We Are Healers
Acceptance Speech for SPCF Annual Meeting
Marlanda Dekine & Scott Neely
March 22, 2016
 
Marlanda:
Thank you for the honor you bestow on us tonight, on us and on everyone who has built and supported Speaking Down Barriers. Thank you, Mary Thomas, for your vision to create this award, to foster innovation and change in our community. Thank you to the Selection Committee, for your willingness to honor our whole team tonight. We do this work together, and we are moved that you saw that and sought to recognize it publically. And thank you to so many people—so many of you who are here tonight, and so many of you who may never be in this room but who are absolutely essential to this work. Thank you.
 
Scott:
We are healers. And the healing work that we do is not only to build understanding. Understanding is vitally important, but it is not enough. Because racism is not fundamentally about hate or opinion. Racism is about power, the power to exploit one group of people in order to benefit another. This is how it began, and this is how it continues. But how do we heal this terrible thing we have created?  
 
The answer is: share power. If we have the power to take from one another, we can choose to empower one another instead.  In the gatherings that we facilitate, the trainings that we offer, and through performances and speaking engagements, we challenge participants not only to face the past, but also to choose the future. Every one of us has power. If racism is about the power to exploit, we end racism when we share our power—economic, political, creative, spiritual—to build one another up. This is beyond diversity and inclusion. This is mutuality. This is life together. This is not impossible. It is transformative.
 
Marlanda:
We do no one any favors if we underestimate the challenge this brings. The word “share” elicits fear, anxiety, and criticism. It seems too soft and too hard at once. But it is the work.  
 
And so, in gratitude, we will use your gift tonight to launch a new program of Speaking Down Barriers. We will offer healing retreats for the social workers and counselors, the journalists and poets, the teachers and thinkers, the volunteers and activists who pour themselves out to fight racism and to transform our life together. These people endure criticism, risk, and strain, often with very little support. More often than we may know, they are physically threatened and emotionally battered for the work they do. That really happens. And yet they serve us all, to call us to a better life. We will offer these healers a time set apart, to step away from their challenges and to heal—so that they can do their work with even greater power.
 
This is one small way that we can share power, a power you have shared with us tonight. What you have shared with us, we will share with them, for the transformation of our world. Together. Thank you.

On Tuesday, January 5, we suddenly lost our friend, Christine Lawrence Finney. Christine participated in Speaking Down Barriers events and Spoken Word Spartanburg events for nearly two years, offering herself to new relationships, new ways of creating, and development of new artistic partnerships. We shared our lives with Christine and she shared hers with us.

Christine exuded joy, peace, and love.

We felt this while she served on the Speaking Down Barriers inaugural Board of Directors. We felt this when she wrote and shared at Writing Circles, hosted by Spoken Word Spartanburg. We felt this when we saw her amazing art next to her husband's (Trey Finney) art during their Double Vision exhibit.

Words will never express what Christine means to us. Because she existed, we will use her energy towards the highest good. She lives on through us, her family, and every amazing piece of art at our disposal. She is here.

Christine, we thank you for all that you are and will continue to be. We love you.


View Christine's powerful art

Words from Martin Luther King, Jr. as we enter 2016:

Letter from Birmingham Jail

We are capable of transforming this place, but we must confront its ills and push ourselves beyond diversity and inclusion. We must enter into a space of shared power and mutual liberation, transforming White supremacy, within us and without.

Last image of slideshow: A Community Gathering facilitated by Speaking Down Barriers, including poet and activist, Crystal Irby, and innovator, Shemuel Namaste. Topic: Martin Luther King, Jr.: Untold

,It takes a beast to know a beast, 
and that’s just what I’ve become. 

With fangs and a hunched back, 
even a limp, 

I carry weighted words now, 
heavy with anger and embarrassment. 

I’m writing from the inside, 
and it’s dark in here, I tell you. 

But I feel the same as everyone else. 
I know it’s no different, 

alone, helpless and scared. 

So I lash out with the best of them. 
We toss criticism and loud howls 
into the empty night. 

We are no different! 

I just wonder how long it will take 
for us all to notice this. 

Why can’t we all see that? 
The small steps we make to fix one another 
go a long way. 

Much, much more than we all realize. 

So when the authorities come 
with their worker mobs 
of greed and success, 

the type they’ve been trying to sell here 
with no takers. 

Can we ban together? 

For the state in which we reside 
is a product of their doing, 

and it’s time for a change. 

For we are creatures 
of majestic beauty 
chained to their cold and muddy cages. 

It is us who have the numbers! 

With hearts big enough 
to swallow this whole land. 

And compassion that could birth 
the love and new ideas necessary 
to move on from this way 
of doing things. 

(Laugh) It’s funny. 
Because in order to make the change, 
you yourself have to actually believe 
that it’s possible. 

And being the way we are, 
looking different, 
thinking different, 
we have no place in their world. 

But today 
that is done. 
A new flag is rising, 
a call to action has been sent out. 

The time has come for you to become more than a number. 

It’s time to realize 
your true beauty 
and the potential 
your loving heart 
carries around with it 
each and every day. 

- Ian Morris, Founder of Wake Magazine

from Parking Lot Manuscripts, released January 31, 2013

www.ianmorris.bandcamp.com

#Age-Old and The Watering Hole are both dynamic organizations doing amazing work. #Age-Old curates various styles of art, building community and providing platforms for artists that are underrepresented.  The Watering Hole invests in pursuing the craft of poetry, learning about southern poets of color and poets who write about the South, providing affordable classes and retreats, swinging open the door for diverse forms of poetry, and pushing the bounds of a contemporary writing community.  

