As systems of oppression continue to cause harm, more people are asking: how do we show up for the work for justice while holding onto our own integrity about working for the creation of the Beloved Community?
Nonviolent Communication (NVC) can support people engaged in change work to remain grounded. NVC helps us learn not to bypass pain, but to face it with presence and clarity. Not to ignore conflict, but to name harm while still seeing the human within the conflict.
Why Practice Must Be Grounded in Liberation
In How to Have Antiracist Conversations, I describe how clarity and self-connection can support people to speak truthfully across power lines. This is not an intellectual process. The capacity to speak truth to power emerges from staying in the body and remaining in relationship to one’s values. We can only learn how to do that through experience, trying and failing. In authentic supportive community, people can witness each other trying, pausing, stumbling, and returning. This shared practice builds muscles for compassion and courage.
From Movement to Dialogue
Samira, a 22-year-old Black queer organizer, spoke during one of our sessions about her experience in a coalition meeting. The group would identify and strategize about challenges individuals were facing but often moved away from naming state violence. People said it was “too divisive.” When Samira heard this again, she noticed her chest constrict. But, she didn’t speak up.
In our circle, she explored what she wanted to say. “When this topic is avoided, I feel pain in my chest. My trust erodes and I feel hopeless. I want to contribute to groups where people can engage in dialogues and strategies that acknowledge and address systemic harm, not just individual accountability, to feed my hope for meaningful, lasting change.”
She later shared that she voiced something similar at the next coalition meeting when strategies focused on inviting individual actions. One person pushed back. Others listened. A few people began asking the question, “How will our implementing this strategy change the experience of more than one person?” Samira felt relief as the focus of the dialogue finally broadened.
Why Community Practice Is Essential
The skills required for movement work are relational. They require practice. They require people willing to sit together in discomfort and care. The Living Peace Retreat and the Immersion in NVC Program offers space for that practice. Together, we strengthen our capacity to face what’s hard and stay connected to what matters most.
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