S11E10 – Micro Activism: Making a Difference One Step at a Time

S11E10 - Micro Activism: Making a Difference One Step at a Time

Andrew: Welcome to the Integrated Schools Podcast. I'm Andrew, a White dad from Denver,

Dr. Val: And I'm Val, a Black mom from North Carolina.

Andrew: And this is Micro Activism: Making a Difference One Step at a Time.

Dr. Val: Now, my good friend Andrew here had an alternative name for the episode. Would you like to share it with the folks?

Andrew: That’s right. It was “Our Season's Only Hope.”

[Val laughs]

Dr. Val: Ha! And listen folks, believe it or not, this is a super hopeful episode. Tell us a little bit about our guest and what we're gonna talk about today.

Andrew: Yes. Omkari Williams, is an actor and a political consultant, a writer, and recently wrote a book called Micro Activism: How You Can Make a Difference in the World Without a Bullhorn. I'm holding it up for all of our YouTube viewers. And she brings some hope in this episode, which was impressive because it's a tough time to find hope right now, I would say.

Dr. Val: That's right. I came into the interview kinda bummed by what was going on in the news, and I wasn't quite sure how the conversation would go. But from the very beginning, I felt an energy from her that made me feel like our efforts are not in vain and progress is possible.

Andrew: Yes. She has a very clear-eyed sense of the power of human potential, and our ability to change our environments, and the world continues to change pretty rapidly around us.

And, once again, by the time you listen to this, things may be in a whole different place yet again, but I certainly took a lot of comfort from her view of the power of people to come together and take small steps that actually lead to big change.

Dr. Val: In addition to just hope in a world unknown, she inspired me to keep going. Typically I've found myself in that position for other people, you know, as the encourager, to, like, keep moving forward or to keep trying.

And, you know, if I'm honest, this time around it's just a little more difficult to find that energy.

So, it was nice to have someone to breathe life into us in the episode. And we hope you feel the same thing and you listen to this episode a lot and, and share it with others.

Andrew: Yeah, absolutely. She certainly has a lot of really clear actionable steps for people who maybe have not done a lot of activism in the past, but I've found also that, that there was a lot of messages in the book and in the conversation with her for people who have maybe been involved in activism for a while, figuring out “How do we stay involved, how do we keep the motivation, how do we keep the hope alive?”

Dr. Val: And, you know, obviously the root word of “activism” is act. And I think what Ms. Williams provided for us is a reminder that all of the acts that we take matter.

Andrew: And build together. And that a bunch of people taking actions together actually does lead to real change.

I think the, the moment we're in, it's easy to feel overwhelmed and hard to know where to start if you want to get involved, and one of the places we would suggest you start is with our Getting Started Guide, there'll be a link in the show notes, but we put together a free guide on how you can start engaging with the education system to avoid contributing to segregation.

Dr. Val: I'm really excited for you all to hear this. It was a, a balm for my spirit and I heard it right on time, and so I look forward to hearing from you all what you think about this episode.

Andrew: All right, let's take a listen.

[THEME MUSIC]

Omkari Williams: Hi, I'm Omkari Williams and I am a speaker and the author of the book, “Micro Activism: How You Can Make a Difference in the World Without a Bullhorn.” And I think the thing I most believe in is the power of people to change their environments.

Dr. Val: Mmm.

Andrew: Hmm. How, how did you come to that belief? What in your background and your upbringing led you to the belief that people could change their environments?

Omkari Williams: I grew up in a very unusual family in a lot of ways. My dad was a relief worker and a diplomat, and so I grew up watching him help people who were in circumstances that were so far beyond anything I was ever gonna experience in my life. And even as a kid and as self-absorbed as we are when we're children, it was really clear to me that I was very fortunate. I wasn't living in a war zone. There was food on the table. There was a roof over my head, and that's just a different way of understanding the world from a really young age.

And something about that made me just feel like, “Oh, there's power in people. My dad's making a difference. The people he's working with are making a difference. The people he's helping are making a difference because they are doing the work to help themselves as well.” And so, it was really on one hand annoying because, you know, it's like setting the standard. But on the other hand, it gave me this sense of being really hopeful in the world.

It's like, look at what these people are capable of when they're living in horrible, horrible circumstances and they refuse to let themselves be beaten down. They just keep showing up and doing the next thing. And then the thing after that.

Dr. Val: Do you have a specific anecdote or critical moment where that is true to you, that you can attach to a person or a story?

Omkari Williams: Oh, that's a really good question. I think when, and this was later, I wasn't a kid anymore. But, I remember my dad was in Rwanda during the genocide and he came home and we were talking and I had just gone to see the movie Hotel Rwanda, and I said to my dad “Was that scene where they're driving over the road and it's really bumpy and it's dark, and then you see the light come up and you realize that they've been driving over bodies.

Was that scene accurate?” And he said, no. He said you couldn't see the road for the bodies. And I thought about what it takes to do the work of going to someplace like that in that time. And also what it took for the people who were doing the reconciliation work in Rwanda to come together and move past the most horrific thing I can possibly imagine.