​Great stuff!

I am a Christian. At many times in my life I have been blessed by Muslims and by Islam. It seemed that this might be a good time to share some of those blessings.
The third blessing I would like to share is peace.

I know a man who knows what violence is.

He knows that Muslims first came to this continent against their will, as slaves traded from West Africa to fuel the colonial British economy. This is to say that Muslims were forcibly imported to the Americas, at great cost to their lives, for the purpose of economic exploitation by a nominally Christian nation. This is to say that Muslims have helped build the economic power of the United States since before the birth of this nation, often without benefit to themselves.

I know a man who knows what violence is.

He knows that Islamic faith guided some of the abolitionists against slavery in the 19th century, as well as soldiers who fought for the Union in the U.S. Civil War. This is to say that Muslims, at great risk of their lives, fought for the freedom of slaves and therefore for the liberation of every person, free and slave alike, caught in the web of economic violence of the United States. This is to say that Muslims have helped realize the highest ideals of the United States during our times of greatest national crisis, when those values were most in jeopardy.

I know a man who knows what violence is.

He knows that Muslims forged a vital way forward in the Civil Rights movement in the United States. This, while being demonized and rejected by fellow U.S. Americans. This is to say they fought for the moral liberation of the very people actively oppressing them.

I know a man who knows what violence is.

He knows life within prisons today, in the country with the highest rate of incarceration in the world. He serves as a counselor to men who are jailed. This is to say, he brings hope where mass incarceration destroys.

I know a man who knows what violence is.

He knows life as a black man and as a Muslim in our nation today. This is to say, he knows what it is to be targeted and feared for nothing he has done or would do, both because of the color of his skin and the form of his faith. He faces threat from every side, including from those who use his religion as a weapon and from those who use it as a scapegoat. And he speaks out loud against terror whatever its point of origin.

I know a man who knows what violence is.

He knows the violence embedded deep in the soul of our country. He knows that we have exploited people for economic gain since the beginning of our nationhood. He knows that we are a nation continuously engaged in international military conflict. He knows our history. He knows our legacy. He has looked us full in the face.

I know a man who knows what violence is.

And yet he is the kindest man you will meet. He listens first. He is soft-spoken. He is warm. His whole being conveys peace.

He is a diligent scholar. He is careful with his words and his ideas. He speaks the difficult truth of our life together to build us into our best selves. He believes in us. He knows who we are. He knows who we can be.

He knows what violence is. And he offers peace.

What strengthens a man to bear this knowledge of violence, to bear it not only in his mind but even more in his lived experience as a man of faith and as a man of color, as a citizen of our country, and still to make of his soul a reservoir of peace?

What strengthens him to share it so generously?

And if I were threatened by violence, would I have the strengthen to respond with this same peace?

I know a man. And I give thanks.

Original drawing and writings from Scott Neely

So what do I do on most mornings in my daily decision of embracing risk? I scream at the top of my lungs, “Marlanda, go and change the world!” No, actually…I just listen to podcasts and talks that include various motivational beings. Most often, the soul I choose to connect with is Seth Godin.

A birthday present given to me by my love, was a Skype interview with Seth Godin on the eve of my birthday. Without the intent of it happening, this conversation found itself answering the question “What matters”? This was true for social and soul work that I find myself doing.

As an artist and social transformation worker, I find myself constantly trying to create connection between people, across difference, and amidst pain. One of the ways that I do this is through Speaking Down Barriers. Speaking Down Barriers is a facilitated gathering of people from all backgrounds to have a conversation on race and racism coupled with spoken word poetry. It can be difficult to turn off the part of your brain that says “Where are all the people?”, “Should I be doing this?”, “Is this helping?” when faced with the tension that comes in talking about something as divisive as institutional racism, the history of our country, and the importance of justice. I often have to stop myself and consider how we as individuals are fed information constantly via television, social media, news media, etc. These messages compound the fears that we have developed over time and if we let it, can destroy what we are meant to create. The quantity of people is definitely something that does not matter. The quality of connection truly does.
Another important aspect of this conversation is the discussion of fundraising for nonprofits. Speaking Down Barriers will be training facilitators, artists, and activists across South Carolina in the Speaking Down Barriers model. Seth provides great insight on fundraising and connecting with people who have philanthropy goals.

Listen and/or watch as I converse with Seth Godin on various things, including dancing with fear, “people”, and doing YOU anyway!

Purchase Seth Godin’s book, What to Do When It’s Your Turn here.
Purchase Elle Luna’s book, The Crossroads of Should and Must here.

Contact Marlanda Dekine here.

During a cultural exchange regarding his art, Antonio Milian shared pieces of the journey that he has taken to reach his current destination as a street photographer and the creator of a growing piece of artwork, Faces of the Upstate. Utilizing a camera as the medium and Facebook as the exhibition hall, Antonio has created an awe-inspiring view of what it is to be human.
On the average day, many of us walk past nearly a hundred people and never say one word. Often we barely look at them. We exist together and yet we don’t. Antonio has given us a look inside of people. Through his work, we gain a glimpse of everything we have forgotten to care about. More than just images, we hear them. Through photograph and comment, we connect with someone new in a way that does not seem forced. We remember that we are human.
Listen as Antonio Milian breaks down how his street photography has led him on a path of unearthing the human condition. He talks about art, pornography, and Bob Jones University…
Believe me, this is truly worth a listen.