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Learn about the principles and practice of nonviolence as an active force for personal, social, and political change. Co-hosted with Grassroots Leadership Criminal Justice / Participatory Defense Organizer and Visions After Violence Fellow with Texas After Violence Project Robert Tyrone Lilly and Jim Crosby, the show covers current events, learning opportunities, and nonviolent direct action taking place locally. Airs 1st Thursdays of every month from 1-2 pm CT at KOOP Community Radio 91.7 FM in Austin, Texas, and streaming online at koop.org.
K00pHDonehd3
Speaker 2:Hornsby.
Speaker 3:Body trauma. What are we gonna do about embodied trauma? You got it from your daddy. I got it from my mama. Everybody's got some embodied trauma.
Speaker 3:Just look at your hands. I'm looking at my hands. It's in our brains too and in our lymph glands. Embodied trauma, source of all this drama. What we gonna do about embodied trauma?
Speaker 3:White body supremacy, whose idea was such lunacy? It must have served some colonial piracy. Embodied trauma. What we're gonna do about embodied trauma, we got to talk it out, we gotta sing it out, we gotta march it out, We gotta dance it out. Embodied trauma, embodied trauma.
Speaker 3:What we're gonna do about embodied trauma? Embodied trauma, source of all this drama. Together, let's heal our embodied trauma. Embodied trauma.
Speaker 2:You are listening to k00pHD1hd3 Hornsby. I am I am your host, Stacey Fraser. Pronouns are she, they. I am joined by Jim Crosby and Jenna Kirkpatrick. And we are coming as fully human humans in this hour, and, I will say that as a highly sensitive person, I am carrying the the intense emotional feels, around.
Speaker 2:And, those are mixed bags of feelings, but, I appreciate, as always, you dear listener, who do our our our frequents, right, who, accept me and all my wholeness and flaws and, you know, I'm trying to show up, which is what I ask other people to do. And so that's that's that's half the way there at least. So, Jim, tell us what you just played and why you played it.
Speaker 3:That was Embodied Trauma, and, it's a song like most of the ones I play here, from a song from Mississippi John Hurt. He called it Coffee Blues, but, most people call it Levin Spoonful. And I rewrote the lyrics to talk about trauma. I'd read Resmaa Menakem's book, My Grandmother's Hands, and hence the reference to the hands and stuff. And, but just the idea that when things traumatize us, even potentially national elections, that it's it's not only in our brains, in our thoughts, but they they talk about what is it, cortisol.
Speaker 3:Stress brings up cortisol, and, it affects us physically. And so that's kinda what that song was about. And and the last couple of verses that talk about, you know, what we're gonna do about it? Well, let's heal our trauma together, and that's that's what we're about, I think, here on this show.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. Welcome to the show, Jenna.
Speaker 1:Thank Thank
Speaker 2:you. Do you wanna, tell folks who you are and just a snippet of one of your identities that you bring today? Of course. I'm Jenna Kirkpatrick, and I am the manager of
Speaker 1:Excellent.
Speaker 2:Excellent. Thank you. And we're gonna get into that a little more and and the work you're doing and tie this whole thing together. This is Nonviolent Austin Radio Hour, and we listen, a lot to our ancestors and teachers, past and present. And one of the foundational frameworks of this, show is Kingian Nonviolence.
Speaker 2:And Gemini, just traveled to Selma, Alabama, via Birmingham, via you had Mississippi John Hurt.
Speaker 3:It was a circuitous route. Yeah.
Speaker 2:That's right. Through Mississippi for some music, before that. But we came back with our level 2 certification in, King Yin nonviolence conflict reconciliation training. And so I wanted to devote a portion of today's show to couple things we brought back and how that is appropriate to what you're doing, Jenna with Evermore and also, what we do now and what we do next. So I wanna give space, and I started off the top with vulnerable, raw grief because grief is important to acknowledge, and it's something societally that I don't think we do very well.
Speaker 1:Yeah. I agree. That's, you know, a huge part of what we do is is talking about grief and bereavement. Working with scientists that show data that how it affects our bodies and how it affects our minds. It's not just, you know, after we lose someone we love and after the casseroles stop coming, it goes on and on for many many years.
Speaker 1:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:And you are, focused in your work on, bereaved bereavement, due to the loss of, a family member or loved one. And we're experiencing a collective grief right now. Many of us, I shouldn't say all of us because I, as I was reflecting on today's show and our purpose, you know, one of the key pillars of kinky and nonviolence is to principle 3, attack the forces of evil, not the persons doing the evil. And, I I am challenged in the most beautiful ways constantly by this framework that I practice. And, you know, the people, including people that I've been with in the past 24 hours, people that we're surrounded with may not have the same emotions in this moment as I do as a result in the outcome of the elections.
Speaker 2:And I think that's important that we acknowledge our people ness first.
