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It’s All About the Narrative
As a former intelligence analyst and pastor, sometimes I feel like I know way more than I want to know about how narrative’s work. And sadly, I know that because so many of us don’t know how narratives work, we don’t realize when we are being treated as inconsequential characters in someone else’s story. I originally became a pastor because I thought I could help people connect with their own abilities to tell their own stories as well as hear the stories of their neighbors and hopefully build communities that fostered more thriving for more people. But, I eventually saw that church was not the place where that could happen because it depends on the same hierarchical structures that dominate how we perceive ourselves within the contect of an institution. So I quit! And now, I am creating content pretty much by inspiration never knowing if what I put out there will be the thing that makes things click for someone so that they realize, they we are all more powerful than we can imagine. The above video was created toward that end, by breaking down the power of symbolism.
The Power of Symbolism
More than anything right now, my hope is that whatever I can contribute to the communities that I am a part of, will convey to folks that we are more powerful than we can imagine, that the structures in place thrive on our learned impotence, and that it only takes a moment to see what is happening and make a new choice. With that in mind, I decided to make the above video about Cory Booker’s historic filibuster after I saw that someone called it performative in a dismissive way without acknowledging the larger narrative impact that this act could ignite if we are paying attention.
The moment Senator Cory Booker broke Strom Thurmond’s filibuster record was a powerful act of symbolic reversal—a demonstration of our ability to bend the arc of the moral universe toward justice. Thurmond’s 24-hour filibuster in 1957 was a desperate attempt to halt civil rights progress, an act of obstruction fueled by a belief in racial separation. Booker’s 25-hour filibuster, by contrast, was a passionate plea for justice and inclusion, marking not just a broken record, but a repudiation of the ideology that Thurmond represented. The weight of that moment was felt viscerally, as Booker, visibly exhausted and overcome with emotion, placed his hand over his heart, surrounded by colleagues who understood the seeds of a profound shift in meaning that had been planted. The record was no longer a monument to resistance against racial equality but a testament to endurance in the fight for justice.
This moment is also an example of how mimetic forces shape history, as René Girard’s Mimetic Theory and Richard Dawkins’ concept of memetics help explain. Mimetic Theory suggests that people unconsciously imitate and rival their predecessors, often reenacting history in ways that subvert its original intent. Just as Thurmond weaponized the filibuster to block justice, Booker, a Black senator, reclaimed it as a tool for progress. Similarly, Dawkins' memetics—the way ideas evolve and spread—suggests that narratives of racial justice, once suppressed, can re-emerge with greater strength. The irony that Thurmond, a segregationist with a secret Black daughter, now has his legacy overshadowed by a Black senator's record-breaking stand for justice is itself a powerful memetic shift. It illustrates how, even when oppressive ideas dominate for generations, the arc of history is shaped by those willing to plant new ideas in the cultural soil, allowing them to take root and eventually transform the landscape.
Essie Mae - The Daughter of Strom Thurmond
Essie Mae was born in 1925 to Carrie Butler, a 16-year-old Black maid who worked in the Thurmond family home. At the time, Strom Thurmond was 22 years old. Despite his later political stance as a staunch segregationist, Thurmond provided financial support to Essie Mae throughout her life and even arranged for her college education at a historically Black college, South Carolina State University.
For decades, Washington-Williams kept her parentage a secret, out of respect for her father and fear of the political consequences. However, after his death at age 100, she came forward with the truth in 2003. She later wrote a memoir, Dear Senator: A Memoir by the Daughter of Strom Thurmond, detailing her complex relationship with her father and the contradictions of his public and private life.
Her revelation highlighted the deep hypocrisies of American racial history—how a man who built his career on segregation fathered and quietly supported a Black daughter. It also underscored the personal and societal costs of racism, particularly for mixed-race children born under such circumstances.
Now, imagine if the revelation of Essie Mae opened the floodgates for more conversations about the embedded hypocrisy in so much of our systems, institutions, and those who uphold it?
Planting Seeds Is Not Enough
So now here is where you and I come in. Planting seeds is just a first step. In order for the seeds to germinate and eventually blossom into something fruitful, we need to make sure those seeds have everything they need, a secure space, water, sunlight, a little pruning, and nurturing. Without these things, the seeds are just wasted. It is okay to be critical when doing so can move the needle. But, we also have to be discerning. Say whatever you want to say about Booker, the duopoly, or the entire system in general. I have my thoughts too. But, we also have to be adept at reading the times, the circumstances, and the symbolism. That is one thing the dictators and dictator wannabes of the world know how to do. And that is why they are able to get those of us working toward liberation so consistently. There’s a reason why Yehoshua (Jesus) said that we need to be wise as serpents, but as gentle as doves. Until we can figure that out, we will keep getting snakebit and poisoned by their venom and wondering how we didn’t see it coming.
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