Andrew: Yeah.

Omkari Williams: And that just gave me context, right? It's like, yeah, things can be grim. But this, the human spirit is so profound and so deep, and when we connect to that, anything is possible. We can find our way back from the worst tragedies we can imagine.

And, and that just feels very true for me and very present for me right now as we're in this incredibly unsettled time where people are feeling like everything is falling apart.

And I'm not saying it's not 'cause it may well be.

Andrew: Right.

Omkari Williams: But after the fall apart is the build. And that's what I'm looking to.

Dr. Val: Mm.

Andrew: Yeah.

Dr. Val: Just this morning I was reflecting on, like, what, what makes us different from animals, because I'm like, “We're not, we're not doing well!” [Val chuckles] But, [Val laughs] what you just spoke to about the human spirit might be it. And so, thank you for that.

Omkari Williams: Oh, you're welcome.

Dr. Val: Mm-hmm

Andrew: Yeah. This belief in, in the power of people has led to a lot of work that you've done in helping people see their potential. Led you to write the book Micro Activism. What led to writing the book?

Omkari Williams: Okay, so the truth of this is that someone asked me. They said, “Would you be interested in writing a book?” And I was like, “I guess.” And they said, “Okay, well here's what you need to do. You need to write a book proposal.” And you know, they laid it all out for me. And this would've been in February of 2023.

They said, when do you think you're gonna have the proposal done? No hurry. And I, and I said, you know what? Let's, I'll have it done by August. My birthday's in August, it will be my goal. And they said, “Great, that's fine.”

And about two weeks later, I sat down and I thought, let me just make some notes so I don't completely lose the thread of this. And two weeks after that, the proposal was done.

Andrew: Wow.

Omkari Williams: And I thought, wow. So that was actually there. It was there. It just needed someone to push me to get it out of me and onto the page.

And it was honestly an amazing experience. My publisher was saying let's publish this in 2024. And I said no, I'd really like it out before we get into the craziness of the election cycle.

And they said, “Well, we can do it later this year if you can get it to us in, like, eight weeks.”

Andrew: Yikes.

Dr. Val: This is from proposal to book?

Omkari Williams: Yeah.

Dr. Val: Yeah.

Omkari Williams: And I thought, well, I can try. And I did. I mean, I just sat down every day and I wrote. And again, it was there. And it came really easily, and it touched on things that are really important to me. And so, it wound up being a really, on some levels, very challenging, but an incredibly satisfying experience.

Andrew: Hmm.

Dr. Val: Mm-hmm!

Andrew: That's beautiful.

Dr. Val: That is!

Andrew: The subtitle of the book is How You Can Make a Difference in the World Without a Bullhorn. The book is really very much a how-to guide of how any individual person can make a difference in the world, can make a difference in their neighborhood, in their community. And the ways that those, kind of, small micro activism steps can lead to something much bigger.

What inspired you to write about those small, actionable steps that people can take rather than these big grand, I think we sometimes get overwhelmed by the size of the problem and then get kind of bogged down in, in all that needs to be done. Why micro activism?

Omkari Williams: Yeah. Well, I, I think, I know for myself that sometimes when someone says that they have this big project and it sounds amazing, I can literally feel my brain freeze. My brain just shuts down. It's like I can come up with a billion reasons that's never going to happen. But if someone says to me, I need you to put this poster up in the local food co-op. At that point, it's such a tiny thing that it's actually harder for me to come up with a reason not to do it than a reason to do it.

Dr. Val: Mmm.

Andrew: Right.

Omkari Williams: If something is tiny, I can do that. If something is huge, then I have to push against my natural feeling of being overwhelmed, right?

When I was a young actor, we had this game called “the 100 Nos,” and the object of the game was to go to enough auditions to get 100 people to say no to you. And the point was, if you did a hundred auditions with someone saying no, you also got to do auditions where someone said yes. And it got you out of your house and it got you in, in motion.

And I remember that it actually took the sting out of any individual “nos.”

Like, “Okay, well they said no, but at least I'm closer to my 100 nos now.” You know? [Omkari chuckles]

Andrew: There's a little bonus in this “no.”

Omkari Williams: Mm-hmm

Dr. Val: I love that.

Omkari Williams: So that thinking was basically the thinking that I carried into the book was, “How can we make it so you're always making progress.” It might be tiny progress, but it's progress. And that's the point.

Sometimes we think we need to have such a clear path forward. When honestly, sometimes we just need to take the next tiny step and see where it leads us. 'Cause we don't know. We don't know what's gonna happen. We don't know who's gonna show up in our lives.

And this leaves us open to possibility and serendipity, which is one of my favorite words. And just the way of moving through the world where everything doesn't feel quite so heavy.

Dr. Val: You describe four archetypes of these micro activists. Can you talk a little bit about these four types so that people can start to see themselves?