Speaker 3:And even if we don't have even if we for the most part, we, for example, we 3 here together, have a lot of those same emotions, we don't have exactly the same emotions. So yeah. I mean, it's it's, you know, it's it's not a either or situation.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So whereas I am a mere mortal and am not necessarily going to invite us to hold space for celebration in this moment because I'm just not there right now. I do also want to acknowledge that someone listening right now may not be experiencing grief like my body is experiencing grief in this moment.
Speaker 3:Beautiful. Can I open up with my quotes? Of course. I got some good quotes for us to chew on if we are or use a springboard. 1st, one came just today from This Nonviolent Life, which is a daily email I get from Campaign Nonviolence, from a woman named Stephanie Van Hook.
Speaker 3:The capacity for nonviolence is part of our evolutionary inheritance, but the practice of it you just said practice, Stacy. So the but the practice of it, of nonviolence, in the modern world needs as much cultivation as the capacity to speak a language, though we're born with the ability to do so. So we talk a lot about how much of our education, much of our training, is in violence. And so, nonviolence is an ongoing education, reeducation, and practice. Okay.
Speaker 3:Couple more, if I may. From Gandhi who, you know, to a significant degree, doctor King got his approach to nonviolence from. And this so Gandhi died January 48, and I don't know what this quote is from because it's in a book of quotes. But, it's gotta be sometime probably in the forties, maybe in the thirties with the rise of of, fascism and Nazism, but because he mentions those. But, sometime in the last decade or 2 of his life.
Speaker 3:He said, democracy can only be saved through nonviolence because democracy, so long as it is sustained by violence, cannot provide for or protect the weak. My notion of democracy is that under it, the weakest should have the same opportunity as the strongest. This can never happen except through nonviolence. Western democracy, as it functions today, is diluted Nazism or fascism. So that was, what, 80 years ago, Gandhi's saying that and, you know, experiencing, quote unquote, British democracy, I suppose, as one of the oppressed in India.
Speaker 3:So, anyway, I thought that gave us plenty to talk about in relation or think about in relation to the, election. Here's another one that, we're gonna talk more about, the Kingian nonviolence training that Stacy and I went through a couple weeks ago. And, one of our trainers by remote, on Zoom, is is, Kazuhaga, if who if you don't know his work, please look him up. It's just like it sounds. He's Japanese American.
Speaker 3:It's k a z u haga, Kazuhaga. And he quoted a Greek poet said, we don't live up to our expectations. We fall to the level of our training. So what we're talking about is lifelong training cultivating non violence. And so the last thing I wanted to read is from one of our trainers, Bernard Lafayette, who we'll be talking more about.
Speaker 3:He's got a wonderful book of memoir about 1963 through 1965 when he was kind of the lead representative of, SCLC and SNCC in, in Selma. And so, as part of the Selma movement, he's got an appendix in this book that's called the book is called In Freedom in Peace and Freedom, My Journey in Selma. The appendix is called Doctor King's 6 Principles of Nonviolence, which is what we keep referring to, related to Selma. And the first one starts out like this. Principle 1, nonviolence is a way of life for courageous people.
Speaker 3:Doctor King often talked about how the movement was not for cowards. We somehow need to find the courage deep within ourselves to be able to confront conflict rather than avoid or run away from it. Many times, I felt afraid. Just going into Selma not knowing what I'd encounter was daunting. But I went there.
Speaker 3:I stayed. And through my faith and my friends, I worked through the fear. This principle requires that we focus on the heart of the conflict and find ways to deal with the issues and problems in a positive and constructive way, persuading our adversaries of the justice of the cause. For doctor King, this nonviolence principle was never just a tactic to push through his agenda. It was the way he lived every day of his life.
Speaker 3:So we wanna talk about what we experienced in Selma and, but about nonviolence as practice and as way of life.
Speaker 2:That's right. Thank you for all of those offerings, Jim, to me and everyone listening. The, Kazuhaga, wrote a book called Healing Resistance and, if you didn't mention that, it's one of my favorites. So I highly recommend that. And, you know, I I really appreciate, also lifting up the fact that whereas, doctor King, and doctor King's philosophy and practice, he was deeply rooted in Christianity.
Speaker 2:This is accessible to all faith traditions or even the absence there absence thereof. However, I would say that this, nonviolence as a practice, as a practitioner and teacher now, I have reclaimed spirituality and what that means and that it's the spirit that, is foundational and fundamental to taking the approach, the nonviolent approach as it does take courage and bravery. It is counter cultural still, which I, you know, will say that that's, you know, a major contributor to why we are where we are today, politically, nationally, and globally. And spirit, which I I say the source, manifests itself through music and poetry. And this is where I I bring Jenna's voice in because we're we're going to be gifted by you as creative expression being a poet.
Speaker 2:Tell us a little bit about what that means to you and why you do it, and maybe even share something with us if you can.
Speaker 1:Oh, thank you. Yeah. I first, started writing poetry as a young child. It just I love the form. I love the succinct way in which you can take a big topic and try to distill that down into something beautiful that you can share with other people.
