Podcast: Lynette Reads Adela Zamudio as Special Guest of Lesbian Presses 9/21, 4 PM Pacific

I'm honored to be a Special Guest reading with authors from Desert Palm Press and Launchpoint Press. I'll be reading from my bilingual PEN Award for Poetry in Translation  finalist book, Adela Zamudio: Selected Poetry & Prose. Adela Zamudio (1854-1928), Bolivia's most celebrated author, writes timeless feminist wisdom for today. 

Streamed LIVE Thursday, 9/21, 4 PM Pacific / 7 PM Eastern

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Rave reviews from Kirkus and Publisher's Weekly's Booklife for Adela Zamudio: Selected Poetry & Prose, translated by Lynette Yetter

Publisher's Weekly BookLife Editor's Pick 

 “There is a mysterious fire in her chest,” the groundbreaking feminist Bolivian poet Adela Zamudio (1854-1928) wrote in a work whose title declares, with blunt force, how she viewed herself: “Poet.” That “mysterious fire,” a few lines later, is called “sacred,” the “shard of a shattered soul,” and the very “blood of the heart.” For Zamudio, that fire was both Art itself and “the Idea,” and the act of pulling it out from one’s self and giving it voice in a society hostile to artists in general, poets in particular, and women above all else—well, that was an act of courage. 

Now, almost a century after her death, Zamudio’s rousing, visceral, defiant work is at last available to the English-speaking world, thanks to this searing, sensitive translation from Yetter. Yetter’s choices—from individual word choices to her selections of poems and prose pieces—illuminate the sweep and heat of the fire in the poet’s chest. The pieces here reveal Zamudio’s passions, interests, beliefs, and career, from the powerfully explicated feminism of poems like “Born a Man,” to her handling of subjects like depression and the feeling that one must wear a false face in society. These verses feel urgent and timely, and poems like “Masquerade” could be about Instagram: “In the dance of the world /our joy / is a dazzling garment /of fantasy / we use to cover /the hidden sadness / we repress.” Even poems with traditional romantic forms and subjects (“To a Seagull,” “To a Tree”) pulse with a sense of fin-de-siècle ennui and, often, outrage about injustice, while one literally titled “End of a Century” builds to the bleak punchline of what “admirable and blessed” science has bequeathed us: the knowledge that, after our sufferings on Earth, we face the void. The long, surprising “Iron Crazy Woman,” meanwhile, and a poem of love for Zamudio’s sister, offer crucial consolations: the mystery and artistry of the former, and the deep feeling of the latter. 

Takeaway: Trailblazing poems from a Bolivian feminist in English at long last. 

Comparable Titles: Gabriela Mistral, Rosario Castellanos.

KIRKUS Starred Review 

 A collection of writings from Bolivian poet, essayist, and feminist activist Zamudio (1854-1928) addresses enduring social issues. Though the bulk of the author’s body of work, which spans poetry, prose, and nonfiction, dates back a century or more (the pieces here were originally published between 1887 and 1942), it’s only recently that political and social conditions have renewed interest in her writings and facilitated their translations for a global audience. This collection has two sections, one for poetry and one for prose, focused on themes including feminism (“Born a Man”), Indigenous identity and revolution (“End of the Century”), mental health (“To a Suicide”), and the viability of a battered society (“Masquerade”)—subjects that Zamudio grappled with as a woman far ahead of her time, culturally speaking. Yetter’s translations aptly retain the exigencies of the author’s writing, though the poems do lose their rhyme schemes in English. In the prose section, Zamudio employs an almost epistolary, introspective style to document many of Bolivia’s societal and political foibles; one story—“Yesterday’s Meeting”—uses an animal motif (much like George Orwell later used in Animal Farm (1945)) to relay bureaucratic tensions and flaws in democracy. Zamudio employs the struggles of women and Indigenous people as fodder, both for her own work and for broader revolution. Her imagery is both whimsical and grounded, optimistic and learned; as she writes in “Poet,” “it is necessary that she must dive into / Life’s most bitter dregs; / To know horrid misfortune / And rugged paths; / Hurt by life’s cliffs and thistles, / Wounded by the shocks of life. / That is inspiration!” We watch and read the news to understand what’s going on in the world, but we also seek out art to contextualize how all these events make us feel and show us how to get through them; Zamudio’s work serves these purposes brilliantly. 

Confident, stirring writing by a prescient poet.

