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To start our 2025 year on the Be the Bridge Podcast, Danielle Coke Balfour joins Latasha Morrison to discuss the evolution of her work as an artist and activist, focusing on racial justice and community empowerment. They explore the challenges and changes in the current cultural landscape, the importance of hope and personal values in activism, and the role of art in educating and inspiring others. They touch on the significance of community care, the importance of voting, and the need to rest.
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Host & Executive Producer – Latasha Morrison
Producer – Sarah Connatser
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*this was transcribed by Spotify and has not been checked for errors
0:01
Welcome to the Be the Bridge podcast.
Be the Bridge exists to empower people and culture toward racial healing, equity, and reconciliation.
Latasha Morrison founded Be the Bridge in 2016 to foster needed dialogue and brave spaces and to give people the tools to pursue racial justice.
0:21
We provide resources and community to do just that, and this podcast is one of those resources.
You’ll hear interviews hosted by Latasha and our team, conversations about current events, and encouragement for your racial literacy journey.
Thank you for listening, subscribing and engaging in this important work.
0:41
OK, I am so excited we have the artist in the house today.
You may have heard from her a couple years ago.
We know her as oh, happy Danny, but her name is Daniel Cole Balfour and that’s her new married name.
1:00
She’s been married for about two years now.
Almost, yeah.
Almost two years, yeah.
And so we have a special guest.
She’s a graphic designer turned artist advocate speaker in a phenomenal entrepreneur.
I had to add that part in.
1:16
She’s the founder of Oh Happy Danny, an illustration based educational platform that uses artwork and resources to make complex ideas surrounding racial justice more accessible for everyday for the everyday advocate and Daniel works to inspire her community on over a half a million people across social media to do good daily right where they are.
1:39
She’s also an author now for the A Heart on Fire 100 meditations on loving your neighbors.
Well, we need that right about now.
Whether working with brands like Target, Adobe, speaking in front of audiences or renting her business, Danielle hopes to inspire others to embody their values and live in life a sustainable activism by using what they have to impact the world around them.
2:05
And I am so happy to have you here.
I remember when you first started just, you know, just that whole story.
And I want to go just for some of our audience who may not be familiar with your work.
We’ve you know, if you are part of the Be the Bridge community, you have touched Danielle’s work in some capacity through our transformational pathway.
2:30
She she was the graphic designer on that, the graphic illustration on that.
She also designed our the cover of our BIPOC, but you know, so it’s been a while and she’s spoken.
2:45
We had our Student Leadership Institute online back in 2020 and she spoke to our youth on that platform before to inspiring young artists.
And I am just grateful to have you here.
I’m grateful to call you friend.
And you know, a lot of us in this work, we connect.
3:02
We’re like a support group for one another because this work gets difficult.
And So what has changed, you know, Danielle, for the last, I mean, from when you first started this back in what, what 2019 or so, how has how have things changed?
3:19
How are things going?
What is up from Yeah, I know Target happened, book happened, all these things.
But we do know we are living in a different culture now.
Yeah.
Give us a little update.
Love the question because sometimes we got to be honest.
There’s good and there and then there’s.
3:35
Whoa, hold on.
But yeah, so generally speaking, you know, the work hasn’t changed for me.
The message hasn’t changed for me.
But what has changed for me is definitely the, like you mentioned, the culture we’re living in now, it feels as though what used to be pretty commonplace is now edgy.
3:56
And we’re not too sure, you know, And so it’s been interesting trying to navigate this new landscape.
But I will say I’ve had a lot of learning experiences from publishing a book to doing a lot of heavy brand deals in one season of my life.
Where now I’m really focused on being rooted and grounded in my own business and kind of growing my art across different product lines and deciding like what I want my footprint to be in the retail space.
4:21
And then also content online, I used to be super, super heavy in educating based on like concepts and definitions and my infographics were always trying to really explain things.
And I do a little bit of that now still, but I’m also a lot more conceptual and leaning a lot more into how things feel, how things impact us and kind of tracing those types of lines with my art.
4:45
And then I’ve started a couple other initiatives that are pretty heavy in Black history, like Freedom School.
It’s like my monthly digital subscription with like illustrated digital resources, which has been so refreshing because I’m like, OK, we’re, it’s, it’s just history here.