Omkari Williams: Absolutely. So the four types actually came out of my acting world experience. I sort of looked at this the way I would look at a movie. So on a film you have your Headliner. That's your star, the who, the face of the film. And you have that in your activist work as well. The person who's the face of the movement, like a Greta Thunberg for the Environmental Movement, or Dr. King for the civil rights movement.

Andrew: Right.

Omkari Williams: Then you have the Producer and the Producer looks at the whole big picture and they instantly see where they can make a difference and they say, “Okay, I can see where this person needs to do that job and this person needs to do that job.”

Then you have the Organizer, and the Organizer is like the person the producer puts in charge of, say, craft services, and that's food for people outside of the industry. And I can promise you that no movie was ever made without food and coffee, ever, in the history of movies.

Andrew: Right.

[Val chuckles]

Omkari Williams: Very important job.

And then finally, you have what I call the Indispensables, and those would be like the background players in the movie, the people you see walking down the street, or staffing the office, or on the subway or whatever.

And while they may not individually look like they matter that much without them, the movie just looks weird.

Dr. Val: Mm-hmm.

Andrew: Right.

Omkari Williams: And you notice their absence. So Indispensables might do things like print out flyers so everyone understands what the march route is.

They do the way in the back, really important work. So everyone has their role, and nothing happens without all four of those archetypes working together. You take any one of those pieces out and the whole thing falls apart.

Andrew: Right.

Omkari Williams: And most people honestly have a type that predominates. Or they have two types that are really close together. Like a lot of people are really close on the organizer, producer

Andrew: Right?

Dr. Val: Mm-hmm.

Omkari Williams: So I am a Headliner, but I also have a lot of Indispensable traits. I'm really happy sitting in a back room, stuffing envelopes, doing that kind of thing.

Dr. Val: Mm-hmm.

Omkari Williams: So, we all have, you know, the different sides of us. But when you can sort of lean into your strongest trait, then you're working with yourself, not against yourself. And that really matters. 'Cause if you're working against yourself, you will not keep doing it. You just won't.

Dr. Val: Right! [Val sighs]

Andrew: What I love about the archetypes is that it very clearly opens the door to possibility for everyone to find a way to get involved. You don't have to be the Headliner type to get involved. You don't have to be the super organized type to get involved.

There is a role for everyone to play. And, in fact, all of those roles are indispensable. Even though we look back at the civil rights movement, we think about Dr. King, certainly he was a Headliner, but none of the civil rights gains that, that happened in that era happened without all of the other people around Dr. King.

Omkari Williams: And you know, an analogy I use often is, if on August 28th, 1963 when the March on Washington happened, if you hadn't had a quarter million people on the mall, who were essentially Indispensables that day, right?

Dr. Val: Right.

Omkari Williams: Dr. King would've just been a tourist at the Lincoln Memorial.

Andrew: Right.

Omkari Williams: The Indispensables made that day what it was. That a quarter million people came from far away, from nearby, and stood there in the hot sun in Washington D.C., which is basically a swamp.

Andrew: Right.

Omkari Williams: They made that day.

Andrew: Yeah.

Dr. Val: I'm having a moment. It's probably 'cause your voice is so soothing and I'm listening to, like, my Headspace app, while I'm listening to you. [Laughter]

I feel like I'm processing right now some, I don't know if it's guilt, but I'm thinking about what you wrote around being steady with your energy.

So, the first time we were in this moment in 2016, I felt like I had a lot of energy to go big and much of my activism work at the time included a Headliner role, a Producer role. Just, I felt like I was doing all the roles, for all the people and, like, holding things up. And right now I just don't have capacity.

And so, I'm, I'm, I'm looking at, you know, what you wrote about, like, being steady with your energy. And I look to people like Rosa Parks, who was in the work for 40+ years, even though we don't hear about all that.

I wanna have John Lewis energy when it comes to this work. And so, just talk a little bit about that!

Omkari Williams: Absolutely. And one thing I really wanna say is that Rosa Parks and John Lewis, I did not know them, but I am as sure as I can be that there were times their energy flagged. Right? I mean, humans over here, all of us. And no one, no one can sustain 24/7 what is required of this moment. And that's why we work in community. It’s so that there are people to pick up the gap when we have hit our wall and just need a break.

But I also think that we need to recalibrate our understanding of what it means to make a difference. And that's why I wrote the book. It's, like, “micro” matters, right? Micro makes a difference. It may not be the splashy difference, but it's a difference and it does matter.

And so, if you are saying, “I'm gonna take a little bit of a break and step back and let someone else fill this role,” that's not you, sort of, crapping out. That's you understanding what your capacity is and saying, “If I'm gonna actually be of, of service here, I need to step back a little bit. I need to take care of me.”

Dr. Val: Mm-hmm.

Omkari Williams: Because none of us can just go on like a perpetual motion machine.