Speaker 1:I spent the last 17 years of my life working in schools, teaching or working with kids. I wouldn't say teaching them poetry, You know, bringing in different authors, different musicians, lyrics, and getting them excited about expressing themselves. So poetry is a big huge part of my life. And yeah, I write poetry with typewriter rodeo. I write poems for people all over the planet that want me to write about their weddings, anniversaries, anything like that.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Tell people what typewriter rodeo is. I think that's one of the coolest things.
Speaker 1:It is. Thank you. It is a really cool thing. We take antique typewriters out to different events, and we write a poem on any topic. So somebody could come up and say, write a poem about peace.
Speaker 1:Write a poem about nonviolent action. What can write up a poem about how I'm feeling today, and we type it on the spot and then and then hand it to them. So it's really fun.
Speaker 2:So, you have some items in front of you. Is there something you wanna read that perhaps is resonating most in this moment for you?
Speaker 1:I'd be happy to. This is a poem I recently wrote. I was I was kind of looking through my poems and I was like, should I bring one about peace or should I bring one about love? And I decided to bring one about happiness because that's, from what I'm feeling and a lot of people I know are feeling right now is a little bit of a struggle. Where do we fit in in that space?
Speaker 1:So this poem, is my exploration, called happiness, our greatest ally. You ask us to follow you, bribing even the path. You never considered we are leaders on our own journeys. Unbound, we are free from exploitation. Our joy is liberation, and the illusion of fear is not welcome here.
Speaker 1:We have ingested every part of death. We meet it gladly for dessert. All of your false promises for jewels and thrones, you cannot bribe when want is gone. Our bliss is the accounting of wealth. Friendships and giving our salvation.
Speaker 1:Our acts of living offer us contentment and happiness. The greatest gift anyone can get. So you make counter offers to rearrange thoughts in our heads, calculated threats that level up matching stress, show us trifold handouts of your adherence in the finest dress, Trying desperately to invoke fear for nothing we ever missed. You wield raging fist thinking force may be the way to best express the importance of staying with the herd. We snicker at the absurdity.
Speaker 1:Our toes deep in the grass of paradise. Noses smudged with sage. Our guttural laughter makes promises worthless to the blind eyes of reality. There is overwhelming satisfaction coexisting with the elephant in the room as we proudly, inadequately, and honestly admit to the mirage that we were lonely without the sound of our own hilarity. And in this monumental success, we begin to thrive, grabbing hands and acceptance.
Speaker 1:I've got you. You've got me. Together, we are unbiased spirituality, stomping in a mud puddle, chasing iridescent bubbles dispersed from a laughing child's lips. We are talks of peace and liberation. We are Ruby Bridges desegregation.
Speaker 1:We are clarity in the face of delusion, a gut richie joke to your screen door slamming intrusion. Reality making mud pies with the filth of confusion. We see your religion with its rulers smacking the hands of children and sound the church bells in unison. Our minds, our bodies, our health, true wealth, and trinity. We are discovering new paths, meandering where they lead, living joyful on this journey to simple understanding.
Speaker 3:Beautiful. Thank you.
Speaker 1:Thank you.
Speaker 2:Thank you for that balm to the soul. That was amazing, and so spot on for this moment. Thank you.
Speaker 3:Part of it, what it reminded me of was, I had this exchange early yesterday with a friend, just text, and and he had been sick last week and and said, no. I'm really sick, basically. And I'm sick with all caps. And and I said something about, didn't MLK something say something about positive maladjustment? Being maladjusted, you know, in a bad situation being a good thing.
Speaker 3:And he said, what do you say? And so I looked up online, and this huge website, basically, he wanted to start something. He he in speeches over and over, and it it was lined up all these quotes from him. He wanted to start I can't remember the name of it. It's like an acronym, but but for creative maladjustment.
Speaker 3:You know? And, so that's what that reminded me of. Thanks.
Speaker 1:Of course. My pleasure.
Speaker 2:That's alright. You are listening to k00p.org91.7 FM, and you're tuned into Nonviolent Austin Radio Hour. I am your host, Stacey Fraser. I am here with co host Jim Crosby, and joy filled and joyous occasion, to say welcome, Jenna Kirkpatrick, who just shared some poetry. And I love the themes that are emerging in this conversation thus far, which are spirit and joy and resistance, in the re resisting the dominant narratives, resisting the dominant systems of oppression.
Speaker 2:And yeah. Jim, I feel like I I'm turning to you to to say you've probably been through some elections, now, in your life, and maybe some perspective, in this moment in how many times has an election resulted in you thinking something like, I'm at I'm done. I I can't do this anymore. Like, have you ever had those feelings and and what's the perspective in this moment you can offer?
Speaker 3:Yeah. Well, first thing I think of is is we've had some electees, if you will, that I have thought this couldn't possibly ever get any worse. And from time to time, it has. And arguably, the way a lot of us are feeling right now, it has. And and, you know, I've been been kinda reading a lot of postmortems the last couple of days and and looking a lot of stuff online and and just thinking, you know, the one thing that really stands out to me is is, turnout, you know, from, I thought it was 81,000,000 votes that Biden got 4 years ago and 61 something, 62 almost that, is that right, that that Harris got?