And it’s it’s a lot more, I don’t know, I really enjoy what that pulls out of me in terms of art and then creating different educational things.
5:08
So, yeah, that’s been fun.
But yeah, a lot of UPS, a lot of downs, having to pivot, think on our feet.
I know you know all about that.
Yes, yes, we’re, we’re in the midst of it, I’m telling you, like, but at the heart of everything that all of us do, and I guess the encouragement is that we know we are doing good work, honest work, work of integrity, work of redemption, you know, work of healing, despite what the world is saying in that sense, you know, and how the world is responding because we’re not doing this work just for a response, but we’re we’re doing this work to help be a agent in transformation.
5:55
And I think that’s, you know, that is what’s happening.
Your book, your illustration book, I told you like it is so needed and it’s so good because it’s, it’s short, it explains it and you just have a way with words.
Like you are definitely a wordsmith.
6:13
And so the world is grateful and better because you’re in it and because you have, you’re utilizing your gifts to equip people and to change people.
And so and so those are the, the the behind the scenes part of the matter that we have to stay focused on because the culture will take you out.
6:33
It will.
Take you, it will take you out and words are going to change.
Every week there’s a new word that’s Co opted, you know, by by something where it’s like you can no longer use this word and and this word or that word.
6:49
Those things are going to change.
But you know, those are like the practices and the methods, but the the the principles and the mission, it stays the same.
Those things are, are, are not, are not changing as we talk about this.
You know, you on your Instagram bio, it says seek justice, stay hopeful, right?
7:09
How do you hold all of this together in a time now where it is difficult to seek justice?
And what does that mean to you?
And it’s it’s really hard for people to say stay hopeful.
7:26
How are you holding those two together?
Yes.
So I often define hope as just believing that what’s to come has to be better than what’s behind us.
And it’s so interesting how my relationship with hope fluctuates in all honesty, because we say this all the time, but it’s a lot of unprecedented events taking place.
7:47
I feel like every day it’s something new, but it’s it’s not just something like slightly troubling, but it’ll be something like horrific.
And I feel like some things are like becoming so commonplace, like assassination attempts.
We’re just like, oh, another one.
Yikes.
Like, whoa, what?
8:04
Yeah.
So things like that.
And then also just the injustice is like we witnessed the execution of Marcellus Williams the other night and.
And it’s just like, whoa, our legal system.
And so I feel as though listen.
8:20
I’m still recovering from that.
Like all of it.
It’s just, we just move on to the next thing from from like massacres to gun shooting to assassinations and we just move on like it’s, it’s just commonplace.
And I refuse listen to believe that this is normal and it has to be this way.
8:38
Like I I refuse to believe that.
Exactly.
And I think that’s what’s central to the kind of hope that I hold on to the idea that this is not the way it’s supposed to be.
And we don’t have to get used to it being this way because history has shown us.
It’s literally proof and evidence, as you explained so beautifully also in your book, Like we have seen the evidence of what can happen when we do not become numb and treat all these things as commonplace.
9:05
And so the hope that I have, you know, it’s living hope.
It’s obviously driven by my face, but then also the idea that there’s good every day.
Everywhere I look, there’s people taking things into their own hands and saying, while we may not always be able to get the justice that we seek, we have the capability of providing relief, providing hope, providing connection wherever we can.
9:30
And that’s the kind of justice and hope that I cling to.
It’s like, OK, if it doesn’t all work out in the grand scheme of things and the courts don’t do what they’re supposed to do, and the system don’t do what it’s supposed to do, I do know that I’m surrounded by people who will do what they are supposed to do within their scope, within their sphere.
9:47
And that’s what keeps us going so.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So in your, I know you’ve come out with another workbook, a workbook that go along with your book.
Just explain that a little bit to us some.
10:02
So some people like they may have the book right, which came out in was it 2023?
Yeah, last year.
Yeah, last year and now there’s a workbook that came out in 2024.
So if you can explain a little bit and hold it up so everyone can see.
10:18
Oh yeah.
Here it is.
Yeah, it’s.
Blue and so cute.
It’s so pretty.
So the, the workbook, it really builds on all of the concepts that are included in the first book.
And the reason why I think having a workbook would be a good idea is well, the the publisher first floated an idea of a journal companion.
10:37
And I was like, OK, a journal could be cool.