And you, you also said something that I thought was interesting because we live in this culture of “Go big or go home.” And that's ridiculous. I mean, that is not the way to live your life, because that's just not what life is. Life is a series of small, hopefully really precious moments, but they're small moments. And then all of a sudden they accumulate and something big happens and we sort of look at that and we think, “Wow!” But we're ignoring all the small moments that came before.

Andrew: Right. I think one of the issues that we get into is the timelines. We look at the challenges we have right now. They feel urgent, 'cause they are urgent. There are things that need to be solved now, and all of this work is generational work. All of this work is work that is trying to undo, you know, 400 years of history, that is trying to move towards a, a better world that is, that certainly we will not see in our lifetimes.

Omkari Williams: Right.

Andrew: That we are looking towards sort of a generational impact.

One of the pieces that, that really gave me some peace around that was the, the story you told me of the Dutch paving stones.

Omkari Williams: So, there's a town in the Netherlands called Utrecht, and in this town they have this project, it's a poetry project, and every Saturday they etch one letter into a paving stone that is set in the ground and is a letter from a piece of poetry

One letter. Each week, that's it. And when they get to the end of one section of poetry, another poet picks up and continues the work. And the plan is to continue this project for as long as there are sponsors for it.

Dr. Val: Hmm.

Omkari Williams: And the thing they say is “We must be willing to trade our short-term timelines for long-term ones, and that requires trust. In ourselves. In those coming after us.”

Andrew: Hmm.

Omkari Williams: I love that. I love that understanding that everything is not immediate. So we don't see the end of something,

Dr. Val: Mm-hmm

Omkari Williams: Doesn't mean that moving it forward isn't worthwhile. It's totally worthwhile.

Dr. Val: I'm thinking like that, that last part about trust and who is coming after us reminds me of like the shirts that you see that, you know, I am my ancestors prayers.

Omkari Williams: Yes.

Dr. Val: And them having no idea.

Omkari Williams: Nope.

Dr. Val: No idea.

Omkari Williams: Trust and faith and hope.

Dr. Val: Yeah.

Omkari Williams: And that hope is not like this airy fairy thing, but hope is a compass, as the journalist Dan Friedman says. Hope points us in a direction.

Andrew: Let's get into some of the kind of step-by-step details. Give people some of the, I mean, everybody needs to go by the book.

But, you know, sort of somebody coming in fresh, “I've got some energy, I feel like things are not great, I wanna do something.” Take us through some of the steps that you lay out in the book about what people should do with that energy, how to channel that?

Omkari Williams: I, I think it really depends. What's your area of interest? And I think the first thing is to refine that, because oftentimes we come in with broad energy. It's like, “I'm interested in everything. There's so much going on in the world and everything is broken, and I wanna make a difference everywhere.”

Well, that's lovely, and no you can't.

Andrew: Right.

Omkari Williams: So, what is most important to you right now? It doesn't have to be most important to you forever. But what is most important to you right now? Where can you make a difference right now? So maybe it's the environment. Maybe it's racial justice, maybe it's women's rights. Whatever it is, start there.

Andrew: Yeah.

Omkari Williams: Find other people. Dig in. Something I really encourage people to do, and I don't know that I spoke about this enough in the book, is do not reinvent the wheel. There are people out there doing the work.

You know, another thing that we tend to do is we tend to feel like, “Oh, well I need to create something new.”

Mm-mm. Mm-mm. You do not need to create something new. Why would you wanna spend that energy when you can spend that energy supporting something that's already there, supporting someone's organization that's already making a difference, that already has roots in a community.

So I think it's very important that we sort of look at it from a perspective of “Where can I find a place for me to fit in” rather than “Where can I find something that I can build from scratch?”

Lend your energy, lend your efforts, lend your, your wisdom to something that's already there. You'll get much further, much faster. So that, that's sort of the first thing I would tell someone.

And then the next thing I would say is there's so much wisdom out there. It's always really good to be humble.

Andrew: Yeah.

Omkari Williams: And understand that people know things you don't know, and you certainly know things they don't. But don't assume that because of someone's age, whether they're old or young, or their socioeconomic status, that they don't have knowledge. That's not the case.

Andrew: Yeah.

Omkari Williams: We all have something to bring to the party. And also along those lines is not shaming yourself or anyone else for coming to something late. You know, it's like a lot of people feel like, “Well, I should have seen the problem sooner.” You see it now, we're thrilled you're here. Yay.

Why spend time regretting something you cannot change when instead, you could spend that time and energy moving something forward.

And just generally, let's be kind. The world is kind of nasty right now. We do not need to be adding to the nastiness. Kindness will go a long way in achieving the goals we wanna achieve. And that means sometimes collaborating with people who have very different reasons for doing the same thing we're doing.

Do we have to be in lockstep on our reasons or can we be in agreement on our goals?

And I think that that's really important because then we're not applying these purity tests to people and those just get in our way.

Andrew: Yeah.

Dr. Val: You highlight micro activists throughout your book. What inspired you to include those voices as part of your text?