Speaker 3:And and Trump's totals were, 74,000,000 and 71,000,000. So it didn't change that much between those two elections. So what happened to the turnout, you know, is is one of the big questions for me. And so, yeah, I'm just I'm thinking that makes me think about where we are in terms of morale, you know, as a nation and how that fits with voting. I wanna end today with with one of my other songs that I picked up particularly because of this verse.
Speaker 3:I'm gonna go ahead and bring it up now. Gotta exercise the franchise. It's a it's actually a song called Blues for Their Creation. It's it's my, environmental song, basically, ecological. But it ties in.
Speaker 3:This has got to exercise the franchise, got to both protest and vote. Otherwise, it's just us to blame when we hear that's all she wrote. But you don't just go with status quo or our future is obscene. It's time for a new new deal and this one must be green. But gotta both protest and vote.
Speaker 3:We voted, and I don't wanna reduce king in nonviolence to protesting. So that's a that's a space holder word there for, you know, nonviolent activism, community building, potentially civil disobedience. And so I wanna throw all those things into the mix. But, yeah, I think your question about having long term perspective at at age 72, You know, there there have been societal and group, you know, whether group you identify with ups and downs, certainly along the way. And and but thinking about and I think what we're doing today, this hour is is persistence and happiness.
Speaker 3:You know, what are the things that, get us up in the morning and enable enable us to keep going? Certainly, one of the things right now is, okay, the challenge remains. You know, no need to relax and no ability to relax. You know, just, maybe for a day or 2, but then carry on. Keep going and carry on.
Speaker 2:Yeah. That's one of those outages that didn't it come out of I think it was British worldwide. I could because it is a grounding, quote, but I was really recently thinking about that. I was like, what's a potentially suitable substitute that didn't have its origin in work propaganda? But, okay.
Speaker 2:I could offer one off the cuff. So my, my friend Ronan and I, yesterday met for tea at West China Tea House, and we sat and had tea ceremony, and that was deeply healing. And Ronan said, we are mountains. We are solid. And, I received a a dharma name.
Speaker 2:I received my 5 mindfulness trainings in, April. And, my dharma name is awakening solidity of the source. And mountains thinking about mountains. Mountains aren't moved by 4 year cycles. That was such a perspective setting metaphor.
Speaker 2:We have been activists too. Activism. Activism does not necessarily mean you are at the front line of a demonstration. Activism, being the role you play in the resistance for love, which is the ultimate manifestation of nonviolence can be, you are a healer. You are a poet like Jenna, you just illustrated.
Speaker 2:You are a teacher. You are, a frontline responder. You are a calm in the storm. And so all of that to say if that, carries anyone through this moment, you are a mountain and you are solid and you're not at the whim of the weather.
Speaker 3:Stacy, can I get you to say something about your background with the Selma Center? And we can segue into our experience there a couple weeks ago.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. And then we'll segue into, Evermore, an organization that Jenna is is heavily involved in. So I don't know if you were specifically referring to to a certain aspect of this, but I became a a participant of a Selma Center, online training in 2022 and, was so moved by the sense of community and joy. I I enjoyed the people, in that training and the trainers, and we had a lot of music and and we were honest and we were vulnerable. And I just kept hanging around and signed up for all of the workshops.
Speaker 2:And, yes, the next opportunity was to become a trainer. And I was, of course, because I want to hang out with these people, and and I wanna be in community. And so I just kept going. And, so now, I am a level 1 Kenyan nonviolence conflict reconciliation trainer, as is Jim. And I'm also a beyond divide and conquer racial equity facilitator of the workshop that Selma Center has.
Speaker 2:And, in in March, we are, I say we because this will take our whole community here, to support us, taking with me for, Austin community members to become level 1 trainers also and we're going to bring this back and and have a sibling center to the Selma Center and that as an example is organizationalizing and institutionalizing kenyon nonviolence which was the purpose of our level 2 trip. So level 1 is really understanding what the, you know, the the pillars of king Ian Nonviolence are and rooting oneself in the history of the civil rights movement and doctor King and doctor King's influences. Right? It goes way back before doctor King. And, level 2 is in okay.
Speaker 2:You've got that solid foundation of the principles, the wills, the skills, and the historical context. Now, how do we give this longevity? How do we give this maximum effectiveness? And one of that is through forming within the systems that we have now which, you know, are well, I'll keep my editorial out for a moment, but that's how, right? And so, we're gonna organize.
Speaker 2:And and and when I say organize, I don't mean just like meet and do something. We're going to form formal structures, opportunities, marketing, coalitions with other organizational partners throughout the community because then we weave an ironclad, tapestry from which to continue to resist and to continue to, you know, speak out and and and to form our own safety net. The people save the people. Right? That that's truly the case.
Speaker 2:So, we're gonna go on a real quick break, and then we'll come right back and we'll turn into, to you, Jenna, forevermore. Thank you.
