This Sacred Moment: Listening, Responsibility, and Making Room for Justice

Abstract

When Ingrid Waldron asked me to create and share a summary of the excellent and juicy presentations and discussion at the symposium titled “Over the Line: A Conversation on Race, Place, and the Environment,” held in Halifax on October 27, 2017, I agreed right away. I’d planned to be at the symposium listening carefully and taking notes anyway. Little did I know that I had agreed to share my “hot take” verbally, in front of everyone, immediately after the final presentation! I’m much more comfortable sharing my thoughts on something after I have mulled it over for a day, a week, or—even better—a few months. 

The short series of small thoughts in this article are the closest I could come to synthesizing my impressions of the day, in that moment. The result is not comprehensive, but I hope it expresses the vulnerable and hopeful mood I was sensing, along with the appetite for deep resistance and change in the room at the end of a whole day of badass idea-sharing.