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— Sounds True Presents —
10 Days to Activate Revolutionary Love
January 22–31, 2021
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Day 2
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Daily sessions will unlock as they become available, and will be accessible for the duration of the free 10-day event.
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Daily sessions will unlock as they become available, and will be accessible for the duration of the free 10-day event.
Grieve
Teaching and practice with Valarie Kaur
Today’s teaching and guided inquiry focus on being brave with our own grief and how to grieve with others. We’ll explore how sharing grief in the face of violence and injustice builds new relationships, creates deep solidarity, and gives us information for our role in the fight for justice.
Home Practice
1. Reach out to someone you know who is carrying grief and ask them how they are doing.
Your task is simply to listen. Resist any impulse to fix, and let there be silences. If you need words, you can say, “You are grieving, but you are not grieving alone. I am here with you.” Notice what it feels like in your body as you do this.
2. In your wisdom journal, reflect on what you learned from the grieving. What information did you gain about the person you grieved with? What did you learn about yourself?
Interview and live Q&A
with Rev. Dr. Traci Blackmon, Rev. Michael-Ray Mathews, and Najeeba Syeed: “Grieve”
We all carry grief—it is impossible to live in this world without it. But our darkest moments of grief can become the thread that binds us to others. Those we grieve with, those we sit with and weep with, are ultimately those we organize with and advocate for. In this session, Valarie is joined by three transformative faith leaders from diverse spiritual traditions to discuss how grief has forged some of their deepest connections in life.
Moderated by: Melissa Ann Canlas, EdD
Session Highlights:
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How is grieving an act of love?
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How can the practice of wonder help us to love and grieve with others, even those we do not yet know?
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Creating rituals for our own grief
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The importance of showing up to grieve however we are able
Rev. Dr. Traci Blackmon
Rev. Dr. Traci Blackmon is a minister and advocate for communal resistance to systemic injustice through the redemptive power of love. Her response in Ferguson to the killing of Michael Brown resulted in international recognition, and her work is featured in several documentaries and publications. She was appointed to the Ferguson Commission by Governor Jay Nixon and to the President’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships for the White House by President Barack Obama. Rev. Blackmon is a recipient of the NAACP Rosa Parks Award, has been included on Ebony magazine’s Power 100 list, and was named one of 15 “faith leaders to watch in 2020” by the Center for American Progress. She is the proud mother of three adult children.
Rev. Michael-Ray Mathews
Rev. Michael-Ray Mathews (he/him/his) brings over 30 years of leadership experience—as a senior pastor, grassroots leader, psalmist, and community organizer—to his work as deputy director and chief faith officer for Faith in Action. He hosts the Prophetic Resistance podcast, engaging multifaith leaders about cultivating communities of belonging and sacred resistance to injustice. Rev. Mathews is president of the Alliance of Baptists, a progressive movement for justice and healing; coeditor of Trouble the Water: A Christian Resource for the Work of Racial Justice; senior fellow at Auburn Theological Seminary in New York; and cofounder of Sympara, a multifaith/interspiritual community of practice.
Najeeba Syeed, JD
Najeeba Syeed, JD, is associate professor of Muslim and interreligious studies at Chicago Theological Seminary. Recognized as a leader in peace-building and social justice-based research, Professor Syeed is a two-time recipient of the John Anson Ford Award for her work with interracial gang conflicts and reducing school violence. Her work has been the subject of news reports and documentaries, and in 2017 she received the Scholar-Activist Award from Auburn Seminary. With Heidi Hadsell, she coedited Critical Perspectives on Interreligious Education: Experiments in Empathy, and her new book, Sacred Resistance: Interfaith Rituals of Faith-Based Migration Activists, is forthcoming.
Melissa Ann Canlas, EdD (Moderator)
Melissa Ann Canlas, EdD, is the director of education at the Revolutionary Love Project and a full-time faculty member in the School of Education at the University of San Francisco. Dr. Canlas’s research and teaching focus on issues of educational equity and human rights. As a lifelong educator, Dr. Canlas believes that education should be directed toward learning to love and care for one another as we build systems where every person can live in wellness and dignity.
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© 2021 SOUNDS TRUE · ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
I am with you Valerie. Thank you for your teaching.
There was no mention of the increase of acts of anti-Semitism. This bothered me very much as the largest rise in hate crimes has been directed toward Jews.. I could not accept the fact that many ethic, religious , groups were mentioned but nothing about Jews.
I hear your issue. For my own edification is the “largest rise in hate crimes…is directed toward Jews” a world wide phenomenon? I agree this may be true in parts of the US but I did not know that it is true in all the world.
Please forgive me for not knowing.
Yes for Jews !
And Yes for children in government funded care. Not counted. High mortality rates and poor health outcomes in adulthood, if they get that far. As Valarie said “how do we solve a problem we are not even measuring?”. My solution is attachment economics. Attachment or relationship is the remedy, grieving together, and creating the conditions for human growth in securely attached families, that will fuel a new global economy. Thank you to Tami and Valarie for offering this free of charge! Seeding a love revolution that is also an economic revolution in the making.
I can not view or hear any of the speakers and their presentations, I can only do so with Valarie Kaur’s introduction videos. How do I access them? I also see a recording of the Q & A of speakers that begins at 5 pm PST, but no way to access each speaker of the day. The same thing happened on the first day/yesterday. Please provide some guidance.
Thank you,
Kris Randal
Same problem
Is there a way to share this Day 2 talk with a larger audience (not signed up)? It is so valuable! I am a white cis bisexual woman, but I have (thankfully distant in lineage and space) family members who still don’t even believe that white supremacy exists. It agrieves me deeply! I don’t know that I can make a difference, yet I continue to try one conversation at a time, as long as I can remain grounded and not fall into anger, despair, or the very discounting vitriole that I hear around me. Thank you in advance for speaking to this…
CD -You are doing the hard work. That of confronting those in your close circle and attempting to show them a different way of seeing. I applaud your courage as you do this work. One idea to help them see is through stories. I suggest you share with them some of the stories that others have shared so they can ‘see:” others as you have come to experience them.. James
Maybe it’s just my ineptitude with technology but so far I can only see bios on the speakers. Is there actual content? How do I access the content? Looking forward to the content but I sure can’t find it. Help!?
It doesn’t start until 8pm. Maybe they will send out another email.
I was able to access the teaching video at the top of the page when I pressed the white, triangular play button in the middle of the box where it says “Grieve.” The interview is the second video on the page that goes live at 5pm Pacific.
I clicked on the play arrow on the video and listened to Valarie’s teaching. It’s beautiful.
Me too. The play button doesn’t lead to the Q&A and I’m very interested.