Speaker 4:It's homecoming night, CO OP style at community garden. CO OP DJ alumni Art Baker from Jamaican Gold, Jennifer Kriska and Jennifer Lukamayr, the Jennifers from Ear Candy, and Rick McNulty from Excavation Nation will be spinning tunes November 7th from 7 to 11 PM. It's gonna be an absolute blast from the coop past. More info at k0op.org or on our socials at coopradio.
Speaker 5:Do you like music? Of course, you do. You must listen to the clear spot, free for music for voracious consumers of sound, every Saturday night at 7. Your host, Grace will
Speaker 3:And Brian. Ahem.
Speaker 5:Your host is Grace and
Speaker 4:Also Brian?
Speaker 5:Shut up, Brian.
Speaker 4:Grace, that hurts my feelings, but I suppose I
Speaker 5:That's the clear spot. Saturday nights at 7 only on Co OP Radio. Your attendance is mandatory.
Speaker 2:Thank you for tuning in to Nonviolent Austin Radio Hour. You are, joining us from either 91.7 FM or you are joining us online at k0ob.org where we stream from everywhere there is reliable Internet. So, we will also be archiving this conversation and sharing it so you can, share with friends and relisten for information and inspiration. We are Jim and I are joined today by Jenna Kirkpatrick from Evermore, and I wanna go into Evermore now with the preface, the prelude of institutionalizing and organizationalizing nonviolence. And so let's let's learn a little bit about Evermore.
Speaker 2:Okay. Thank you.
Speaker 1:Evermore is an organization that's been around 10 years now. We are based out of Washington, DC. Our founder and executive director is, Joao Mulhiran. She is one of the most courageous people I know. So, talking about standing up when something goes wrong in your life and really making a change for millions of other Americans.
Speaker 1:So she, experienced a great loss, of her daughter, Eleonora, and found that the systems weren't in place to support grieving and bereaved individuals. Being a person that worked, on Capitol Hill for many years, and with the White House and other branches of government. She started going around and and talking to people about their, grief and bereavement experiences. What happened to you after your loss? Were were you getting any help?
Speaker 1:She found that the majority of people were not, which is why she started evermore. We work threefold and, we work in policy with all branches of the government and in advising the White House as well on policy that affects or could positively affect, bereaved people. We work with scientists that are the leading collecting the leading data on grief and bereavement, what that does to you physically and mentally after you lose someone you love. And we found that for different losses, different parts of our bodies are affected in different ways. We also work in community outreach.
Speaker 1:We use that data and we take that and go and give micro grants in communities that, are maybe the most highly impacted. We found that indigenous children were parentally bereaved at 2.2% higher than the national average. So we went to the Cherokee Nation last year, and we did 6 weeks of art classes with, bereaved children. We also worked with hip hop therapy in the Bronx, and they've been around, for quite a while. And they worked with kids that have experienced violence in the Bronx.
Speaker 1:So we're trying to make a change on on many different levels and really a systemic change all across the board to help people.
Speaker 2:Well, hooray. You're here. In Austin. Thank you. And you.
Speaker 2:And so, how did you get involved with the organization?
Speaker 1:Yeah. I, so, I'm also a bereaved mom. I lost my son, Ellis, this year will be 13 years ago. He, died. He was killed in a car accident on 11/11/11.
Speaker 1:And I started, a group of parents here that we're meeting that were bereaved parents that we just got together and had food and talked maybe not so much about our loss, but just how our day was going. And if we were able to put our pants on that day and leave and go to work or whatever, you know, just being supportive and hearing those stories and having community with each other. One of them shared an article, that mentioned Joy Al in the article, and my daughter was in school at George Washington University at the time. So when I went to visit her, I read this article while I was there and I thought, well, I'll just reach out to this lady and see if she'll meet with us. And she immediately answered back and my daughter, Lila and I met her for tea and I told her my story.
Speaker 1:My story, involves my husband losing his job the day after else was killed, fighting with insurance companies for upwards of 6 years, no insurance, no help, and really just feeling very alone and isolated. And, when I spoke to Joyelle, she said this was the norm for most people in our country. And I said, what can I do to help? And so I started volunteering, and I've been, you know, I was I volunteered for many, many years, and now, yeah, what a part of a small crew. We're very small but mighty, very, very mighty Mhmm.
Speaker 1:At Evermore. So we work every day to make the world a more livable place for bereaved people.
Speaker 2:Thank you for sharing your story and your fuel.
Speaker 1:Of course. Of course. It gives me, yeah. My story is my fuel, just like you said. It pushes me to do something for other people so they don't have the same experience that I did.
Speaker 1:I wanna make the world a better place for them. We all do. There's there's so many things that are happening right now that are really exciting with the work that we're doing. The first, federal government report on bereavement just came out, so that's really exciting. They're listening.
Speaker 1:They're paying attention. It features, like, the typical grieving process, the impact of COVID on grieving and bereaved individual, social factors, equity implications of bereavement and grief services. So it's addressing many, many different findings. So that's just really exciting that our federal government is paid to June. We've been knocking on their doors for a very long time.
