A dinner party game to spark your radical imagination

[Music]

in 2019 i found myself in amsterdam with

a group of scholars from the u.s jamaica

and the netherlands

i had just finished my master’s program

where i was deep in critical race theory

before it became taboo and started

trending on twitter

i was imagining a new social work

curriculum

rooted in racial justice and radical

healing

and i’ll be honest

going into that trip i felt scared and

unsure about the state of the world

this is 2019.

bolsonaro had just become president of

brazil

the amazon was burning

a white supremacist had live streamed

his attack on mosque in new zealand

brexit was happening

and we were seeing a surge in asylum

seekers at the u.s southern border

a surge in xenophobia in a surge in

ignorance and apathy

everything felt so

heavy

and i was beginning to think that this

was as bad as it could get which

lol

hello 2020

didn’t see that coming

but just when i thought i’d feel this

way forever

there was

a shift

during that trip my mentor dr frank

tuitt one of the co-leaders for the

group brought up audrey lord’s famous

quote

the master’s tools cannot dismantle the

master’s house

for they may allow us temporarily to

beat him at his own game they will never

enable us to bring about genuine change

that’s interesting

the master’s tools

cannot dismantle the master’s house

then does that mean we need new tools

and are we not also tools too

if so

then what change must occur

within us

i remember returning back to the united

states feeling

reinvigorated i had a more expansive

sense of what was possible in our fight

for social justice

i didn’t have a name for it at the time

but i now understand what moved me

what fundamentally shifted my

perspective was the way that that trip

activated my radical imagination

radical imagination is a tool to

reimagine ourselves in society time and

time again

it’s the audacity to live in the world

as it is while dreaming something

different and believing that dream is

possible even when you cannot see it

it’s about being humble enough to ask

questions of ourselves and of each other

it’s about being courageous enough to

learn and unlearn

it’s so different than what we were

taught in school right where we were

taught how to analyze and analyze and

analyze which essentially means taking

things apart

but when did we learn how to put things

back together

how to construct something new that’s

never existed before with no real road

map or directions

radical imagination is the instinct that

was taught out of us

but is a skill we most desperately need

for a liberated future

it can be used in any area of your life

for me that’s social justice work

especially my work around racial equity

and healing

coincidentally in 2020 my dear friend

bobby lafibre reached out to me with an

intriguing idea

in addition to being colorado’s poet

laureate and the first one of color at

that

bobby exactly

bobby is a cultural worker a mezcal

drinker and an overall dope human being

well

bobby received a grant from the national

association of latino arts and culture

to create a project to foster radical

imagination in racially just systems

he just performed at an event i’d held

earlier that year where he’d been moved

by my presence and ability to facilitate

and because i too am a dope human being

as well as charming

he brought me in to co-create these

conversations

together we created proyecto sobremesa

radical imagination accountability in

the future

or the radical imagination game

it’s a way to inspire radical

imagination and is an act of radical

imagination itself

so picture this bobby and i take a list

of local bipac cultural workers and

artists and select eight random

participants

we send out a thoughtful invitation to

folks letting them know what to expect

that they’ll be wined and dined at the

beautiful museo de las americas

we invite participants to dress in a way

that makes them feel powerful and

authentic

on the day of the event bobby and i set

up the space with flowers candles and

good music

as the guests arrive they’re served

themed drinks designed by our mixologist

if you’re starting to feel fomo about

not being there yourself totally

understandable

after all of the guests arrive we

transition to an intentionally set table

bobby introduces the intentions for the

night

and the chef for our multiple course

meal

we invite a guest to share a song a poem

or a prayer to get us started in a good

way

there’s usually a mezcal toast and then

bobby and i bring out two bowls

one bowl contains strips of paper for

pillars for our liberated future

they include words like abundance

imagination joy and justice

we arrived at these pillars over

conversations at bobby’s scribbling on

paper on the floor while sipping mezcal

perhaps you’re noticing a theme here

and we tell the guests that these are

the values that shape our radically

imagined and racially just world

but that they must be paired with

accountability

the work we do to prevent

intervene respond to and heal from the

harm caused by systems of oppression

the second bowl contains strips of paper

with sentence stems designed to increase

self-awareness

they include phrases like what is your

commitment to and how do you practice

and what is your dream for

bobby draws from his bowl of pillars

i draw from mine of sentence stems and

together we pose a question to the group

for example

what messages have you been taught about

spirituality

many times participants would share how

growing up in a particular religious

tradition often warps your sense of

spirituality

but how spirituality is really that

which feeds and fills your spirit

each time a participant realized that

refrain they physically

shifted it was so powerful to witness

we pull again

i draw

who do you talk to about

bobby draws

abundance

who do you talk to about abundance

the room goes silent

because who do you talk to about

abundance we don’t talk about it nearly

enough especially black abundance shout

out ksa laymen

but when we do thank you but when we do

talk about it it feels so

juicy

whenever we play the game my favorite

prompts are about abundance and joy

my favorite moments are the ones when

participants are so moved by the

conversation their eyes shine

the moments when a participant’s

response makes us sigh in residence or

roar with laughter

the rare moments of silence when all we

can do is look around the room at each

other in awe and appreciation

one of our participants recently shared

that these conversations inspired him to

completely shift his career

he went from being the senior vice

president at a bank to being his

company’s first ever director of

diversity equity and inclusion

[Applause]

he said that these conversations helped

him really think about who his authentic

self was and what he truly wanted to

create in the world

his partner said that he talked about

the game incessantly for weeks that

there was a new energy to him that made

him excited about his work in a way that

she’d never seen

that he’d become more sure of himself a

better friend and partner

that spending a few hours activating his

radical imagination quite literally

changed his life

changed mine

it changes mine

daily

it helped me rediscover that feeling i’d

felt in amsterdam

it’s a feeling i want to spread and

continue spreading as long as i can

it takes a lot of creativity and

strength to imagine a world that doesn’t

exist

it’s even harder to do so with when

living in a world filled with so much

suffering and oppression

and to do so with others in the same

room

that takes vulnerability

the radical imagination game creates

space for collective courage and

curiosity

it inspires me to choose creativity and

wonder over fear and despair

it makes me courageous enough to ask

what if and why not and with who

it’s become my daily journal practice

and in some ways it made me more

prepared for the global crisis that

emerged in 2020

crisis blows open the door of what is

possible

it is our job to hold open that door of

possibility as far and as wide as

possible

because there are a multitude of

innovative solutions to the many issues

we face

no one of us will have all of the

answers nor should we expect ourselves

to

instead

let’s try to be as creative as we can be

together

let’s try to reimagine our futures again

and again

and again

thank you

[Applause]

[Music]

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