To introduce this article written by Roxy Manning, PhD, I’d like to share a short story about racism and innocence.
Many years ago, I was at the General Assembly for the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA). The speaker that day was Rev. Rebecca Parker, who was at that time president of the UUA. During her talk, she shared an experience she had while attending a conference on racism.
In one of the workshops, the two presenters, both African American women historians, spoke about the political history of Black women in the United States. …
Read moreThis post is part of our weekly series of peacemaking practices during the Season of Nonviolence.
In Compassionate (Nonviolent) Communication, judgments are expressions of needs or values; however, they include a right/wrong, good/bad element that separates us from the humanity of the situation. Since all actions are efforts to meet universal human needs or values, judgments can separate us from that perspective and cut us off from our compassion. How can we acknowledge someone’s experience without reinforcing the judgment? …
Read moreWhen I hear people say, “Speak your truth,” I feel concerned because the word “truth” seems to be closed more than open. It doesn’t appear to leave room for other perspectives. I like, “Speak your experience” better because it seems more open to me. “Here’s my experience. What’s yours?”
For example, someone might say, “The police are racist and violent.” Another person might say, “The police make us safe and protect us.”
What do you imagine the first person’s experience with the police might be? …
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