But then as I got, I was, as I was digging into the concepts of empathy and awareness and all the different things that I brought up in the book, I, I realized like these are things that people really need to not just dig in for themselves, but personalized and apply to their own life and their own perspectives and where they find themselves planted.
10:57
And so the workbook really says, here’s these concepts.
OK, I talked it’s about empathy being, you know, like walking in someone else’s shoes as much as you’re able and taking on the viewpoint.
So what would be an activity that we can apply to the idea of empathy where you can make it personal to your daily life situations that you might you find yourself in people you might be walking through.
11:17
How can you take a real life scenario from your own life and apply it, apply these principles to it in a way where you can actually walk it out?
And so this was inspired of inspired by, you know, the idea of how we’re always telling people you got to do the work, you got to be the change, you got to show up.
I find that a lot of people are like, yes, I want to do the work.
11:34
And it’s, it’s often left at like for them could be left at like, OK, I’ll read the books, I’ll do the research and I’ll like try to unpack my bias.
But then and, and you know, like, you also equip people to be like doing the work is a lot more than that.
And so I think I wanted to bring creativity, personalization, color and ease into the process of doing the work in a way where it’s like, OK, this isn’t just like a pie in the sky.
12:01
Life is good if we do all these good things, But it’s more so like, how will I do these good things in my own life?
Yeah.
So that’s kind of what the workbook is for.
That’s good, making it personal.
And I think if you are listening and you have young adults and high school students, middle school students, I think this is a great startup book.
12:23
And now that there’s a workbook along with it, I know that’s, this is one of the books we’re using with our youth and, and, and college students.
I think this is something that could really activate them in, in, in this space.
And listen, as we’re talking about activation now, you know, cuz this is a part of our work is we want, we don’t want people just to take in.
12:44
We want people to be able to, to, to go out and to do and to be able to connect those dots, you know, not just open their eyes, you know, because what happens is a lot of people open their eyes, eyes and then they close them, you know?
Yeah, They don’t learn how to really be activated and empowered and to engage your work.
13:05
Your story is an example of using what you have where you are to make a difference.
Like, you know, some of the listeners, they may not know, but I want to go back and just talk about like, how did you start these illustrations?
Like how?
How did this all start and what really motivated you and activated you into this to this lane of justice?
13:28
Yes, so you know the story very well.
But 2019, when I was getting started with art, I had actually just quit a job where I felt like I wasn’t seen as a Black woman.
And I had started a graphic design agency with a handful of clients, including Be the Bridge.
13:45
And I was just saying, you know, I am going to live a life to where I can work with organizations that exemplify the same values that I do.
And I want to help others feel seen and help others magnify their messages of equity and hope and all that.
14:03
And so diving into my freelance graphic design work was driven by that.
But then it was Christmas of 2019 where my parents got me an iPad and I was like, oh, I’m about to go next level.
I’m about to start drawing stuff for my clients.
And that’s really what I was thinking.
14:18
And then I Martin Luther King Junior Day had rolled around in January.
And so I was like, you know, I want to share what I really think about MLK because I feel like we got him twisted.
And Bernice King is always saying y’all really got to put some respect on my dad’s name.
And I agree with her.
So I.
14:34
I wrote this.
Very, very She don’t play, Bernie says.
I know, but we have just like watered down like.
Oh yes.
People don’t understand this message.
People are totally, completely disconnected.
They’ve never read a book.
They just read the quotes and they interpret it the way they want to interpret it.
14:51
And it is, it’s a, it’s a travesty.
Like it is, it is, it is.
So first of all, it is really oppressive to his family and to his legacy.
And Even so, recently hit Martin Luther King, who is all for justice and of equity and equality being compared to someone that is the total opposite.
15:14
The only thing they have in common is that they’re they, they’re both African American males.
That’s the only thing they have in common.
Yeah, but.
None of their messaging is the same and they’re both pastors, but totally different messages as it wants to to pastor and one of hate and one of love and so yeah.
15:31
So it’s just it’s a travesty that that people could even just read his books and say his quotes and be unchanged, you know, anyway, I, you know, I digress.
So it’ll.
Get fired up.
It’ll get you fired up because it’s like the audacity.
15:51
But yeah, so you were, you heard Bernice King and you were like, OK, I’m going to do something like this.
