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]
you