Omkari Williams: They are some of the most amazing people I've ever met. I mean, they're just incredible people who 99.999% of humanity will never know about, but they make a huge difference in their own communities. I wanted to highlight people who are just everyday humans. They have jobs, they have families, they have friends, they have lives and they have deep commitments to different things.

And I felt like that was important because again, we celebrate celebrity so much, and you don't have to be a celebrity to make a change.

Andrew: Yeah.

Omkari Williams: Celebrities, it can help, but they're not the reason change happens.

Dr. Val: Right.

Andrew: Yeah, I found them all so inspiring because, because it's easy to see yourself in any one of them. “Oh, that person cared about something and they took a step. I could probably take a similar step.” I certainly would never dream of thinking that I could have the impact that Dr. King had! But,

Dr. Val: Right.

Andrew: But when you look at these people, it's like, “Oh, wow, okay. Yeah. I can see a path for me, from here to there.”

Omkari Williams: And their impact in their communities has been really profound in many cases.

We don't see the ripples of our actions. We see, you know, the stone, we drop into the water, but the ripples go out so far beyond our ability to perceive. And so, a service that someone has done for someone else has ripples beyond those two people, to all the people around them.

And we know this from our own lives. And if we can connect to remembering, “Oh, you know, someone did something nice for someone else. But then that person was really kind to me.” That helps us keep moving in the direction of, of being inclusive and being kind, and being sensitive to other people and just celebrating our humanity.

'Cause we recognize how much impact we actually do have.

Andrew: Yeah, and I think that ties nicely to, your, you know, second to last chapter of the book is about legacy and I really appreciate both the forward looking, kind of, “What legacy do you want to leave?” And, like you said, we, we don't see the ripples in some ways, we can't know what the ripples are. So we, all we can do is you know, throw our best rock into the, into the water in the best way we can, and, and hope that those ripples go somewhere.

But I, but I also felt this real strong connection that you have to, to the legacy that led you here. Your grandparents coming from the Caribbean, your grandmother at 101 years old, lobbying for better food in nursing homes. You have been, you know, shaped by the legacy of those that have come before you, and, you feel a real like, sense of responsibility around that legacy to then pay that forward.

Can you talk a little bit about the, the legacy in both directions: what you're inheriting and what you hope to leave?

Omkari Williams: And I'm gonna add a third element to that, which is “present legacy.” But, let me start with that my grandmother, who was amazing. I mean, part of the reason I do the work I do is because I'm sure that if I didn't, she would come down from heaven and smite me. [Andrew chuckles] So, and she was tiny, but she was tough!

So, I mean, I, when, when my grandmother passed, my dad said at her memorial, he said, “Mother wouldn't want me to say how old she was, but she lived in three centuries.” And I remember sort of flinching and waiting for the lightning bolt to come down! [Laughter]

Dr. Val: Oh my goodness!

Omkari Williams: You know, she was a force of nature, and that power made an impact on me and it made an impact on my dad and his siblings. And, and it just shaped what we believed was possible. And that, I appreciate that.

I think of legacy also though, as very much present. That we are actually leaving a legacy with every action we do.

Dr. Val: Mmm.

Omkari Williams: Everyday. And that when we only look at legacy as what we're leaving after we're gone, we're missing how much impact we have here in the present moment. I mean, I had this vicious teacher in sixth grade. She was a piece of work. And she left a legacy 'cause she was mean. I mean, she was seriously mean and she left a legacy.

I decided to speak up for people who were talked about unkindly because of her. I'm sure that is not the legacy she intended to leave with me, but it is what happened.

Dr. Val: Mm-hmm.

Omkari Williams: And then on the other hand, I had this ninth grade teacher who was just, he was so wonderful. He believed in us kids. He thought we were smart. He made us recognize that we could do anything. He left a legacy of kindness, right? And that was their everyday behavior that shaped how we kids, and then us as adults, to whatever extent they impacted us, moved through the world. I move through the world differently because of those two teachers, for sure.

Dr. Val: Mm-hmm.

Andrew: Right.

Omkari Williams: And when I think of it that way, I'm more careful in what I do, day to day. I'm more thoughtful in what I say. I'm more intentional.

And I'm not saying I never make a mistake. I certainly make mistakes!

Andrew: Right.

Omkari Williams: But, you know, then I clean it up as best I can. I'm, you know, we're all human. And the, the idea isn't to be perfect. It's to be kind.

Dr. Val: You talking about your teachers as a, a perfect segue into you even include in the book how to support young people and nurture their micro activism. This is obviously a podcast for caregivers and their young people. So, what are some things you can share with our caregivers of the youngest people to some of the teens, like I got?

Omkari Williams: You know, I think that the thing I most enjoy about young people is how much I learn from them.

Andrew: Hmm.

Omkari Williams: I have nephews who are two and four, and they are adorable.

But when we can engage with kids and make them see that they have power, that their behavior matters, that they can make a difference in their world, then we're building something in, in them. We're building a sense of autonomy. We're building a sense of agency, and we're building a belief in community.