This makes no sense.
It’s MLK.
Exactly.
And so I said, you know, he wasn’t this passive peacekeeper.
He was a radical disruptor.
And so I wrote that on this very simple illustration.
16:06
I said, he’s challenged the status quo through organized civil disobedience.
And it’s like, girl, how many words can you fit on a single little illustration?
But I, I packed it in there and it was the first illustration that I shared that was shared amongst people who were not just like my friends and followers, but strangers.
16:24
And I thought that that was so cool because I never really had that happen on my own count.
Maybe accounts for people I’ve worked with, but not mine.
And and so Black History Month, I took the challenge and continued to use art as a tool to get these concepts out there because art simply was just a tool for me to be like, oh, so you’ll stop and read it if it’s colorful.
16:42
Got it.
OK, so here, here’s what a microaggression is.
And I would just like really, I was so targeted.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And so at the end of Black History Month, I maybe gained around 10,000 followers on Instagram, which was not like so wild to me.
16:59
And then summer happened and then, you know, we had George Floyd, Brianna Taylor Ahmad, our Burry, and I kept making the art that I had been making all those months before.
And then that’s when I saw like pretty serious virality and I gained like 300,000 followers in one week during the summer.
17:16
And that’s when I realized the impact and it was, it felt like a right place, right time type of situation, honestly.
But I also leaned into the opportunity to just do what I had been doing all along and really speak to these things in a way where I felt was a little bit more accessible, but also didn’t water down or simplify the messaging, which is really, really important to me as well.
17:39
And so it wasn’t all perfect, you know, got a lot of pushback and from from a lot of people, but there was also a lot of support.
And yeah, that’s how I got into it.
And I think, you know, one of the things is like, you’re able to do art this way.
You’re able to do illustrations that connect with people and that that educate people that activate people because you also embody that as a woman, you know, you, you embody that message.
18:02
So it’s not just you creating art, but you also believe in the message that you’re creating.
You know, and I think that’s really important.
You know, what is something, you know now that you wish you knew in 2020?
Wow, if we could just go back like, what is something?
18:22
What is something you you know now that you wish you knew in 2020?
Oh man.
OK, there’s a list.
OK, let’s see.
One thing I wish I knew then was that it won’t always be like this.
Yeah.
18:37
So that means a bunch of different things, but I think the first thing that comes to mind is people won’t always be as outwardly supported and connected to you in the future as they are right now.
And so I wish I would have moved with that in mind of saying like, yes, a lot of people are on board.
18:55
And it feels like this could possibly turn into some sort of revolution and we’re going to change everything.
And it’s so completely like the opposite of it to where we’re like, huh, maybe I should have.
And then you don’t.
You don’t really.
At least I didn’t anticipate people also turning on you.
19:14
And so I think, I wish I would have, I, I feel like I, there were some points where I had a little bit of naive naivete.
I’m living naive in certain ways, but I still retain that hope, not because I’m forcing myself to, but that’s just kind of my disposition, you know, as a, as a Christ follower, but then also just a naturally pretty positive person.
19:38
And so I, I wish I would have known that I needed to really not let the dwindling of support over the years translate to the message not being me, not doing the sending out the right message or anything like that.
19:55
Like, it doesn’t mean that the work is any less important or that I’m doing anything wrong, but more so there’s going to be pushed back, there’s going to be backlash, and you don’t actually know how serious it could get.
So just brace, brace yourself.
20:10
And so that’s one of the biggest lessons and things I wish I would have kept in mind.
Yeah, yeah.
That, that, that is, that is really a good message because we never know.
But one thing we do know is that there’s growth in the tension and there’s opportunity and the tension, but being able to recognize that and to feel that sometimes in the midst of the chaos, the pain, the transition, the pivoting, you know, it doesn’t, it doesn’t feel good, you know, but you know, there’s, it’s giving you the opportunity to dream bigger, to dream broader and, and, and, and brighter.
20:48
And then The thing is, like I told you originally, I said, look, you have words that are written like you, despite anything that happens, you have things that are here after you’re gone.
You know, it’s like those those words are going to live forever, though that artwork will live forever.
21:05
Your your mark that you’ve made in someone’s their mind, their heart is going to live on.
