By Tia Richardson
A couple of years ago I visited the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, TN, and came across a document I’d never seen or heard of before, called The Montgomery Improvement Association Integrated Bus Suggestions. Written by Dr. King, it advises victorious black riders right after the Montgomery Bus Boycott was declared unconstitutional on best practices. What struck me was the specific calls to ‘Love in Action’ it seemed to suggest, at a time when it must have required a huge shift in consciousness, to ask people to embrace Love in the face of a force strong enough to keep whole generations of a people down.
There are nine suggestions for maintaining a ‘calm and loving dignity’ for riders getting ready to board newly integrated buses. Number eight struck a chord with me. It reads: “According to your own ability and personality, do not be afraid to experiment with new and creative techniques for achieving reconciliation and social change.’
I appreciate this because over the years, I have often doubted that art could help us move beyond our prejudices and limited judgements. Having spent a lot of time in different activist spaces in the 2000’s, the kind of art I saw being made in those movements was usually in the form of signs and banners to support protests. But sometimes there were walls being put up between groups, and at times I felt isolated in those spaces. I decided I wanted to move in a different direction and create art that brings people together.
Art for social change looked like images of brute force, where people pushed for power collectively, trampling down whatever was in their way. Sometimes something delicate and beautiful grew out of the mix of brokenness, people planting seeds later to bear the fruit of their labor and suffering. Suffering was a dominant theme, because that is the existence too many people experience.
In 2010 I attended back-to-back conferences in Detroit, MI that were deeply inspiring. One was the United States Social Forum, and next, the Allied Media Conference. They convened thousands of people in downtown Detroit to tackle issues of social change in creative, innovative and inspiring ways.
It was the first time I’d heard the term ‘healing justice,’ a term used to describe spaces offering bodywork, energy-work, yoga, massage, reiki and other alternative forms of healing to help offset the systemic oppression experienced by people who are often marginalized. Up to that point I’d only encountered these spaces in majority white areas, usually in spiritual contexts, in my home state. I felt encouraged and inspired by all the people from all walks – activists, people of color, indigenous, working and poor, young and old and more – embracing social justice from a healing perspective.
Those spaces were incredibly deep, reflective ways to approach social change, with creative solutions ranging from the far reaches of human potential and interests. You saw a diverse representation of people from across the United States all interested in ways to make a better society.
What inspired me was the inclusion of visual arts, music, theatre and dance, and culture – in ways I’d never experienced before. Ways that I thought pushed the envelope for human potential, for participatory democracy. People historically at the margins of society were making space for ourselves to be seen and heard. It seemed, everything I’d dreamed about wanting to be part of something bigger than myself was happening right there, in Detroit, and I wasn’t alone in my dreaming. We all wanted a radically caring society. And together it seemed possible we could create a better world, the kind and just world I wanted to live in. Give me more of that, please!
I took a workshop on social somatics, an area of practice dedicated to studying the body and its relationship to mind, emotions, and behavior. One of the facilitators was interested in interpreting that relationship as energy connecting the three, and not only that, but using felt sense to train people how to sense that relationship in ourselves and each other in our interactions for conflict resolution. After talking with them for hours and discovering we had many mutual interests in this work, they invited me to join their diverse team of facilitators. It was fascinating to explore. Over the next three years we held a series of workshops in their home city of Minneapolis, to experiment with and train many community members in their method.
Another group I worked with focused on racial reconciliation. We started with understanding our own internalized oppression as people of color. And another healing group I have worked with for many years uses the Ageless Wisdom tradition, a compilation of knowledge with roots dating back 12,000 years to ancient India, and is a non-religious approach to spirituality based on hermetic principles. We use those principles as a guide to offer healing thoughtforms or ideas through focused group meditation, to others who are interested in betterment and want to pick up those ideas.
The theory is our thoughts are things, and our thoughts direct energy through a stated purpose and intent. Much like the idea of using prayer and mantras or affirmations, which are supported in mainstream psychology today to enhance mood, mental clarity and well-being. Studies show they can have a positive effect on the individual psyche.
On January 1st, 1967, the Day of Prayer for Peace saw millions of people around the world pray and meditate, in hopes of easing global tensions and violence. A global drop in violence on that day was measured around the world, showing a significant but brief decrease that became a powerful symbol for the power of our focused thought.
When we come together with focused intent – whether through art, community healing or shared purpose, we ignite our imagination with the possibility to dream for better. No matter who you are or where you come from, you have what it takes to help make the world a better place. What new and creative techniques inside you are waiting to be lit? Here’s a match for your flame!
2010 US Social Forum: https://ssw.umich.edu/stories/49038-u-s-social-forum-2010-raising-hope-in-detroit
2010 Allied Media Conference: https://amc.alliedmedia.org/about/history
Visionary Viewpoints 
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