Race is the great taboo in our society. We are afraid to talk about it. White folks fear their unspoken views will be deemed racist. People of color are filled with sorrow and rage at unrighted wrongs. Drowning in silence, we are brothers and sisters drowning each other. Once we decide to transform ourselves from fearful caterpillars into courageous butterflies, we will be able to bridge the racial gulf and move forward together towards a bright and colorful future.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of openly discussing race to overcome societal taboos and move towards a harmonious future.
Eva Paterson's quote addresses the societal reluctance to discuss race, highlighting the fears and emotions that surround this taboo topic. She urges individuals to transform their fears into courage, suggesting that such a change is necessary to bridge racial divides and work collaboratively towards a hopeful, inclusive future. The metaphor of 'caterpillars' transforming into 'butterflies' reflects the potential for growth and positive change when people confront their fears and engage in meaningful dialogue about race.
In practice
During a community meeting on social justice, this quote can be used to inspire open dialogue about race.
In a summer marked by instability in the Middle East and Eastern Europe, I know the world also took notice of the small American city of Ferguson, Missouri - where a young man was killed, and a community was divided. So yes, we have our own racial and ethnic tensions.
If, in our world, there is any chance of becoming the person you haven't yet become...will I know how to seize that chance, turn my life into a garden that will be completely different from my forebears'?
There are some things one can only achieve by a deliberate leap in the opposite direction.
We get stuck in old thought and behavior patterns that may have been effective when we were twelve months or twelve years old, but now only serve to hold us back. And, while those around us may have no problem correcting our minor flaws, they let the big ones slide, because it would mean attacking who we are.
We focus so much on how immigrants can change America that we forget that America has always changed immigrants even more.
Revolution is not something fixed in ideology, nor is it something fashioned to a particular decade. It is a perpetual process embedded in the human spirit.
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