We want more kids of all ages to be helpful in the world. 'Cause that, that leads us to caring about other people. That leads us to taking action, that leads us to using our voices in service of important things, and I just think we need to pay more attention to that.

Dr. Val: Thank you.

Andrew: It's so lovely to listen to you talk about this. It definitely warms my heart, brings some hope,

Dr. Val: It does.

Andrew: And some joy in, in dark times. You have a podcast if folks want to listen to more of you, can you tell us about the podcast?

Omkari Williams: Yeah. It's called Stepping into Truth, and it's conversations with people about different aspects of social justice. I'm currently on hiatus with it 'cause I am pretty busy with my speaking schedule. But I started it over six years ago, I guess at this point, and it was because I felt like there were voices that needed to be heard that were just smaller voices, not famous voices. But that had impact, the same kind of people that I interviewed for the book.

And then of course, over time it grew and I have had the privilege of talking with people who have higher, social profiles. But there's always this theme about people who are doing the work of making the world better in some way, shape or form. And so that's what the conversations are about. And, look, I'm just, I'm just very down to earth by nature, so they're just conversations.

Andrew: Right.

Omkari Williams: And they're there to make people think about things differently and, and maybe think about different things than they've thought about before.

You can find them in all the usual places, and I have to say I've learned so much from the people I've spoken to, so it's been a joy.

Andrew: Yeah, they're beautiful conversations. We'll include a link in the show notes, so definitely folks should check that out. And folks should definitely go by the book, Micro Activism: How You Can Make a Difference in the World Without a Bullhorn. It is the Integrated Schools Book Club pick for this winter. There are sessions at the end of February and the beginning of March.

So we encourage people to, to sign up for those, and join them. Thank you! Thank you for–

Dr. Val: Thank you!

Andrew: –coming on, for spending time with us, but more importantly for this beautiful offering to the world, for contributing to your own legacy, the beautiful ripples that come from this book. I can imagine lots of people taking this book and reading it and making their own little ripples.

In times that are tough and, uh, a little dark, it is nice to have real clear steps that you can take to actually go start making a difference through kindness and love.

Omkari Williams: Thank you. It's been really, this has been lovely.

Dr. Val: Thank you.

[THEME MUSIC]

Andrew: So Val, what'd you think?

Dr. Val: I am so grateful that we had Ms. Williams on the episode. Something that continues to stick with me is the power of the human spirit. When she shared the stories from her father's work as a relief worker and a diplomat, it was very clear that, you know, his work influenced her thinking around what was possible.

Andrew: Yeah.

Dr. Val: And what I really appreciated was the truth that, you know, things might not be okay, but the way in which the human spirit has the ability to build again, to create again, to heal, felt really important.

There's going to be the loss that we'll all experience in various points of our life, and yet our human spirit has a way of coming back. And that was really important for me to hear because I am afraid that we're gonna have a lot of hardship.

Andrew: Right.

Dr. Val: And I know there'll be losses as a result of that.

Um, some that will last for generations for sure. Right? We might have a generation of, of students who don't have access to high quality education. And we already know what that could mean to our communities, and our country and our world. And yet, we do have the ability to pick ourselves back up and try again.

And that was really important to me, because it was clear that things aren't gonna be always rainbows and–

Andrew: Yeah.

Dr. Val: –sunshine and flowers, but there's still hope.

Andrew: Yeah, I appreciated that. I, you know, I think of John Blake and actually, I think Michelle Adams as well, both mentioned this idea of like a, a robust hope of a, a grounded, clear-eyed kind of hope. That there is real power in collective action, there is real power in small steps, in people, you know, doing the best that they can with what they have.

And, she doesn't pretend that there isn't harm. But rather, there is some hope in what we can build after the harm, and that doesn't absolve us of, you know, thinking about and trying to care for and trying to minimize the harm that exists, but does provide some hope that on the other side of that harm there is, like you said, a human spirit that can overcome, that can build something new and something better.

Dr. Val: Yeah, there was one thing that she said when she was talking about the process of writing the book. So as y'all heard, she went from zero to full book in, like, 32 seconds. Right? Super impressed. And when she set that deadline for herself, she said, “Well, I can try. I don't really know what to do. I haven't done this before. I might mess this up. I can try to make a difference.” I can try to, you know, make a, a decision that will be good for my community and the schools in my community. Like, I can try. And, I don't know that everyone feels like they can just try or that some people won't try because they're afraid of failing.

Andrew: Or that the problem is too big, or that their efforts are not going to solve the whole problem. You know, the idea that our actions have ripples, and they go out and they affect other people, but we don't know how that's gonna happen. We don't know where the ripples are gonna go. We don't know who's gonna be on the other side of them. We don't know what the context will be in which, the ripples will meet other people. And so, the only thing we can do is, is, is throw our best rock in the water and hope that that has positive ripples. And we can get caught up on, “Well, I don't know where this is going to ripple to, so I'm just gonna hold onto my rock.”

