YSWNPY-Zine 20, final - Flipbook - Page 7
On the
Kési Felton (she/her)
Founder of Better to Speak
By: Kési Felton
This year alone, the idea for Your Silence Will Not Protect
You evolved from what was going to be a simple voting
guide and summary of the history of the Black vote into
an encapsulation of an extremely tumultuous and
volatile period in our modern history. As a writer, a
journalist, and a storyteller, my instinct reaction to the
COVID-19 pandemic and mass civil rights protests in
response to state violence was to try and offer folks with
the information necessary to stay safe, connected and
involved. I wrote to find meaning and make sense of what
I was seeing take place in the world.
Similar to most of you, I donated, signed petitions, and
spent time reflecting on how current events weighed on
me. As a young Black woman trying to finish her
undergraduate degree, the weight of trying to figure out
the next steps in my life seemingly paled into
insignificance by the larger call to find my role in the
movement for Black liberation.
I’ve since realized that the two are not necessarily
mutually exclusive. This moment’s invitation to
recognize my role in the shaping of society has coincided
with my journey to step into personal power and accept
responsibility for my life as an adult. I understand now
that living in a way that is liberatory for both myself and
the individuals I cross paths with is not only possible but
mandatory. I also understand that choosing this path
then confirms I must commit to -- in the words of Audre
Lorde -- make verbal what is most important to me “even
at the risk of having it bruised or misunderstood.”
Since reading her work for the first time in my very
first English class at Howard University, I come back to
Lorde’s words often to remind myself of the core of
Better to Speak’s mission and purpose, “to transform
silence into language and action.” I also frequently recall
the poem A Litany for Survival -- the poem from which
Better to Speak got its name: “When we speak we are
afraid our words will not be heard nor welcomed. But
when we are silent, we are still afraid. So it is better to
speak, remembering we were never meant to survive.”
Lorde’s words continue to guide and galvanize me,
especially at times like this when it seems safer to retreat,
mince my words or self-silence.
This moment has demanded the use of all of our voices.
Regardless of our fear, our comfort, or our perceived
incapability. Not only must we speak, but we must also
actively create room for and uplift the most marginalized
among us, those whose voices “the heavy-footed hoped
to silence.”
To do that, I believe we must work to shift our paradigms
about whose voices are valuable and deserving of being
uplifted and whose are invalidated, ignored, and silenced.
We must commit to the work to advocate for those whose
oppression -- whether our own or other people’s -- we
have been complicit in by remaining silent.
Our society codifies our beliefs about who is most
valued through our social institutions and the policies
used to frame them. It infiltrates our relationships with
ourselves as well as interpersonally and collectively -further dictated by the interests of those who have
historically held wealth and power, those whose voices
have drowned others out and dominated narratives. We
-- Black folks -- are left made to believe that our stories
and voices aren’t valuable unless they can be extracted
from and exploited for economic, political, or personal
gain.
Better to Speak’s goal -- and subsequently, the goal of
this zine -- is to offer a manifesto of sorts that not only
reflects the transformative times we’re in but also honors
the fact that we are human beings who have an
opportunity to rebuild a world we did not create -- which
is both hopeful and seemingly insurmountable. While we
are not at fault for our society’s conditions we must take
responsibility -- while we have the opportunity to do so
-- to try and build something better. I want to especially
implore those my age -- those who will be leading our
society in the years to come if not already -- to take heed
of the opportunity we have now to build the world we
want and deserve to experience.
I believe this goes beyond any election, political
ideology, public official, or policy. I believe the gravity of
this moment is about our capacity to not only imagine
but actualize fundamentally new ways of being. I believe
the rigidity with which we believe our most basic social
institutions are inherent to human life, mandating that
Black folks bend and adjust while the status quo remains
constant, is a self-imposed barrier maintained by a lack
of belief in our personal and collective power. It is
understandable given what our people have been
subjected to throughout history, but I want to invite us
all to require more for ourselves while we are here in this
life.
My own journey these past few months has shown me
that it is a fruitless battle to demand anyone -- let alone
the world -- change on a fundamental level before I
confront my own capacity to do so. This has involved
getting over my habit of planning “someday to speak”
and waiting “for someone else’s words.” In this moment,
I believe my call to action is to make my voice heard and
share what is most important to me, so I can then make
room to listen, learn, and collaborate with others in my
community. It has required me to know when speak up
for myself and stand firm in my beliefs and when to be
quiet and listen actively. This zine is a first definitive step
at that call to action.
Your Silence Will Not Protect You will take a
comprehensive look at how Black folks have
transformed silence into language and action today and
throughout history. Grounded in the context of our
ancestors’ efforts, we hope to emphasize the power of our
individual and collective voices, examine the meaning of
transforming silence into language and action across
various communities within the Black Diaspora, and-with clear calls-to-action-- engage more Black folks in
conversations to reimagine and rebuild a sustainable
culture of Black civic engagement in 2020 and beyond.
Kesi Felton
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YOUR SILENCE WILL NOT PROTECT YOU 6
Transformation of Silence
Into Language Introduction
and Action:
and Intention