Lynette's Literary Arts Book Reading/Conversation with PEN Award for Poetry in Translation finalists (and winner)

Thank you to everyone who attended my book reading/conversation yesterday with my esteemed PEN Award for Poetry in Translation finalist (and winner) colleagues: Daniel Borzutzky, Conor Bracken, Elizabeth T. Gray, Jr., and Tess Lewis. Oregon's Literary Arts' Programs for Writers Coordinator, Jessica Meza-Torres, facilitated our Zoom event with her laid-back calm presence and capable expertise. We were in good hands! You can see the video recording on Literary Arts' YouTube channel.

Finalist for the PEN Award for Poetry in Translation!

I'm thrilled beyond words that my bilingual book Adela Zamudio: Selected Poetry & Prose was selected as a Finalist for the PEN Award for Poetry in Translation! PEN America awards are the Oscars of the U.S. literary world. Of course I (and my Fuente Fountain Books' editors Tania Cano and Michael Favala Goldman) will travel to NYC for the March 2nd gala Awards Ceremony! 

Here's more about the book: First book in English showcasing the life and writings of Bolivia's most celebrated writer and educator, Adela Zamudio. Her birthday is a national holiday in Bolivia. Self-taught, Zamudio was the mother of feminism and women's education in Bolivia, and was active for Indigenous People's rights. The President of Bolivia crowned her with gold laurel leaves in honor of her cultural contributions. Adela Zamudio: Selected Poetry & Prose, translated from the Spanish by Lynette Yetter, presents a bilingual overview of Zamudio's work, much of which was previously untranslated. Several chapters, including the Prolog by Bolivian Zamudio scholar Virginia Ayllón, outline Zamudio's biography and the cultural context in which she wrote. Adela Zamudio's celebration of lesbian love and her ironic cultural critiques continue to resonate today.

Yay!!!! I am honored to have received this prestigious award. Now more people will become acquainted with Adela Zamudio and her writings. 

Adela Zamudio: Selected Poetry & Prose, translated from Spanish by Lynette Yetter
Paperback ISBN-13: 9780984375677
eBook ISBN-13: 9780984375684
​320 pages

"We should all learn about Adela Zamudio, a major Latin American figure, by reading this timely book." 
- Roberto González Echevarría, Sterling Professor of Hispanic and Comparative Literature, Yale University 

First book in English showcasing the life and writings of Bolivia's most celebrated writer and educator, Adela Zamudio (1854-1928). Her birthday is a national holiday in Bolivia. Self-taught, Zamudio was the mother of feminism and women's education in Bolivia, and was active for Indigenous People's rights. The President of Bolivia crowned her with gold laurel leaves in honor of her cultural contributions. Adela Zamudio: Selected Poetry & Prose, translated from the Spanish by Lynette Yetter, presents a bilingual overview of Zamudio's work, much of which was previously untranslated. Several chapters, including the prolog by Bolivian Zamudio scholar Virginia Ayllón, outline Zamudio's biography and the cultural context in which she wrote. Adela Zamudio's celebration of lesbian love and her ironic cultural critiques continue to resonate today.

Mind-melding with Adela Zamudio---Bolivia's most celebrated writer

Creative flow. Translating Adela Zamudio (1854-1928), Bolivia's most celebrated writer. Her birthday, October 11th, is a national holiday. I'm fortunate to be the first translator of much of her work into English. My translation of her poem "Poeta" was published in Stanford University's issue 20 of Mantis: A Journal of Poetry, Criticism & Translation. 

Fuente Fountain Books recently published my bilingual book Adela Zamudio: Selected Poetry & Prose. I'm thrilled that the book right now is in the second round of judging for the PEN Award for Poetry in Translation!

November 30th I gave a talk (in Spanish) where I analyzed Zamudio's allegorical story "Yesterday's Meeting." (It's possible that Zamudio's story inspired George Orwell's later similar work, Animal Farm.) The Seminario Internacional Perú XIX "Autoridad, ciudadanía y cuerpos: desplazamientos y fracturas en la modernidad" in Lima Peru will have video recordings of the conference available soon on https://www.facebook.com/RielPeruXIX/videos. It was a trip for me to get up at 5 am in Portland, Oregon to present my paper via Zoom at 6 am (9 am Lima time). I love how virtual conferences let us connect with interesting folks all around the world--folks who are passionate about the same sort of stuff we care about. I enjoyed sharing a synopsis of my Reed College Master of Arts in Liberal Studies thesis, Domination and Justice in the Allegorical Story "La reunión de ayer" by Adela Zamudio (1854-1928), Bolivia.

