‘I Am Here To Testify, Again’ – Studium Generale

By Saki Kambe

“I-have-a-dream-where-black- lives-matter.” After the final ”I have a dream,” each and every word cautiously yet powerfully said, the place was soon filled with long, deeply-touching applause for Shewa Dedeke.
A Peace Corp Veteran of Rwanda and an activist who uses vulnerability as her art form presented in a Jan. 17 Studium Generale.
After an enthralling and moving presentation last year by Helen Lovejoy and Natasia Lewis, she was inspired to become an activist. “One of most visible and outspoken leader of the civil rights movement”, Dedeke described about Martin Luther King Jr. The eagerness to shine a light on the social justice work that is done, and to her heroes, her to testify just four days before one of the most important days of the year. Watching her other hero, James Baldwin’s ”I Am Not Your Negro” last year and experiencing Baldwin was the reason.
Although Rwanda had gone though a brutal genocide in 1994, it is now the world’s ninth safest country, Dedeke said. While Dedeke was serving as a volunteer in Rwanda, the #BlackLivesMatter movement occurred. She contrasted how peaceful being surrounded by the wonder of nature in Rwanda was and how slow the time went there to a moment when she woke up to the ever-devastating news: innocent Felando Castilo from Minnesota, Dedeke’s home state, was shot to death. It was not until this point where she felt that nothing actually has made progress albeit the march of time.
“Are we any closer to King’s dream?” Dedeke heavily appealed to the crowd. King’s dream which was delivered over 50 years ago. One of her power point photos was a 2015 cover of TIME magazine that depicted a 1968 photo of King with the date crossed out. This laid a huge emphasis on how we are still away from King’s dream.
This is why Dedeke testifies “again”, and no one can stop her. We still have a long way to achieve King’s dream. She appealed and encouraged the audience to speak out, act out with someone you can share.
The important thing to remember is that no one is alone, and that we can come together.
Dedeke spoke at the Women’s March in Port Townsend in front of hundreds of crowds as well.