Speaker 2:I was gonna say and so how do you who who are you in coalitions with or what other organizations,
Speaker 1:bereaved youth or parentally bereaved people, bereaved parents, really just hundreds of different organizations. So based upon what we're working on at that time, we will call meetings and coalitions of all those people to get together. One of the things we're working on right now is, with the Social Security Administration. We released a report that, was directed at the White House, called America's forgotten or orphans. And it was an urgent call to the White House to understand childhood bereavement in our country.
Speaker 1:More than 2,200,000 children under the age of 18 have lost their parents. They also we found that upwards of $15,000,000,000 in, social security funds have not been dispersed to these grieving children, and that accounts for over 50% of children, bereaved parentally bereaved children in our country. And so we're working with, to find these children, which feels pretty amazing to be a part of something like that and to and to make that change. These these these numbers and these, benefits could change these Children's lives and their caregivers.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Yeah. No doubt. How do you organize? And the questions I'm asking are illustrating the approach, that King's level to outline.
Speaker 2:How do you organize? Do you have you mentioned the state.
Speaker 1:Do you have state or regional offices? We do. We just opened up our first three state offices. Just in the last month, we opened up our our Texas, chapter and we're gonna really get that rolling, soon. So thank you for letting me spread the word here.
Speaker 1:Mhmm. And, yeah, we just have we have meetings with with people from different states. Most that have been directly I mean, I think most of us have been directly, you know, have experienced, grief and loss in our lives and really want to make that change. There's so many amazing organizations out there that are doing amazing work, and they'll they'll come and meet with us. And we'll all be like, what do we need to do?
Speaker 1:Who do we need to reach out to? Let's all go and and find our representatives and knock on their doors, which, is, yeah, another way that Texas kind of got into play. I pride myself in being a PTA mom. My kids went to school and grew up here in Austin. Shout out to Barton Hills Elementary.
Speaker 1:Yeah. That was my kid's school, and I was a big PTA mom there. But, I learned these skills. And so when we needed someone to lead the letter, including bereavement care, and and bring that to our representatives, Lloyd Doggett came on board. I called and called and called and told him my story and and, asked them to be to lead this letter, and and he did.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, go Texas.
Speaker 2:Go you.
Speaker 1:Oh, thank you. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Thanks. Yeah. You'd be amazed at how much just calling someone or emailing someone you have illustrated that twice today. You mentioned the first time with the the founder of Evermore, and secondly, with your calling Lloyd Doggett. So those are excellent examples to lift up is that, we certainly can't do this as individuals, but we certainly can take individual actions that have ripple effects.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. Yeah. One person can make a difference. Absolutely.
Speaker 3:And a lot of it is that reaching out to meet that next person. Yeah. Or to to network, to bring people in. Yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker 3:Invite. Absolutely.
Speaker 2:I also appreciate, the advocacy role as, I have this conversation, with nonprofit colleagues, often, which is, how do you sustain? And something that Jim and I talked about in Selma quite a bit in this last training is, you know, how do you how do you think of the challenge and that you're addressing with the purpose of your organization and and how do you think about, concretizing it? And advocacy is one way because, you know, service provision is is one element and and it's based on a mission, but you've gotta be, you know, influencing and building coalition building bases, building coalitions, and then, different organizations can serve different functions in partnership, and that strengthens the the impact that your organization is gonna have. Jim, is there anything that's jumping out for you and and applying it to, level 2?
Speaker 3:I've got some stories I wanna tell, but I wanna make sure, that we have room. Do we wanna do that first before another poem or form poem first?
Speaker 2:You wanna do another poem?
Speaker 1:Sure. Let's do it. I have one. It's it's a little more sad though. I feel like Alright.
Speaker 2:Sadness is welcome here. Okay.
Speaker 1:This is just, about, you know, what's happening in Gaza. And so, yeah, I've read this at the last, nonviolent, I guess it was like a a concert party
Speaker 3:Peace fest?
Speaker 1:Peace fest. Yes. Peace fest was amazing. I was invited to read this. So, this is just what came to my mind.
Speaker 1:It's called common era. In the city of Samson, Emmanuel is weeping. His innocence is mocked by a will for life. Dusty cheeks streaked with perseverance. He sees mama and papa, sunset and sunrise.
Speaker 1:A simple end and beginning. Neighbors stumble through wreckage carrying his friends bloodied in their arms. It does not take long to hate, to feel it in your belly, full, pregnant with mistrust, Nefarious efforts, mangled smiles strewn on the faces of his dead playmates. Poison seeps into grieving minds. Hands coddle ears to unhear blaring wails of torture.
Speaker 1:Birthrights echo sacred languages, bootstraps tightened by disfigured fingers. Mama and papa whisper secretly in the dim light of dawn. A plan is made for safety. In a corner, Emmanuel is weeping. Mama blocks his ears for violent blasts and subsequent shrieking.
Speaker 1:Who will take this bullet from my chest? Are you are you my brother brother? Gray smoke billows from Yehudit's corner bread shop night moans. Mama, papa and Emmanuel huddle together in a wishing well. Mossy stones that once kept water no longer bother.