I'm honored that in early 2023, Sinister Wisdom: A Multicultural Lesbian Literary & Art Journal will be publishing my English translation of Adela Zamudio's love poem to her sister, "Yesterday Afternoon."

I feel like I've mind-melded with Adela Zamudio. It feels deep and powerful, tender and awe-inspiring. And fun. Adela Zamudio has a great sense of humor! I hope you enjoy reading Adela Zamudio as much as I (and the many people whose praise fills the opening pages of Adela Zamudio: Selected Poetry & Prose) do.

*    *    *

La creatividad fluye. Estoy traduciendo Adela Zamudio (1854-1928), la escritora más célebre de Bolivia. Su cumpleaños, el 11 de octubre, es un feriado nacional. Tengo la suerte de ser la primera traductora de gran parte de su obra al inglés. Mi traducción de su poema "Poeta" se publicó en el número 20 de Mantis: A Journal of Poetry, Criticism & Translation de la Universidad de Stanford.

Fuente Fountain Books publicó recientemente mi libro bilingüe Adela Zamudio: Selected Poetry & Prose. ¡Estoy encantada de que el libro ahora mismo esté en la segunda ronda de evaluación del Premio PEN de Poesía en Traducción!

El 30 de noviembre di una charla (en español) donde analicé el cuento alegórico de Zamudio "La reunión de ayer". (Es posible que la historia de Zamudio haya inspirado el trabajo similar posterior de George Orwell, Animal Farm). El Seminario Internacional Perú XIX "Autoridad, ciudadanía y cuerpos: desplazamientos y fracturas en la modernidad" en Lima Perú tendrá grabaciones de video de la conferencia disponibles pronto en https ://www.facebook.com/RielPeruXIX/videos. Fue dichoso levantarme a las 5 am en Portland, Oregón para presentar mi ponencia vía Zoom a las 6 am (9 am hora de Lima). Me encanta cómo las conferencias virtuales nos permiten conectarnos con personas interesantes de todo el mundo, personas apasionadas por el mismo tipo de cosas que nos importan. Disfruté compartiendo una sinopsis de mi tesis de maestría en estudios liberales de Reed College, Domination and Justice in the Allegorical Story "La reunión de ayer" by Adela Zamudio (1854-1928), Bolivia.

Me siento honrado de que a principios de 2023, Sinister Wisdom: A Multicultural Lesbian Literary & Art Journal publicará mi traducción al inglés del poema de amor de Adela Zamudio a su hermana, "Yesterday Afternoon".

Siento que me he fusionado mentalmente con Adela Zamudio. Se siente profundo y poderoso, tierno e inspirador. Y divertido. ¡Adela Zamudio tiene un gran sentido del humor! Espero que disfruten leyendo Adela Zamudio tanto como yo (y las muchas personas cuyos elogios llenan las primeras páginas del libro bilingüe Adela Zamudio: Selected Poetry & Prose).

Open Letter to Bill Gates, re: How to Avoid a Climate Disaster

 Dear Bill Gates,

Thank you for thinking deeply about the climate crisis. When I heard your interview on PBS News Hour last night, I was struck by your mention that manufacturing is a major contributor of CO2, which escalates the climate crisis. This puts you—a kind person at heart, a billionaire and founder of Microsoft—in a unique position to make major change quickly. For example, you could urge Microsoft, starting immediately, to stop developing new operating systems—Microsoft would from now on focus on teaching people to repair existing devices that run existing Microsoft operating systems. All new software would be designed to run on existing operating systems. You would be leading the way for others to follow, like the late radical industrialist Ray Anderson did by continually reducing the carbon footprint of his industrial carpet manufacturing corporation, Interface, Inc. Anderson was inspired by Paul Hawkin’s 1993 book The Ecology of Commerce, which argues that the industrial system is destroying the planet and only industry leaders are powerful enough to stop it. Now is your opportunity to urge Microsoft to be a model of reducing carbon footprints in our interconnected globalized society.

You could explain how new operating systems are connected to increased manufacturing, which accelerates the climate crisis—every new operating system makes older electronic devices obsolete and necessitates constantly manufacturing new devices to run always newer and newer operating systems. Manufacturing adds CO2 to the atmosphere, which adds to the greenhouse effect that causes ever more extreme weather, and melts glaciers and the polar ice caps. (Glaciers and polar ice caps have been regulators of climate and sources of water for plants and animals, including humans). You could explain that manufacturing pollutes in other ways, too, starting with the mining of minerals used to manufacture products, and to build the factories in which to manufacture them.

