Coffee with Grace Aheron

Grace Aheron is a force of nature all unto herself. She is wise,
courageous and full of faith. Her stories include advocacy
for others, leaps of faith, and living into her own being.


I took some time at the beginning of our conversation to make
relationship connections. Being introduced to Claire
Hitchins and Taylor (Poindexter) Devine helps all of us know
Grace and helps the world be a better place. The web of goodness
and love I see developing in the Coffeepot Fellowship and United
Faith Leaders is a beautiful thing. They are certainly forging
new connections. However, they are mostly shining a light on the
kinds of interconnectedness, beauty, and strength that already
existed. We're truly grateful just to be participants. Do,
please, make connections with Claire and Taylor.


Grace promoted Black and Pink, which describes itself as an
open family of LGBTQ prisoners and “free world” allies who
support each other. Grace asked us especially to become penpals.
There are many ways to get involved and support Black and Pink,
so definitely dig into their website.


Grace mentioned that Black and Pink also does work toward the
abolition of the prison industrial complex with special urgency
focused on the violence upon LGBTQ people. I'm glad this
abolition came up, even briefly, because Americans (myself
included) need to become much more aware of the injustices that
are being perpetrated as law enforcement and incarceration. Our
nation was on track to radically reduce the number of prisons
when our government pivoted toward "law and order" and rapidly
increased incarceration rates instead. And, spoiler alert, people
of color were - and still are - incarcerated at
disproportionately higher rates. So while it may seem
instinctively absurd for 21st-century Americans to consider
abolition of the prison industrial complex, that is largely a
factor of 1) one's age and 2) one's skin color (and not
necessarily in that order).


Grace is presently accomplishing all of the good you hear about
in the interview while being the "Y00f wrangler" and campus
minister at St. Paul's Memorial Church and while living
in the Charis Community Cville (Charlottesville, VA)
which she founded after working for the Episcopal Diocese of
California.


"Nothing about us, without us, is for us." - slogan of South
African disability and youth activists / poster by Ricardo Levins
Morales
Links:

Sponsor: United Faith Leaders


Black and Pink(.org)


Charis Community Cville


St. Paul's Memorial Church


Roman Catholic Womanpriests


Interview with Taylor (Poindexter) Devine


Claire Hitchins (t-shirts?)


Wild Goose Festival


Oberlin College


University of Virginia (UVa)