草莓社区

Fabrice Guerrier and Jodie Geddes, alumni of 草莓社区鈥檚 , have been elected to two-year terms on the board of managers with affiliate organization (CTTT).

Guerrier, who works in the U.S. State Department in Washington D.C., and Geddes, a community organizing coordinator with (RJOY) in California, are serving as president and vice president, respectively.

鈥淲hat comes to mind, first and foremost, about these two leaders is their youth and enthusiasm and commitment to truth, justice, mercy and peace,鈥� said CTTT Executive Director . 鈥淏oth Jodie and Fabrice bring a wealth of peacebuilding knowledge to this work from their education at CJP, but also life and professional experience.鈥�

Coming To The Table 鈥�provides leadership, resources and a supportive environment for all who wish to acknowledge and heal wounds from racism that is rooted in the United States鈥� history of slavery,鈥� according to their website. In 2016, CTTT held their at EMU, bringing together more than 90 people from around the United States.

With growing national attention on the need for racial healing, the organization has 18 groups in seven states and Washington D.C., including a multi-state Mid-Atlantic group. Six new chapters have recently been added.

鈥楿npeeling the layers鈥�

Fabrice Guerrier, a native of Haiti and 2015 graduate of CJP, has been involved with CTTT since hearing board president Phoebe Kilby GC ’04, a white woman, share the story of connecting with her cousin, Betty Kilby Baldwin, an African-American woman descended from slaves owned by Phoebe Kilby鈥檚 family.

Guerrier felt an instant connection to their story: he had grown up trying to understand the political and social legacies of slavery within his Haitian homeland, where former African slaves and free-colored men and women had risen against the French colonial empire in Saint Domingue to create the first independent black nation where all people, of all colors, were granted freedom and full citizenship.

With the knowledge that 鈥渢he legacies of the transatlantic slave trade continue to impact billions of people around the world in many nations,鈥� Guerrier helped found a Shenandoah Valley Local chapter of CTTT in 2014.

When I heard of descendants of the enslaved and enslavers connected through slavery coming together to dialogue around the difficult issues of race and healing and address the legacies of slavery in the United States, it struck me as this revolutionary idea that can truly save the soul of America 鈥� CTTT shows us that as a nation, our futures and our lives are inextricably bonded together. That history and its inter-generational wounds deeply affect the lives of many, whether we choose to recognize it or deny the moral responsibility we each carry set by those who came before us. I truly believe that when people begin to engage in deep dialogue, we start to unpeel the many layers that divide us from each other. This important process calls for moral imagination and a healthy dose of realism.

Guerrier points to CTTT鈥檚 partnership with the Kellogg Foundation鈥檚 as one sign that the growing organization and its members, with work rooted in concepts of trauma awareness and resilience and restorative justice, are contributing to a larger national conversation. [CJP is also a partner. .]

CTTT鈥檚 shared vision for the future includes engaging youth, creating inter-generational spaces and collaborating across churches, colleges and cities. 鈥淲e are at a critical point in America where people are hungry for something different,鈥� Guerrier says. 鈥淚 believe Coming to the Table can be this difference and allow individuals to self-organize, get the leadership and knowledge to engage their communities and begin to heal themselves and their communities.鈥�

Visioning a national transformation process

Geddes says her friendship with Guerrier while both were graduate students had a lot to do with her eventual membership in聽 CTTT, but the process wasn鈥檛 as smooth. New to CJP and to the Harrisonburg community, with the death of Tamir Rice weighing heavily, she recalls being alternately led by the call to organize in the community and pulled by 鈥渕y resistance to be in the space with white folks speaking about race.鈥�

Confronting her own resistance is a familiar dynamic for Geddes, who was born in Jamaica and raised in The Bronx, New York, struggling, she says, with 鈥渁 different kind of double-consciousness.鈥�

As a Caribbean American, many things around sent the message that I was different from ‘African Americans.’ As I grew older and my accent began to change, the world of privilege saw me as 鈥榓nother black girl from the hood.’聽 My humanity is dependent on serving as a vessel to transform and heal from the wounds of slavery that encourage in some ways a reality of 鈥楴obodyness鈥� as Marc Lamont Hill puts it 鈥� The history of slavery in the United States is deeply connected to the Caribbean. On multiple levels the Caribbean set the roadmap for how American slavery would function and the legacy we have today.

Noting that the work of CTTT is 鈥渃ollective鈥� in nature, Geddes also points out that the leadership role is 鈥渁n opportunity as young people for us to support the expansion of CTTT鈥檚 mission through an intergenerational lens to decolonize language and structures that be.鈥�

She hopes for a broader establishment of CTTT chapters among more youth, on college campuses, in the Midwest and 鈥渁cross the world.鈥�

鈥淚f I am really dreaming big,鈥� says the 2016 graduate, 鈥淚 hope to see a national truth and reconciliation process. Many people can do the work of uncovering history, making connections and telling the truth but transformation requires a different kind of action that dismantles and helps to reshape a new nation.鈥�

She鈥檚 working to make that dream come true: RJOY is led by executive director Fania Davis, a and activist for a national process for racial healing and transformation. [Read more about Davis’s .]

With RJOY and CJP graduate students, Geddes is also involved in the first phase of a project to research and map various truth-telling, racial healing, reparations and/or memorialization initiatives around the country. The goal is to encourage synergy and cross-pollination of these initiatives, as well as publicize their ongoing work.