In your PBS News Hour interview you mentioned steel and cement manufacturing as major problems. If Microsoft stopped creating new operating systems, and focused instead on supporting already-existing operating systems, and repair of existing electronic devices, there would be far less need for factories manufacturing electronic devices, less need for manufacturing the cement and steel from which those factories are built, and less need for mining and transporting the petroleum and minerals that go into manufacturing factory buildings for manufacturing electronic devices.

What if you present some of the many benefits to people and planet if Microsoft were to make that one change? For example, miners I met in Oruro and Potosi, Bolivia tell me it’s usual to die at around age 45 from silicosis they get from mining the minerals that are used to make new electronic devices. If Microsoft stopped making new operating systems, there would be less need for new electronic devices to be manufactured, thereby helping miners live longer and healthier lives. Less mining also means that people, and all the plants and animals, who live downstream from current mining operations would have cleaner water, and they would become healthier. Huge amounts of CO2 would stay in the ground and thereby put the brakes on accelerating climate crisis.

The climate would benefit by Microsoft halting creation of new operating systems and teaching people to repair existing electronic devices that use existing operating systems. And people would also benefit by slowing down and making do with what they have. Businesses could be more efficient, because they wouldn’t have to be constantly retraining their staff to learn new operating systems, or deal with business shut downs due to bugs in new operating systems. Workers and management could instead better focus on doing their jobs. One efficiency expert said many years ago in a Los Angeles Times interview that running a business using typewriters and pencils and paper was much more time efficient in the long run than a business using computers. Because, the efficiency expert said, businesses using computers needed workers to be constantly retrained on the ever-changing technology, while businesses using technology that stayed the same and functioned as reliable tools could focus all their time on doing their work. When a worker learns how to use a tool, and that tool stays the same, the worker becomes a better and better worker using that tool. But workers’ energies are scattered when the tool they use constantly changes how it functions (in this case, an electronic device with a Microsoft operating system). As I mentioned above, the late radical industrialist Ray Anderson woke up to the damage his corporation was causing, and immediately set out to change its ways. You are a brilliant and caring person, and I think you can have an even bigger positive impact on climate and people’s lives around the world by urging Microsoft to support its existing operating systems (instead of creating new ones), and teaching people how to repair electronic devices instead of having to buy new ones. Just like workers hone their skills using the same tools over long periods of time, the same is true of culture and the arts.

When artists can devote all their energies to creating art instead of dealing with technological difficulties of their tools, such as computer programs that suddenly are not supported by a new operating system, imagine the art and cultural Renaissance that could flourish! For example, animated-filmmaker Nina Paley (Sita Sings the Blues, Seder-Masochism) mastered her tool, Flash 8. But newer operating systems no longer support Flash 8, so she stopped making films altogether, rather than dedicate years to master to the same level another animation program, which would likewise become unusable in just a few years. We can only imagine what masterpieces are lost because Nina Paley and other independent artists’ digital tools became useless due to ever-changing operating systems.

Therefore, Microsoft calling a halt on new operating systems could set a major precedent for shifting the tide towards more efficient and sustainable ways of working and living. Businesses could have less employee stress and burn out. Art and culture could flower. People, plants and animals could be healthier. And runaway climate crisis could slow down.

Dear Bill Gates, you are in a unique position. By having the brilliance and resources to create whatever you set your mind to, you can take this opportunity to make an immediate and powerful impact on slowing down the climate crisis by publicly urging Microsoft to support all existing operating systems and teach people how to repair their already-existing electronic devices, and to stop making new operating systems. The world is watching.

 

Sincerely,

Lynette Yetter

cc: PBS News Hour

Beyond Caste: thoughts on Isabel Wilkerson's bestseller

           Isabel Wilkerson’s landmark book Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents opens our eyes to the harmful hierarchy of categories of race in the United States, by comparing it to India’s well-studied caste system, and the Holocaust resulting from Nazi Germany’s caste system (which in large part was based on U.S. Jim Crow laws). Caste, as Wilkerson so ably shows us, has roots in biblical old testament beliefs. Post-WWII Germany, Wilkerson holds up as an example of how to dismantle caste. Germany has multiple monuments to those harmed, such as a bronze plaque in the sidewalk outside the door of every home where a lesbian, Jew, or gypsy was kidnapped from and later murdered in a concentration camp. Germany and zero monuments to those who inflicted the harm, unlike that U.S. that lionizes slave owners and has scant public accounting and honoring of individual’s harmed be slavery and the later Jim Crow segregation whose mindset continues to harm Black folks today.