And so I think those are the things in how we kind of stay hopeful and encourage ourselves that we’re, you know, sometimes the pendulum, how it swings, you know, and I think about even as you know, both of us are people of faith, I think about just, you know, like what Palm Sunday represent and how, you know, Jesus is coming and they’re, they’re singing us praises, you know, and, and, but it was like they wanted him to have this political message, you know, as it relates to, to Palm Sunday.
21:40
But then it’s those same very people that were cheering him on where just a week later, I’m saying crucify him, you know, to, to give him the death penalty for, for words spoken.
And so when you think about that, you know, those are the seasons that we’re in that, you know, some of the call out or some of the educating that you were doing where it was being praised, like, yes, this is helping me grow.
22:05
But then it’s like, no, this is uncomfortable.
This makes me feel bad.
Or, you know, you know, going from the the cheering to now, this is painful, but no one still that this is good.
This is good work.
This is good for you, you know, and I always tell people I was like, where was Jesus ever comfortable?
22:25
Like just name a time, you know, that’s true.
Name a time, name a time.
And I love how your your work is just it translates into so many different spaces outside of outside of face spaces.
And I think that’s a gift in order to be able to do that.
22:43
What Danny, what and what encouragement can you give to the Be the Bridge community if people feel like what they are doing is not enough, that people are they, their message is being rejected, that they are being rejected, What, what encouragement can you give to the Be the Bridge community to people that are listening right now?
23:06
Yes, absolutely.
So I spoke at a college recently and I had a student stand up and they kind of asked me, you know, I believe in all this stuff that you’re talking about how, and I’m trying to communicate this to my family and my friends and I just can’t get them to see it the way I see it.
Like how do I get them to change their minds?
23:23
And I, and I, there was a lot of in the crowd because it’s like, yes, I have that same problem.
And I my approach to that was simple.
I basically was like, that’s not your work to do.
Right.
And so if you remember what your work is not, you know, there are things that are out of our reach.
23:43
So the opinions of people, while we can influence them and share our perspectives with them, it’s ultimately not our jobs to change everyone’s minds and have them see the things the way that we see them completely and holistically.
You know, that’s just out of our reach.
We can’t control that.
But then what can we control?
24:00
What is our work to do?
And that question is a lot more broader and filled with a lot more possibility and hope because across our lives, we each hold values that we treasure in that matter to us.
And they are the foundation that we build our entire lives on.
24:17
And so there’s things like for me and the pillars of my book are those values.
So it’s love, empathy, hope, community, consistency, awareness, redemption, justice.
Like that’s just full of so much possibility.
And so if we peel back the curtains on that and we get deep and say, OK, I want to foster more hope in my life, what does that look like for me?
24:38
What beliefs do I need to trim and prune away and how can I embody these values?
And I think it’s important to switch from a posture of I must convince you to I must embody this for me.
Because when the words may seem to fail and you can’t convince and you can’t change, you can live your life in such a way that you’re embodying your values so powerfully that people can’t deny the power of it, the transformation that’s taking place in your life.
25:07
And that speaks volumes in and of itself, even if you’re words can take it there.
And so that’s why I believe so much in the power of cultivating a life where you’re so sure of maybe not everything, but what’s most important to you and what your life is built on.
25:23
And so that’s what I would encourage people to do, is just like, identify those values, really build them out and embody them in such a way where your life is a testimony to the power of what you believe in.
Yeah.
That’s so good.
And I think that’s the thing where we think we can change people and we can’t.
25:41
You know, we can.
My dad used to have a statement where he would say control your controllables.
Yes.
You know, and there’s very little you can really control, but you know what I’m saying?
And that just really gives me peace as it relates to this.
Like I cannot transform hearts.
25:57
That is not my job, you know, and that help that allows us to surrender the work that we do, you know, and and in our case, we surrender that work to God And and I mean what he’s way better at it, you know, that we could ever be.
And so that’s the good thing.
26:13
Now, how would you reimagine racial literacy and racial justice as we move onward in this work and where society is now, we are all having to kind of rethink and reexamine and and and and shift which are opportunities.
26:29
But how do you We don’t think through the word We want things to be, to change, but how do we reimagine it?
You know, oh, that’s, that’s really a great question.
And and that’s something that I’m going to continue to sit with, I think for now.
