“People ask me, why am I not bitter? And I say to them, ‘hate and bitterness only eat me up from the inside. Love is a powerful emotion. Love transcends all.’”

Miss Joyce O’Neal shared these powerful words with participants from GLIDE’s Alabama Justice pilgrimage in the community room of the Brown Chapel AME Church, just a few short blocks from the historic Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama. Born and raised in Selma, Miss O’Neal was a foot soldier in the 1960s, marching alongside Martin Luther King Jr. to secure the right to vote for African Americans.

In the last week of October, 25 people from the GLIDE community (ranging in age from one to 70!) spent five days immersed in learning the truth about American History. We met on-the-ground activists across Alabama – from Selma to Tuskegee – whose work continues to disrupt and transform incomplete narratives about oppression, crime, and punishment.

In the words of Steven Reed, the first Black Mayor of Montgomery, AL, “we are here to move from pain to progress.” As we absorbed stories of racial terror and extraordinary examples of resilience and courage, we made commitments to bring this learning back to our lives in the Bay Area.

We will continue to share stories about this experience from Board members, GLIDE Staff, Justice Academy graduates, and other community partners as we move closer to the goal of truth, justice, and reconciliation in its full and complete form.