This season of reflection, we would like to take a moment to step back at look at what this community has accomplished, and to find our heading for the journey we're still walking. 

The communal outcry over this case has been crucial in garnering the attention and support it has both in our community, and beyond. Some people are saying that having a petition with so many signatures, showing up in the park to protest, posting pictures and videos and updates, that it's all just publicity and hype - that it isn't actually changing anything or doing anything. But I don't think that's true.

It is doing something. Showing up. Voicing support. Lending time and service. Just caring. It's doing something. It's emboldening survivors. It's starting conversations. It's strengthening community. It's inspiring change. And changing a problem that is so large, and so formidable, and so long-standing... changes like that don't often look like immediate upheaval. Admittedly, I visualize some ultimate comeuppance, and it would be gratifying to see an abrupt and ultimate paradigm shift where people who hurt people are held accountable and right now. But I don't know if that's how life works most of the time. 

I wrote out a recap of this case but deleted it; the truth is out there. There are so many stories of so many survivors who are being abused and then being treated unfairly by the courts, and they are all every bit as important as this case. The message I'd truly like to impart is this:

The winds are still howling. The ocean waves are crashing against the shore. The sun is beating down against the earth. Our voices are still crying out in the wilderness, that we might be heard - that justice will prevail. And ultimately, I think that is the kind of movement that is going to create the change we want to see - the kind of gentle, sustainable movement that each of us takes day by day, with all of our choices, in all of the ways we choose to use our power. Individually, the simple act of standing up and making the choice to speak out may not seem like a powerful, revolutionary action. But when we all stand up, when we all speak out, we. are. mighty. If there is a mountain put in front of us, we will blow it down. If there is a cliff, we will erode it into the sea. If it is an ocean put between us and what is just, we will dry it up into a desert, and walk across. If our cries are not heard, that will not silence us - we will roar louder, and we will be heard. 

Because we are just one generation out from when this issue could not even be spoken about. In a lot of communities, it still can't. The groundwork for insuring survivors are able to seek and receive justice in cases of assault and abuse is not well-established. That is a rather new trail, my friend, and it is going to require some attending to or else the weeds and weather will swallow it right back up. So every time any one of us is in the wild, snap a new twig. If you see an encroaching weed, pull it up. If you get scratched with thorns, tell someone who can cut the brambles back - but whatever we do, we have to keep this path clear. We have to keep pushing forward. Because we sure as goodness are never. going. back.

#StandWithCammy

To read the article by Mattison Norris that we have pictured in this update, please click this text.