26:45
If when it comes to racial justice and the topics that, you know, I’m used to talking about when I show up on social media, now I have found myself kind of moving to speak to the not necessarily what’s happening in the moment, but what’s happening within us in that moment.
27:02
And that’s.
So good.
So speaking to the inner world.
And so it might be less definitions and frameworks, it might be more.
I feel this way.
Do you feel this way too?
Let’s see why.
Like let’s connect that to our value system, what’s being betrayed in our value system and then connecting that back to maybe racial justice concepts or so if something is happening in the world, let’s say to where, you know, during the Olympics, there was a boxer, a woman boxer who was just being attacked and misgendered.
27:35
And it was just, it was just awful, right?
And so in that season, I decided to speak more so to what it feels like as a Black woman being questioned, you know, in those ways, like approaching that from a personal standpoint of I know what it feels like to feel as though like I’m not qualified or whatever that translates.
27:57
And then then I tie that feeling to intersectionality, right?
And the idea of as being a woman and being black overlap.
Intersectionality isn’t like adding all those identities together and saying I’m the most depressed person in the world.
28:13
It’s not what it means.
Intersectionality is at the intersection of being a woman and being black.
I have a specific experience called misogynoir that, and that’s a particular form of injustice that I endure.
And so taking what’s happening, tying it into the inner world, and then circling it back to the racial justice concept is something that I have found to be pretty effective in this season, especially as people are a bit more closed off and shut down to those concepts at face value.
28:40
Yeah.
I said, deep down, we still are experiencing this, this collective of emotions, and we still want to understand, you know, how people are receiving information, how they’re feeling, how it’s being how they’re being treated.
Like we still care about fairness.
We still care about justice.
It’s just we might be burned out by the certain ways we’ve approached them over the last few years.
28:58
So like rehumanizing and then injecting a different type of creativity than what I’m used to has also been something that I’m moving towards.
And so I’ve been doing a lot with my hands.
I’ve been getting back into journaling and I shared a few of my journal spreads on Instagram.
I was so surprised by the response.
And I think it’s just because it’s a new thing.
29:15
It’s, it’s refreshing to see.
And so how can we reimagine even in creativity, which is another pillar, another value that I talk about and have activities for in the workbook, but also like reimagining the approach to the work in a way that could be more so life giving or maybe not even related to the work at all at face value.
29:33
But in that exploration and in that creativity, we are sparking new ideas that can lead to reimagining the.
Work that we do so that’s what.
I’m doing right now, yeah.
That’s good.
And you, Danny, left Atlanta.
She did.
Unfortunately, you know she got married.
29:51
Yeah.
She left Atlanta and so now she is in the great city of Nashville.
So how is how is how do you see God at work in Nashville?
What?
What’s happening in Nashville?
30:06
Oh, that’s a beautiful question because it’s a lot of wild activity and behavior taking place in Nashville, to be honest.
Yeah.
I’ll talk about the good and then if you want to just be honest.
30:22
Yeah, be honest.
Be honest.
OK, so it’s been beautiful being in a new space and, you know, building a life for my husband.
And then the church community that you have is so awesome.
And also I’ve been seeing like, hate groups marching through downtown.
I found out that Tennessee is ranked 51st in voter turn out.
30:40
That’s dead last in a voter turn out.
Yet the Heritage Foundation, architects of Project 2025, say that we are #1 in election integrity.
That’s why I said, oh, it’s the whole system over here at play.
You’re saying it’s working perfectly as you would as you would like it to work.
30:58
Our horrible low voter turn out the highest rate of felony disenfranchisement in the country.
Like, OK, I see, I think I see the fruit of systemic injustice so clearly in the.
City.
Even from gentrification, it’s just, oh, it’s so much.
31:15
And so I have learned a lot just by being here and existing as a black person in this city.
And there’s also a lot of good, a lot of people fighting against this stuff.
The people who organize here, they organize with their whole heart and soul.
And it gives me a lot of hope to know that, you know, everyone’s not just sitting back and just dealing with this.
31:34
So yeah, Nashville is not Atlanta.
And there are times where I definitely miss Atlanta.
But I do see the opportunity here, and I do see the good here.
And yeah.
Yeah, well, Tennessee, I’m going to tell you, be prayerful, hopeful and voteful.
31:51
Listen, please.
I, I, I, I do consider the vote sacred for me because I know people gave their life so that people who look like us could vote.