However, I suggest Wilkerson’s book Caste is the tip of the iceberg. There is more to explore about caste, and how to change caste-based behavior. Going beyond caste as a hierarchical ordering of categories, we can explore other ways that our Western, Indo-European, belief in the notion of categories and hierarchy as resulted in other forms of dominance, abuse, and destruction. And we can look at alternatives that are embraced by other cultures, which result in what systems scientist Riane Eisler calls “partnership” structured societies. Instead of believing that everything is divisible into discrete hierarchical categories, separated by what Wilkerson calls “boundaries” or “lines”, we can embrace the world view of many indigenous peoples and even Nichiren Buddhism, which see everyone, everything, and even space and time itself, as an interconnected whole that is imbued with life. In this non-Western worldview the macrocosm is the macrocosm, and vice versa. What appears to be two, such as oneself and one’s environment, is actually one; the indigenous Japanese word “funi” describes this view of reality—two but not two. In short, instead of thinking of us versus them, or humans versus nature, we could think—“we are one.” When everyone and everything is part of yourself, of your family, of your group, no longer do you destroy Mother Nature and all her inhabitants by blowing up the tops of mountains for fossil fuel extraction. Because mountains are sacred. Mountains are members of the family with whom you converse in reciprocal relationship, like is practiced today in many indigenous communities in the Andes mountains of South America. You can imagine many ways our behaviors would change as more and more we embrace “we are one”.

How can we move from racist domination of caste towards partnership? Are education and laws enough? In regards to post WWII Germany’s example of educating all school children about the horrors of the holocaust, and numerous memorials to invoke reflection about the atrocities committed against so many siblings in our human family, Germany also legally enforces laws against hate speech (unlike the U.S. which considers hate speech to be protected as freedom of speech). The book Words that Wound: Critical Race Theory, Assaultive Speech, and the First Amendment notes that several years after World War II the leaders of many nations met and conferred about how to prevent increasing racism from creating another holocaust. Under the auspices of the United Nations, most countries agreed to outlaw the dissemination of racist ideas. Entered into force on January 4, 1969, the United Nations International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination reads in part,

Article 4

States Parties condemn all propaganda and all organizations which are based on ideas or theories of superiority of one race or group of persons of one colour or ethnic origin, or which attempt to justify or promote racial hatred and discrimination in any form, and undertake to adopt immediate and positive measures designed to eradicate all incitement to, or acts of, such discrimination and, to this end, with due regard to the principles embodied in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the rights expressly set forth in article 5 of this Convention, inter alia:

(a) Shall declare an offence punishable by law all dissemination of ideas based on racial superiority or hatred . . ..

But the United States declines its responsibility to “. . . declare an offence punishable by law all dissemination of ideas based on racial superiority or hatred . . .”. Instead of punishing hate speech, the U.S. protects “dissemination of ideas based on racial superiority or hatred” as freedom of speech. But is punishment by law enough?

Fear of jail reduced the amount of hate speech in Germany, but it did not eliminate it. Racist hate speech continues, as recent headlines show:

·         April 14, 2020, “Neo-Nazi Provocations on the Rise in Germany”.

·         September 16, 2020, “Germany far right: (29) Police suspended for sharing neo-Nazi images”.

·         December 1, 2020, “Neo-Nazi Sturmbridage 44: How serious of a threat is it?”; its subtitle reads, “Germany has banned the extreme-right group known as Sturmbrigade 44 or Wolfsbrigade 44. Interior Minister Horst Seehofer accused the organization of aiming to ‘rebuild the former Nazi state’.”

These headlines show us that those who spout hate speech still embrace the notion of hierarchical categories and that their personal category is at the top of that imagined hierarchy. Minds and hearts have not been changed by legislation.

It's like Lundy Bancroft’s work with domestic abusers. In his book Why Does He Do That? Inside the Minds of Angry and Controlling Men, Bancroft notes that the convicted domestic abusers he attempted to reform, through court orders, were mostly white men whose jobs put them in positions of power over others (such as a policeman, or CEO). Most of these abusive white men would profess to have seen the error of their ways, and only wanted to be free and reunited with their wives (who they had been convicted of abusing), promising they would never do it again. But the evidence showed time and again that those men were lying through their teeth, saying what they knew the person in authority over them wanted to hear. Once these men were freed and reunited with their wives, the men resumed abusing them. The only times (which were very rare) that Bancroft saw a convicted domestic abuser truly change his ways was when every single person in his social circle shunned him because of his violent behavior. To not be completely shut out of his social circle of family, friends and work colleagues, he becomes motivated to do the hard work to find respectful ways of relating to his wife, instead of abusing her. However, if the convicted abuser has even one person in his social circle who approves of his abusive words and actions, according to Bancroft’s research, the abuser has zero motivation to change.

