Bonner Foundation  •  10 Mercer Street, Princeton, NJ 08540  •  609-924-6663 office  •  609-683-4626 fax  • info@bonner.org

In the third decade of the Bonner Program we must rethink how we go about working for social justice. I want us to rethink – that is, think again, about how we talk about diversity, civic engagement, and service-learning. I want to challenge us to couple personal healing with community healing. These two must go together. Social justice with personal justice. For in order to build bridges with one another, we must share deeply of ourselves and connect through our personal experiences. How can we do this honestly if we are worn down, and unsatisfied with the state of our own lives?

Five years ago, I joined the Bonner Community in the midst of my personal struggle for justice. At that time, I was a UC Berkeley student, working to survive my parents’ complete dominion over my life. I was facing 20 years of incest, neglect, physical and emotional abuse, and being prostituted by my parents.  I was driven to the depths of hopelessness and knew that I either had to work for my liberation, give up on myself, or submit to a lifetime of servitude. As I stand before you today, I am proud to say that I chose liberation.

So why am I sharing this with all of you? THIS community, the Bonner Community, taught me the most important lesson I have learned about social justice work: Seeking justice in my own life is intimately tied to seeking justice in the world. As I throw myself into fostering student leadership, I am able to channel my personal commitments to justice, while spending time outside of work on personal healing. As I work with Bonner Leaders to enact change in Bay Area communities, I also work with each of them to enact change in their personal lives.

The communities we serve are not outside of us, they ARE us. So if we do not serve ourselves, we are not serving our communities. As Walt Whitman writes, “I celebrate myself, and sing myself, And what I assume you shall assume, For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.”

I share with you the atoms of my soul, my story, as they equally belong to you. On my path, I have learned that when we speak the truth about who we are, what we feel, and what we want, we begin to shape a new world.

We must alter the fundamental categories with which we have thus far used to divide, isolate, and alienate people. We need to challenge rigid and hierarchical categories of black/white/asian/latino, and move towards fluid categories of teachers, healers, protectors, thinkers, workers and adventurers – roles that every person can take on at any time – roles that are changing and of equal importance.

We must grieve. For the world is filled with many hurts and a system of oppression has pervaded our every day ways of relating. And if we do not grieve, we will try to change what we cannot change, rather than build a future that we can envision.

We must dive into the depths of our pain so that we can soar through the glories of joy.

We must love deeply. Even when love means confronting violence and oppression enacted by those closest to us.

And most of all, we must come together to fight for freedom. As aboriginal Lila Watson says, “If you have come here to help me, you are wasting your time, but if you have come here because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.”