32:06
Because up until the 60s, that was not the case.
And we’re only, you know, one generation removed from that where people met violence, were beaten when they were trying to get people to register to vote.
Fannie Lou Hammer’s one of those Mississippi, especially informally slave states like Georgia, Tennessee, Mississippi, Florida, South Carolina, Alabama, the the freedom rides.
32:34
So I think it’s important for people to connect to education when it comes to the vote, especially for black people, African Americans.
It’s just, it’s something that I’m passionate about, you know, because I look at my grandparents March for voting rights in North Carolina.
32:52
My grand, my uncle is one of those that were arrested, you know, at the counter.
And so, so I, I have to kind of, I say it’s sacred for me because I do understand using that word, you know, for other people, they don’t connect to it, especially, you know, your generation, I’m generation X, but that millennial Gen.
33:10
X, they look at things differently.
But like you said, the system is working exactly like they want it to work.
And you know, and and change only comes where we can change people’s hearts, but votes can actually force people to change through policy.
33:27
And then sometimes the heart follows later.
So I’m grateful for you.
I’m grateful that your voice is in Tennessee and and I and that you you answered the last question because I was going to say what is giving you hope right now?
And you actually talked about that.
33:43
And so if you have just some last few words of wisdom to leave to be the bridge community that may feel like they are burnt out, that what they’re doing doesn’t matter, that their people are rejecting this work, what what words of encouragement would you leave with this community to, to, to stay the course?
34:05
Yeah, absolutely.
I think I want to affirm that if that’s how you’re feeling, you’re definitely not alone.
I think the majority of us who are in this work right now are collectively in a season where it feels like we are in a low, a low, low in certain, in certain regards.
And so you’re not alone.
34:21
And I have found that in in those seasons where I didn’t have a lot of outlets for enjoyment, connection, and rest, that this work was just so, so brutal on me.
And so lately I have been prioritizing, like I mentioned before, like finding new hobbies, really not pushing off or cancelling those Hangouts with my friends because I have a lot of work to do.
34:44
And that all might not seem directly correlated to the work, but it has completely affected my ability to show up in those ways.
Because it’s hard, but I have ways to recharge and it’s hard, but I have ways to reconnect.
And it’s even in that discovery and that play that I have found rejuvenation for the work that I get to do.
35:05
Ideas are sparked when we’re resting.
Ideas are sparked when we’re creative, when we’re connecting that we can then put in to reimagine this work that we do.
Because it might not stop being hard for a little while, but we can renew our approach to it based on how we, you know, spend our off time and how we make sure that we’re not forsaking our Wellness and our community care.
35:28
That’s what I would say.
Yeah, so good.
Thank you.
Oh, happy, Danny.
OK, Miss Daniel called Beaufar.
And the book that came out is A Heart on Fire 100 Meditations on Loving Your neighbors.
35:45
Well, you know, friends, you know, that is a book that is needed run out and get this book.
And this is one where this is not audible.
This is something you have to look at the artwork, the pages and hold it in your hands.
So it’s not even, I don’t even recommend Kindle.
36:02
I want you to go out and actually get it.
You can order it.
And then also the new workbook, a heart on fire guided workbook, 100 activities and prompts for a life of everyday advocacy and self compassion.
And this would be great if you have for yourself, but then also for if you have kids in college and in high school, and I would even say upper middle school too.
36:25
This is something that’s beautiful.
And this is about the heart of of of.
And so thank you so much for joining us in our Be the Bridge community.
It’s people like you who continue to fuel this work and to continue to create tools that we can utilize in the work that we do.
36:42
So thank you for joining us on the Be the Bridge podcast.
You can follow her on Instagram.
All of that stuff will be in the show notes.
So follow her on Instagram and Facebook and website and all of those things.
Yeah, thank you so much for having me.
This has been wonderful.
36:59
Thanks for listening to the Be the Bridge Podcast.
To find out more about Be the Bridge and what we offer, visit bethebridge.com.
Partner with us in this work at bethebridge.com/give, Connect with us on social media, and remember, you are not alone in your pursuit of righteousness and justice.
37:18
Latasha Morrison is the executive producer, Sarah Knatzer is the producer, and transcripts are done by a wonderful team of volunteers.
Thanks for listening.
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