But I think that idea of, “Oh, well I'll just try, I'll try to get a book done in eight weeks.” I'm going to put my best foot forward and I'm gonna do it through love. I'm gonna do it through community.

I'm gonna do it through taking small steps for justice. And if everybody does that, then there's power in that.

Dr. Val: Yeah. I have a, I have a quick ripple story. So, the summer before I won “Teacher Of The Year,” I was spending a lot of time, you know, just walking around, like, this manmade lake we had in the neighborhood at the time. And I would . Throwing rocks, there'll be lots of ripples. And I spent a lot of time with that imagery over the summer and I took it back to my students. And we talked about it, and talked about how their own actions can ripple out, and you just don't know.

And a couple of weeks ago I was contacted by one of my former students who was in that class when I talked about that ripple work. And she is now an adult. And she was searching for some support for a group that she's working with, trying to figure out how to do some anti-racist education. And she thought for a couple of moments, she was like, “I know the best teacher who can help us with this work.” And she reached out to me.

Andrew: Yay!

Dr. Val: And so, she brought this thinking and this work to her system.

And so, when I was sitting at the water and, you know, thinking about those ripples back in 2011, never, never would I have said, “Okay, in 2025, this is, this will be the outcome.” We are working for something we may never see. Right?

It's our turn in the relay. You know, we're standing on the work of our ancestors, and people before us, and people who weren't afraid to throw their rock, even though they weren't sure what was gonna happen as a result. And that was just, like, one student in one class, who is now impacting other teachers and educators and,

Andrew: Creating her own ripples.

Dr. Val: That's, isn't that amazing? It's such a gift. Yeah, it is very cool.

Andrew: That is, that is very cool. I mean, it, it, ma it makes me think of Ms. Williams’ talk about legacy and the whole chapter in the book about legacy. This idea that's always felt, like, pretty concrete for me of the legacy that, that you've inherited. The people who've gone before you, who have, you know, thrown their own rocks, in the way that that's rippled and impacted you.

And then, you know, I've thought about what do I want my legacy to be and what actions am I taking and how might they ripple off into the future? But I love this focus that she has also on “What is your legacy in this moment? What are you doing right now that is contributing to your legacy?” And the way that that is spreading out in this moment, leaving little impacts on, on other people as you go along the way.

Dr. Val: Yeah. I think we don't think enough about how each one of our actions is building upon that legacy, and the ways in which community can support that as well.

There was something else that she said, and it was again, when she was writing her book and she said “I was there, I just needed someone to push me.” And so, because she was in relationship with other people who recognized something in her, who recognized that she had something to offer, there was someone there to, to push her to that next step. To invite her into the space of contributing in a way that she may not have thought she could contribute before.

And I think when you are in community with folks who, who see that in you, who recognize that in you, that is a way to ignite something in you that you might not even realize. You know? I mean, I didn't know I was gonna be a award-winning podcast host! [Val laughs]

Andrew: I didn't, I didn't know that either! But somehow we pushed each other!

Dr. Val: We did! We did. We sure did.

Andrew: I think it can be a little, like, incapacitating to, to think about, about, like, every action I have is causing a ripple. You can get frozen in that, and not wanna make any actions because, “Oh, what if the ripples aren't what I want them to be?”

And I think community is one way that you get through that. So she clearly had this book in her. It was ready to come out, but needed someone to push her, someone to say like, go ahead and throw this rock in and let's see what the ripples are. And I think that's a place where certainly the conversations that you and I get to have, the Integrated Schools community, all feels like places that, that encourage me to go ahead and throw a rock and see what ripples come from it, because it's empowering to think every small step that I take, every small action can have positive ripples, but it can also be a little bit, uh, a little scary to think,

Dr. Val: I was gonna say scary. Yeah.

Andrew: I don't know what those ripples are gonna do. I don't know where, where they're gonna go.

Dr. Val: Because the truth is, people can throw their rock and the ripples don't benefit others! Right? They actually harm others.

Andrew: Yeah.

Dr. Val: We have to be honest and intentional about how we are using our rocks, because there's lots of folks who are engaging in micro activism that is opposite of justice,

Andrew: Right.

Dr. Val: For many people.

That is true too, right? There, there are other people who, who are using these particular skills for things that do not mean justice and, uh, a, a multi-racial democracy that we are fighting for. Right? So you better throw in your rock 'cause other people are throwing in their rocks! Okay?

Andrew: Other people are throwing their rocks anyway, so yeah, you have to counter those ripples.

Dr. Val: Exactly. Exactly.

Andrew: No, totally. She has in, in, in her book this sort of six principle manifesto that I think guides a lot of her work. And I took a lot of inspiration from. It's kind of like guiding principles for how to think about what rock to throw, when to throw it, where to throw it.

It’s integrity, and she writes “Wholeness of heart and mind release us from fear and anxiety when we're being true to ourselves and our principles, we find stillness in the midst of a storm.”

