning cinema that get awards for performing what REAL PEOPLE around the world go through every day. Passivity has resulted. A preference for entertainment and 'reality t.v.' over global realities and the struggle of the poor trickles out of our homes as we feel safe behind screens looking at the world from a bubble.

Dr. Williams also cited comments of Shirley Chisholm (1972)...that very year I was born,

I was the first American citizen to be elected for Congress in spite of the double drawbacks of being female and having skin darkened by melanin. When you put it that way, it sounds like a foolish reason for fame. In a just and free society it would be foolish. That I am a national figure because I was the first person in 192 years to be at once a congressman, black and a woman proves, I think, that our society is not yet either just or free. 

For me, the focus is and will remain with the young people we teach, mentor, support, guide and, most importantly, learn from. I am me, because they've made me that way. I am also me, however, because Dr. Yohuru Williams has enriched my life in tremendous ways. From the notes I took while he spoke:

• History is now.
• We dictate what we intake.
• Wounds are the narrative and drive the story.
• A lack of historical knowledge is damaging to us all.
• Freedom is a constant struggle. 
• When one or many are positioned as being the problem, the struggle of overcoming that story is tremendously difficult. The fight is a lifelong battle.
• Mythologies continue to haunt the stories we tell ourselves in America.
• Listen to the theme song of All in the Family: Those were the days. That was a different time (or was it), but listen to the words....what it represents...who is excluded....
• An All Lives Matter movement is meaningless if that movement stomps on the lives of the poor, the marginalized, the oppressed, the disenfranchised and the struggling. If someone says, "All Lives Matter," (this is Bryan here), shouldn't we be request, "Show me what that looks like. Give me the model for how that works. Paint that picture for me of that vision. Demonstrate your part in it.
• We don't read. If you want to hide the truth about something, put it in a book. 
• Muhammad Ali was a champ, yes, but he was also a challenger, always.
• Every kid in the U.S. needs to be taught that icons are mythologies, but their stories are inspiration. They, too, can be giants if they fight forward to have their stories heard.
• The United States has to address its wounds.
• One can have prosperity, but not justice (don't let them fool you). (Joel Olsteen)
• Beyond U.S. news, watch the world. See the injustices. Ask what responsibility you have to it.
• There are no safe spaces in the fight for social justice.
• WE MUST FIND THE STRENGTH TO LOVE THE VERY PEOPLE WHO ARE INCAPABLE OF LOVING US BACK (and that's the hardest battle)

Phew. That's how I spent my Wednesday evening. Once again, the MLK dinner has my brain processing ways to make this world a little more accessible to us all.