Art by Sara Barriera for Voces Unidas
When you look into the night sky in the darkest of nights you can see trillions of stars in the sky. Each star and each constellation has a story to tell. Their lights shining as one brings a sense of wonder to new and old alike. What stories do they have to share? Like the night sky, our Rio Grande Delta communities are spread far and wide across the region, occasionally, someone will shine brightly enough that you may learn of their story from the local news, with favorable mentions of the person’s work within the community.
But unlike a night so clear as the darkest of nights, our media landscape can often be covered with clouds. We may learn of the accomplishments of a single person we love, but as a community, we still lose part of that story. And many more times, the stories shared are negative, creating falsehoods of what it means to live here. Those stormy moments the media portrays are not the stories of us. Voces Unidas wanted to support changing those harmful narratives.
That’s why our organization’s efforts for 2022 were so deeply focused on being in community. We sought to clear the clouds which isolate us from community in ways that take us back into the past, in a place where our ancestors could see the night sky and tell stories of their significance in our lives. These stories allowed us to pass down vital teachings and practices, so what better method to reconnect to our communities than to look at our own stars and constellations, listen to their individual stories, and derive comfort in each other’s unconditional love?
We did this by planting two seeds:
The first seed was to connect with organizers and activists, formulating a special community for healing that occurred at significant moments during the changing seasons. We met during the phases of the moon, so we naturally called our group, “The Moon Group.” During our moon meetings we learned about each other; our hopes, fears, dreams and what brings us joy. Sometimes we would listen to music, sometimes we would sing. We could share our dreams and look for meaning. We learned about ourselves and the land around us. But never, not once, did we talk about the storms. We never discussed the harms we confronted in our work. That was not what the Moon Group’s focus was.
The second seed was collaborating with our Storytellers; artists who have spent their lives caretaking and uplifting the cultural essence of who we are as a region. Guided by the ‘Story Medicine’ of Renda Dionne Madrigal, a psychologist and drama therapist who is Turtle Mountain Chippewa, these storytellers reached into their innermost knowing and found where their heart resides. We were able to bring these deep internal reflections from our storytellers to create stories about the land and our relationships to it. We found, through Renda’s guidance, that the stories that resided deep in us felt universal to one another. Whether it was deep apprehension of a child who is growing up to the history of conjunto, there were common themes of fear, acceptance, love and bravery.
And thus, with these groups working within a spirit of deep healing and love, we were able to come together for a two-day event in late September that celebrated each other. The clouds had finally cleared, we could finally see ourselves for the stars and constellations in the sky, where we could intimately connect intergenerationally in ways that were difficult to do before.
“Some told stories that really reflect our own stories. To be able to get some healing, what have our ancestors, what our community, our family, our earth … given us? What [are] the sufferings, the happiness, the opportunities … to be able to grow spiritually, emotionally, mentally, in different ways…that we can learn from one another.”
–Lourdes Flores, ARISE
“Todo esta conectado … nuestra tierra esta sufriendo. Nuestra tierra esta gritando. Duele todo eso, los que esta pasando. Y pues cada uno de nosotros estamos responsables verdad… para dar un mejor cuidado a nuestra madre tierra, entonces esto es algo que llevo con mi hoy”
– Andrea Landeros, ARISE