Some lessons we learn the hard way. Last Sunday we made art and played music. We did a benevolent misstep installing swings without asking. We called numerous times to get permission from the corporate owners but they never called me back just like all the other times I called. This morning the apartment complex manager cut the swings down because of liability issues but ironically left the very rickety semi-dangerous picnic table. The apartment manager said I heard last weekend was a circus. It was a wake-up call for me that while we are only one small part of the equation we are also part of the whole. Cutting down swings is a lot easier than moving protesters out of your neighborhood. My sense is that resident frustration with the presence in their neighborhood is at a peak. The manager is so overwhelmed and getting it from all sides. Residents are fatigued by the presence and protests. This is their community and the have been inundated by lots of people -- many justifiably angry and many others trying to serve. As Amy A Hunter said Its a fine balance of opening up the conversation of love and community and being able to see folks who until last month were pretty invisible to everyone else. I thought I was one of those who did see but honestly not like this, not to this degree. Serving in schools and community centers is different than collaborating in neighborhoods. My dilemma is that now I DO SEE with both my eyes and hearts. I carry the stories of the children who have written protest signs demanding justice (spelled with a backward J) or buttons that read I dont trust the police or utter prayers for safety and school and who remember young uncles shot down in the street. However, this works out I have determined the location doesnt have to be necessarily in the heart of Canfield because there are children wrestling with these big problems not of their own making everywhere. With vision and clarity there must also be commitment. As much as I have fought it I am now officially surrendering to starting an organization with the mission of healing by any means necessary. I dont have a name yet but the goal is to help children in communities impacted by violence process their grief and loss and then channel it into positive social change and social justice. Anyone who wants to help me with this effort please let me know. Mary Nani Higgins Lhotak Sarah Hermes Griesbach Mari Morales-Williams Sharifa Johka
Posted on: Tue, 30 Sep 2014 17:23:20 +0000
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