Combatting racism
“When nobody cares about you and the people who are supposed to care deliberated hurt you, it is hard to care about others. And when you feel no connection to humanity, it becomes easy to lash out at it.”
Many of you heard these words at the 2018 TEDxDonovanCorrectional. They – as well as the countless other residents’ stories – illustrate the downward spiral: Initial abandonment and trauma fester into a disconnection from humanity which fuels the residents’ violent actions and criminal behavior.
For my Rotary Peace Fellowship earlier this year, I analyzed the structural, cultural and personal violence of our prison residents’ environment, starting in childhood. It’s pervasive and continuous, before, during and after prison. (Discover the exert here.)
This disconnection from humanity doesn’t only explain criminal behavior. It is also the underpinning of the systemic racism, patriarchy and discrimination of our society at large. (If any are squirming in discomfort, please honor yourself by being with your feelings and read on.)
The current murders and protests have brought to the surface and placed in our faces the suppressed hurt and trauma. When we look past our own hurt, we see that a lot of people, across the entire struggle, have been hurt, have felt degraded and wronged. And a lot of those same people have taken hurtful action, as well as degraded and wronged another. This is the cycle of hurt in which we’re stuck. And as long as we continue to allow our past hurt to dictate our future actions, this vicious cycle deepens.
As much as prison taught us about disconnection from humanity, prison also unveiled that there exists another way. The solution to healing our society’s cycle of violence is as simple as reconnecting with humanity.
More than our skin color and socioeconomics can separate us, in prison, we’re brought together by our common humanity, our desire to impact this world and our commitment to becoming even greater human beings than we already are. We recognize that we're more powerful together than we are separate.
What can this do for society?
First, it creates the obvious healing and transformation of individuals. Most of you on this list have personally experienced the ensuing peace, joy and laughter.
It also creates unimaginable results that most businesses or organizations can only dream of. In only five months, the Core Team became the cohesive, innovative and engaged team that put on a TEDx event that was deemed perfection by its 100 outside attendees (as surveyed by TED; we received an NPS of unprecedented 100, for those who know the Net Promoter Score).
It snowballed into a cultural revolution. Those of you at the 2017 TEDx event were witness to the Core Team's embrace during the Closing Circle, pictured above. Yes, a spontaneous group hug among multi-racial tough guy prison residents in front of their peers! Under usual circumstances, this multiracial expression can risk getting people seriously hurt.
This extended to the prison yard. When we started working together, the Core Team could not meet or even acknowledge each other on the yard. A year later, they were meeting cross-racially. Our team of multi-racial tough guys were even hugging ON the yard! Talk about a yard-wide cultural transformation…
THIS is what reconnection to humanity enables.
And it’s not only about treating others with the dignity, respect and love each of us human beings deserve. It transforms families. It transforms businesses. It transforms institutions. It transforms culture. It transforms policing and government.
To take a small step right now, recognize that YOU have the power to change the world and read the first heading below. Just this morning, I called Jennifer Duffy, the SDPD 911 dispatcher who spoke in 2018 about “Interpreting Others’ Realities”, to listen. You’ll be amazed at the healing you create simply with your ears.
If this message of reconnection with humanity resonates, hit reply and tell us what inspires you.