published on
“With no sacredness of the ballot there can be no sacredness of human life itself. For if the strong can take the weak man’s ballot when it suits his purpose to do so, he will take his life also. Therefore the more complete the disenfranchisement, the more frequent and more horrible have been the hangings, shootings, and burnings.” (Ida B Wells)
A meditation in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, and the fight of women like Ida B. Wells to achieve the promise of suffrage for all women, of every racialized identity, over the next 45 years. A meditation on shared power. Offered on August 23, 2020 at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Spartanburg, SC.
From the meditation:
"The heart and meaning of democracy is shared power....
There is power in multi-ethnic, multi-gender, intersectional coalitions,
especially that work for social, economic, and political justice
because they go right to the heart of normativity, exclusion & domination.
Coalitions of shared power are highly effective, and strike fear in the heart of our system of violence and oppression.
"When I say that we must slow down, and listen, and work across our differences
on every level in our lives—
in our families, in this congregation, in this community, in our nation, in our world—
I am not just being nice.
And I am definitely not just being idealistic.
I am being realistic.
This is what changes things.
- We must share power.
- We must strive to see and hear one another.
- We must build teams, slowly and carefully.
- Teamwork works.
- Domination, sidelining, mean-spiritedness, selfishness, greed:
these things will not change what we want to change.
They do not make the world more livable.
We must work together. We must share power.
Multi-ethnic, multi-gender, intersectional coalitions go to the heart:
- they pierce the heart of domination.
- and they build the heart of democracy.
- They build our hearts, as individuals bound together as people."
Image: A heroine of justice for all: Ida B. Wells (courtesy The Chicago Tribune).
- Genre
- Religion & Spirituality