The same is true with caste and racism. If a racist has no one to sympathize with, he will necessarily behave in ways his social circle finds acceptable. But if he can find even one racist buddy to fuel each other’s hatred against anyone they perceive as different than themselves, he is unlikely to change. You can make those racist buddies’ hate speech illegal and throw them in jail (where they’ll likely meet even more racist people like themselves), like is done in Germany, but they will not have a change of heart.

One unrepentant example that comes to mind is Charles Manson. The category of people he hated (and had brutally murdered) were folks he considered to be in the “in crowd” in Hollywood—a crowd he had tried, and failed, to enter. Manson’s behavior perhaps points to the reasons of other mass murderers, which for a time were referred to in the press with the moniker of “going postal”, which referred to a disgruntled former postal worker who machine gunned down his former co-workers. Wilkerson might argue that Manson and the more recent mass murderers “going postal” were almost all white men, and that the notion of white male supremacy influenced their extreme aggression against other people, whether the other people were white or not. I agree that belief in categories and hierarchy are the root causes of racism and all forms of domination.

On another note, Wilkerson raises the issue of changing demographics in the U.S. fueling fear in many people born with (or passing with) white skin. One forecast is that in 2042 whites will no longer be the majority of the U.S. population. Right wing fundamentalist white Christian groups seem to be fanning the flames of fear and hatred of increasing numbers of people of color in the U.S. population. I’m guessing those churches don’t teach the Sunday School song I learned as a child in a white Methodist church, which goes like this:

Jesus loves the little children

All the children of the world

Red or yellow, black and white

They are precious in his sight.

Jesus loves the little children of the world.

Does all of this mean there is no hope of changing society to become more just, based on the vision that all are created equal? No. There is hope. Problems created by people can be solved by people. Adrienne Lafrance, in her recent article in The Atlantic about the danger of Facebook as a breeding ground of hate based on hierarchical categories that has devastating real world consequences, states, “We need people who dismantle these notions by building alternatives.” 

Lafrance’s envisioned alternatives appear to be technological in nature. Others such as Gandhi and Buddhist thinker Daisaku Ikeda promote education in critical thinking and ethics, and individual spiritual development and awakening (human revolution) as necessary for building peaceful and nurturing alternatives to Western society’s blind belief in categories and hierarchies. 

Here's an example of what an alternative to racism and all types of domination looks like. Were you one of the millions participating in the Women’s Marches around the world on January 21, 2017? If so, you experienced a powerful alternative—a sea of women and feminist men whose loving power was a sea of refuge, an embracing sea of oneness. No pushing or shoving. Only mutual respect and a clear desire for justice, in all its many aspects. When a pair of counter protestors stood on a curb in Washington, D.C. with their banner against women's reproductive freedom, they cowered in silence as the feminine masses like a mighty river flowed around them; for hours 1.2 million unified women pumped their fists in the air and in unison chanted, “My body, my choice!” as they passed by those two silent and blank-faced men who limply held their banner like deer frozen in the beam of headlights.

In other words, when hate speech is isolated and surrounded by people living truth with compassionate hearts, it withers. As more and more people open and develop their wise hearts of compassion and wisdom, with courage, to embrace the reality that we are one, we can turn the tide. And as anyone walking at the base of cliffs along a rocky seashore at low tide knows, when the tide turns, there is no stopping the tide. All are swept along in the tide’s cleansing flow.

 

I voted. Have you?

ABC’s of Accountability for Black Lives Matter

 Pass it along:

Accountability

Black reverence

Compassion

Dismantle White supremacy

Equality

Fairness

Generate healing

Hold peace and listen

Insist on systemic reform

Justice

Kindness

Mobilize

No one can be a bystander

Organize

Peace and pluralism

Queer/LGBTQIA community protected & uplifted

Reach out

Show solidarity

Think consciously

Unlearn bias

Violence ends

White Humility

Xenophobia ends

Youth Empowered

Zealous commitment to end hate