The 2016 Shari Prestemon Social Justice Interns have graciously agreed to share their experiences with all of us. From time to time, we’ll be posting ‘journal entries’ from Sharell Shippen and Sheryl Garcia. Below is one of these entries.
Over the past few days we have been inundated with images and reports of violence and senseless killing. I have gone through a range of emotions: anger, rage, sadness, numbness, sorrow. Just days after we celebrated the emergence of this great nation into a state of freedom, I was reminded that in many ways I and those who look like me are not free.
I was confronted with so many complex emotions, feelings and thoughts that I lacked the words to express in a healthy way. I was confronted with the reality that there are children who are now fatherless, mothers faced with the task of burying their child, communities that are shaken and forever changed. Such careless regard for life and value in other people was the thought that dominated my mind. How long before the next hashtag? Would it be someone I knew next time? Would it be me? Am I dressed the right way? Do I have the right amount of education? I have been trying to see myself as other people see me, trying not to see my nephews and brothers when looking at the images of Alton Sterling or Philando Castile.
My heart is grieves for the families of the officers from Dallas. As a Christian, a social worker and human being, I find it troubling that people do not have respect for life. While none of these events have taken place in Mississippi, two of them have taken place just a car ride from here. My fellow intern being a resident of Dallas, we are all connected to these events.
One of the main reasons I came down to Biloxi – Back Bay Mission – was to force myself out of my comfort zone, to place myself in a situation that would help me grow both personally and professionally, to find my voice and my place in the worlds of social work and social justice. I intentionally removed myself from the circle of people who I could run to for comfort and reassurance when the world didn’t make sense to me, from the people who looked and thought like me. I wanted to be challenged, to gain the ability to see obstacles and solutions from a range of perspectives, to engage in conversations and interactions that sparked change.
I understand my scope is limited and that it is difficult to see outside of my lived experience, but those conversations haven’t take place. What could have been a time of open dialogue was a time of eerie silence. Instead of people coming together it was a time of division, where each withdrew to their own corners and places where they felt ‘safe’. There are many ways to process and handle these current events but the only way to challenge our preconceptions about each other is to create a safe space where we can come together and find common ground, not with a goal of making people see it my way or a conversation that ends neatly, but a conversation.
Dialogue that ends with agreeing to disagree is an option; respectful conversation is an option but silence… silence is unacceptable, silence is not an option.
