December 2024: Reconnecting to the Truth

As we wrap up 2024 and look towards 2025, we want to thank you for being a part of the CWC community. Whether you’ve attended gatherings this year or simply read our newsletter each month, it’s heartening to know that we are not alone on the journey towards racial justice and liberation for all. 

As we considered different prompts for the final CWC gatherings of 2024, we were struck by a reflection a member recently shared: 

"I’m realizing that everything I was taught that I needed to be in order to be successful in life is the opposite of what I need to be fully human. And to be successful, I’ve had to disconnect from my intuition that tells me who I am and what’s right and wrong. I feel like I let go of what is true for me so I could benefit from the privileges that come with being a White man in the U.S. I’m not sure how to do it, but I want to reconnect with my intuition and the truth of who I am.”

Combining this reflection with a 2 year long election cycle where ‘fake news' and figuring out what’s “true” were constant hot topics, we decided to end the year with a reflection on the concept of truth. In March of 2023, we focused our reflection on “truth,” using an excerpt of an interview with James Baldwin to get us thinking about our relationship with truth, certainty, and the lies we’ve been told about race and racism in the United States. 

This month, we will be guided once again by the wisdom of Shawn A. Ginwright in his book The Four Pivots: Reimagining Justice, Reimagining Ourselves (we clearly love this book!!!). The first pivot Ginwright introduces is a call to look within –  “From Lens to Mirror.” In this chapter, he discusses the need for finding the truth within:

“When we tell ourselves the truth, we become vulnerable, honest, and transparent. Truth-telling requires that we conjure up the courage to convey what is real for us, and when we do that, we are more authentic and powerful. 

Sometimes, of course, we just don’t know what is true for us, and what we want isn’t that clear. Usually that’s because we think that the truth resides in our ability to “think” our way to honesty, or we rationalize things so that the truth becomes evident. Take for instance weighing the pros and the cons about a situation in order to determine what path to take. We do this because we believe comparing, analyzing, sorting, and compartmentalizing facts can somehow reveal to us the truth. But we also experience that little voice inside, or that gut feeling deep down, that we know is guiding us.

So often we don’t take the time to listen to that little voice or gut feeling and discount it as something irrelevant. But that is where the truth usually resides, deep inside, tucked away beneath all the chatter. That’s why it’s important that we take time to just reflect on how we feel about things in our gut, or spirit, because this type of wisdom guides us to truth when we are quiet and settled enough to listen.”

Ginwright goes on to say that the best place to start is by telling ourselves the truth. To help us do that, we are going to use the question he recommends in the book as a single prompt for our December discussions:

1. What is the truth about myself that I’ve been avoiding? 

   
   

Although we encourage you to consider this question through the lens of race, racism, whiteness and white supremacy, any truth is valid to explore. Ginwright explains that “our inability to embrace or face the truth begins to wear down … our integrity.” We believe that integrity plays a big role in our ability to take effective action towards racial justice.

We also want to acknowledge that this kind of personal reflection isn’t for everyone and that’s okay. As we write this newsletter, we can feel so many feelings come up in us – defensiveness, fear, hope. As always, there is no right or wrong response to this prompt. Come and share your frustration with the question if that’s what’s coming up for you. All perspectives are welcome. Seriously!

We look forward to seeing you at a gathering, and if we don’t see you, we wish you a new year filled with curiosity, joy, and ever-expanding community!

"The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off!" - Gloria Steinem