Speaker 1:Advancing fireworks hammer overhead plagued by suspense. Did we run relatively? Have we gotten far enough away? My baby. Settling in the gummy mud, Emmanuel makes finger puppet shows in shadows.
Speaker 1:Mama openly worries. Have we fled the terror of combat? It is doubtful. She cradles shivering Emmanuel held in the cold tears of a wishing well. It seems that they are safe.
Speaker 1:Captured as a question of birthright or an amalgam. What perpetuate what perpetuates are puzzle pieces on the inside of Emmanuel? Papa is a scholar. He rubs his brow for the senselessness, for knowing better. Mama is an educator.
Speaker 1:She recalls material calculations while hearing bullets fly. How many of my friends, how many of my students will make it out alive? Emmanuel is 4. He dreams of birdsongs, sweetbreads, and all those who came before him. Faces unknown are familiar.
Speaker 1:He touches a stranger's cheek without thought. They hear a stolen child cut from her mother and both scream in defeat. Above the safety of this well, a red sky crashes in relentless anger. Gray ash, smothering rubble, stark butchery, shrapnel. Emmanuel wails and begs of his papa.
Speaker 1:What are we, papa? Without one another. And he lowers his head in deepest prayer. Tiny hands wrench for his neighbors out there. Mama moans and falls to her knees, a constant companion to her dearest son, and soon papa begins to break.
Speaker 1:If we lose our faith, all will be abandoned. This brutality of war, my boy, is never a viable answer. So we will wait here in this bitter wishing well until the innocence of others outweighs the memories of our fallen brothers. And one day, my son, peace will
Speaker 3:come. Thank you. You're welcome. Mhmm. I came this morning from grandchild care and one of my 2 grandsons here is, 4.
Speaker 3:So that especially connected for me.
Speaker 1:And I
Speaker 2:have a 6 year old baby boy right now in 1st grade. And, you know, this is the this is our shared humanity and the ability to cultivate empathy. And then one sympathy is able to be evoked and cultivated, then it's impossible to take another course than nonviolence, in my experience.
Speaker 1:I hope so.
Speaker 2:You're listening to nonviolent Austin radio hour on k00p dotorgor91.7 FM. We're gonna, I have a few community announcements, of ways to combat loneliness, isolation, and a feeling of paralysis. And that's to not not overthink going and doing something. And the amazing transformative power of putting one foot out there and taking a step to be closer to community or in community, and that is a reclamation of power. Community announcement wise, Evermore is, has a a benefit coming up.
Speaker 2:Is that right?
Speaker 1:Yes. Yes.
Speaker 2:If if folks are interested in learning more about that, when, where, and, where is the information posted?
Speaker 1:Awesome. Yeah. We have, our 2nd annual Love is Forevermore benefit concert, and, it will be at Radio East on Sunday, November 17th at 4 PM. So it's an early day show. It features 3 bands.
Speaker 1:1 is called the squirrel show with Oliver Steck. Oliver is hilarious. He has played with many people here like Sarah Sharp and Bob Schneider. He's a multi instrumentalist, and he wears a bunny suit. And so I was like, we need to have something really fun.
Speaker 1:Then we have the amazing Parker Woodland with Aaron Walter who I know has been on this show before. Aaron is a UU minister and works in nonviolence as well. Parker Woodland rocks. They just put out a new album a couple of months ago. And then headlining is the Bright Light Social Hour, Incredible Austin bands, all three of these, and we are so stoked to have them on board.
Speaker 1:Every single one, of the people playing are all, involved and have lost people that they love too. So, like, it would really important to me to have people that support our mission and the work that we're doing at Evermore.
Speaker 2:And where is the information? Yeah.
Speaker 1:In the shows at Radio East, which is on Montopolis, the new location, which is a great, great, beautiful, huge location, free parking, face painting, 3 food trucks on-site, kid friendly, and you can get information, on our website evermore.org.
Speaker 2:Evermore. Correct. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you.
Speaker 1:You're very welcome. Thank you.
Speaker 2:Should we keep going with community updates? Or, Jim, do you wanna go okay. So far. So, I've got a few here. And the first one is going to be this Saturday, actually.
Speaker 2:And this is one of my organ organizing homes, and that is undoing white supremacy Austin. So there is an unlearning circle, this Saturday, November 9th. And in these circles, we hold space to be together with our myriad emotions following the local and national election. We're gonna reflect on what supports we need to sustain our engagement in the lifelong work to undo white supremacy no matter who's in office and to share ways to plug into community and collective action. So that's happening from 10 AM to noon.
Speaker 2:It's going to be on Zoom. And if you, want to learn more, you can contact undoingwhitesupremacy@gmail.com, or you can reach out, to me here or the station, and, we can provide you that information. So that's happening this Saturday. And then on 12th, and I really appreciate and pull pull a through line to your poem, Jenna. The Austin for Palestine Coalition is, hosting a mobilizing for Palestine community conversation.