Justice equals freedom. “True justice lets us put down the burdens of anger and revenge where there is true justice, there is freedom for all.”

Stories. “Stories connect us to one another revealing the shared humanity where we might otherwise miss it.”

Compassion is required. “Without compassion for self, there is no compassion for others without compassion for others, there is no compassion for self.”

“Joy helps us through the hard times and points us to what's possible, even in the midst of struggle.”

And “Love is always the right choice.”

Integrity, Justice equals Freedom, Stories, Compassion is required, Joy, and Love. Six Principle Manifesto.

Dr. Val: Yeah. And really easy I think to implement on a personal level, right? Being able and willing to share, even a, a little bit of your story, and that's one thing that we love to do here, ask people, like, how did you come to this work? Like, share your story because that matters.

Us showing that these conversations can be both meaningful and joyful, I think is important for us as well. And, we work really hard to model that you can have these difficult conversations and then still come out better, whole and, and even, you know, we're better at it now 'cause we're, we're years in the game now. Right?

But I think initially there was some bumps of like, how honest can I be with you? Or how honest can you be with me? And are we still going to be able to have this conversation if we are transparent about how I am receiving something versus how you're receiving something. And so, I think that speaks to not only this compassion that she names as a requirement for ourselves and others, but that, that, that love does win.

Like, we have always approached these conversations knowing that we have the same goal. Right? We might not have had the same experience, but we have the same goal.

Andrew: We might not even agree on what the right next play is, what the right next battle to fight, what the right next approach to take is. But the goal is the same.

Dr. Val: Right. And that requires a level of trust. [Val laughs]

Andrew: Right.

Dr. Val: That, that you develop over time.

Another thing that I think makes this very realistic for all of us are the archetypes, and that depending on the issue or the task, or how long you've been in the work, that you might serve in a role, a different role, you know, each time you show up for action.

So, that Indispensable, which really meant a lot to me. Like, there are places where I know I can be the Producer, or the Organizer, even the Headliner, and I actually also enjoy being that person behind the scenes who will just go and do the thing. Right? Because there's someone else that knows more than me and is closer to the problem, and is just happy to have someone in the room that is showing me they are an ally based on showing up.

Andrew: I’m here. Tell me what to do. I’m here.

Dr. Val: I, right, right. Well, I can try. I can try. Yeah.

Andrew: Yeah. The times that I have not shown up when I wish I would've shown up are the times that I've gotten too in my head about, “Do I have something to offer? Am I the right person to show up? What am I gonna do when I get there? Who am I gonna know when I'm getting there?” And the times that I have pushed through that and just shown up and said, “Okay, here I am. What's going on? I'm ready,” is the times that I have found more communities, the times that I have built deeper relationships, is the times that I have felt that I, that I have contributed something.

I didn't have to come in with the answers. Just show up and say, “Here I am. What, what can I do?”

Dr. Val: And the beauty of that is there will be a Producer or, or a Headliner or an Organizer there to tell you what to do! [Val chuckles] And we'll be happy to see you there. And so, you know, we are privileged to have a voice here to help people to that next step and I feel a lot of gratitude for anyone who trusts us with that.

Know that we are also trying every day, and trying to figure it out, and trying to find the best ways to contribute locally and on this podcast. And so, we're all in this together. That's how it feels. Mm-hmm.

Andrew: Yeah. We all have a role to play and there's a role that we can all play, which is, the message at the heart of Ms. Williams book, and part of why it was selected as the winter Integrated Schools Book Club pick.

So, if you have not been to an Integrated Schools Book Club, it's a wonderful opportunity to meet people from around the country, who are thinking about these issues, who care, who are in conversation with each other.

They're small facilitated conversations on Zoom. Really lovely work done by the Book Club team at Integrated Schools who put on these wonderful sessions. So, you should definitely sign up Integratedschools.org/bookclub. You can find links to register. They are free and wonderful conversations about this book, Micro Activism.

Dr. Val: And in addition to reading the book, we encourage you to definitely listen to this podcast and share this podcast. Hopefully you found it as hopeful as we did. Let us know your thoughts by leaving us a voice memo at speakpipe.com/integratedschools.

Andrew: Yes, the book is really wonderful. It's short, it's a quick read, but very powerful and inspiring, and hopeful. You can buy it and not only support a local bookstore, but also support Integrated Schools by going to our bookshop.org storefront.

There will be a link to that as well in the show notes. You buy the book, it supports a local bookseller near you, and also a portion of the proceeds come back and support us.

Dr. Val: And if you're rolling in the dough, you know, we would always love a donation to continue the efforts of our podcast and the work of Integrated Schools. You can hit the donate button on integratedschools.org or join our Patreon, patreon.com/integratedschools.

Andrew: Yes, we would be grateful for your support and as always, Val, I'm grateful to be in this with you, as I try to know better and do better.

Dr. Val: Until next time.