Speaker 2:That's gonna happen at 7 PM at University Baptist Church, which has been, a a a well, drinking well and refuge for many in the, movement for, to end the the war. And that is, actually gonna be a potluck. And you can show up and you can bring something, and the purpose is that it's gonna sit together and say, what what has been done in the past year, and where do we go from here? The December racism on the level show that I host, which is the other show on CO OP, is going to, well, actually, I have a show before that. See, this is the this is the challenge and the privilege of having 2 shows on coop.
Speaker 2:Thursday, November 21st, my, episode is going to be with Marissa Rivera, and she is the, president of the Sims Foundation, which focuses on mental health, wellness, and access for musicians and music industry folks. And also, we we unpack a lot about mental health, wellness, and how there are, systems and policies and processes in that need to be unlearned and relearned in that as well and and most spaces. And then, we're going to be facing perhaps a city of Austin mayoral race runoff. We have not actually voted, Kirk Watson has not definitively had the 50%, 50.1%, I believe it is, required to become mayor, and there's still an outstanding, 3,000 votes to be counted for. And so I received word that that is certainly still a possibility.
Speaker 2:And we're gonna if it does go to a runoff, then that's gonna be in December and we'll have an early voting week and then December 14th will be the election. So you mentioned indigenous children and that sobering statistic, and I jotted down. I was compelled, and I do trust the universe these days in putting things in front of me and and then mentioning them. The Austin powwow and native market is happening on Saturday, November 23rd at the Travis County Expo Center. And so to elevate and amplify and celebrate the indigenous peoples of this area, that is coming up on the horizon this month as well.
Speaker 2:Do either of you have anything additional in this moment that you wanna share?
Speaker 3:Not in the way of PSAs.
Speaker 2:Okay. Nonviolent Austin. We organize on a Facebook page right now primarily. So if you type in nonviolent Austin, you'll find our group. And, I'm going to be launching that, a a giving butter campaign soon to raise the funds to bring that team with me in March back to Selma to become level 1 certified.
Speaker 2:And, and that's gonna be the 60th anniversary of Bloody Sunday. And we will, represent and bring Austin to Selma for that milestone march across the bridge, on in March.
Speaker 3:And regarding assembling in Austin, we our main gathering on a regular basis, every Friday, nonviolent Austin shows up at, 11th Street in Congress on the sidewalk in front of the Capitol from 4 to 5. So anybody who wants to come join us there, that's great.
Speaker 2:That's right. And that that's a mainstay. It's been going on. And and and I will never get tired of thanking you, Jim Crosby, for establishing, nonviolent Austin and holding those vigils. And everyone's welcome to come.
Speaker 2:And if you like to sing a good folk song or wave a flag or just stand there and talk to someone else, you're welcome to come. Any parting words or thoughts or something that we didn't cover, but you're itching to cover? We have a couple minutes.
Speaker 1:Oh, awesome. Yeah. We have a couple, you know, like, everybody can visit our website to find out more about what we do at evermore and I would love if you wanna reach out to me, jenna@evermore.org because you know, if you want to be involved in this new Texas chapter, have questions about anything, We have a partnership with Newsweek right now where we're collecting stories that, for of from bereaved parents. That's something exciting we're doing. We also have a huge, bereavement leave campaign with higher education.
Speaker 1:So colleges, universities, trade schools all over the country to get bereavement leave, instituted. We have, also this is really cool, being a poet. We have a poet laureate at Evermore, and her name's Rosemary Wottola Traumer. She's the most beautiful, person and poet, and she's a bereaved mom as well. But she hosts online workshops for us called the mystery of grief, writing into the loss.
Speaker 1:And they're 2 hours online, and the next one's on December 4th. And that's from 6 to 8 CST. And, yeah, reach out to us with, more for more information about that. But it's such a beautiful gathering of 100 of people, and she gives writing prompts and we share, and it's just really, really super beautiful. So those are the things.
Speaker 1:And I'm just so grateful to both of you guys to be here. Thanks for all of your work in our community and beyond.
Speaker 2:I'm grateful that we are now directly connected to one another in community, and see you out there at all the music shows and all the poetry and all the all the actions. Definitely. So, Jim, we are wrapping up here. You're gonna have a solid minute to take us out on something inspirational until we meet you again, listener, which is gonna be Thursday, December 5th, will be our next nonviolent Austin Radio Hour. Jim, what are you taking us out on?
Speaker 3:Blues for the Creation, and it's a funny genesis. It's based on John Hurt's song, Let the Mermaids Flirt With Me, which, was in turn musically based on Jimmy Rogers' song, Waiting for a Train. I like my 12 string better. Blues for the creation or the species dying out. Why don't we brilliant humans have a clue what it's all about?
Speaker 3:How can we get it together? Summon our political will. So a generation down the line won't be burning carbon still. Gotta exercise the franchise. Gotta both protest and vote.
Speaker 3:Otherwise, it's just us to blame when we hear that's all she wrote. We don't just go with status quo or our future is obscene. Time for a new new deal, this one must be green. Enough political gridlock, go walk in a national park.