Purpose Driven

Working toward a more equitable world for all and dismantling racist power is no easy task. Through the years Spight has relied heavily on his faith and his purpose. One quote he lives by is from American author and Seventh-day Adventist co-founder, Ellen G. White: “Press with determination in the right direction, and circumstances will be your helpers, not your hindrances.”

From a young age, Spight had a strong desire to seek out what is right, equitable, and true. He can still remember the disconnect of learning about “Officer Friendly” in a book his mother gave to him, but then turning on the television to see police brutality on the screen. Spight says those types of experiences made him realize that he had to find his own way. “I had to discover what is true, and figure out where I fit in,” he says.

Oakwood University, again, was one of those transformative encounters. Spight had transferred to Oakwood from IU Indianapolis, and upon his arrival at Oakwood, he realized the stark inequity of material and technological resources available between there and his previous school. That’s when Spight became involved in Oakwood’s student government and starting working to change the lack of resources at his school. “I found my voice as an African American male to effect change for all people,” says Spight. “We can’t leave people behind.”

Educating, Empowering, and Equipping

Spight commits to striving toward equity every day and measures his success by three actions — educating, empowering, and equipping — which he calls the 3 E’s. “When I lay down at night, if I have accomplished the 3 E’s, I sleep well,” he says.

Spight strives to learn from the 3 E’s himself, and share them with others for their growth as well. “Whether I’m on my way to a mountain peak or a valley experience in life, the 3 E’s are part of my purpose,” he says.

How can we use the 3 E’s in our own lives to move toward equity? Spight walks us through each step:

• Educating: Truth can be scary. It can be frightening. For me, the comfort is being in the discomfort, because then I know I’m growing. I have to be willing to take a look at what’s causing me to not feel comfortable, what’s causing my fear of discomfort. No other steps can be taken until we’re willing to confront the unconfrontable. We can’t change what we’re unwilling to see.
• Equipping: Reflect on what you learn as you see, think, and act differently, asking questions such as, “What was that like? What did that feel like? How were others affected? Why were they affected and what was the impact on them and me?” These type of reflective questions and practices enable us to discover deep(er) truths about ourselves, others, and our environment(s). As master teacher Parker J. Palmer counsels, “To know truth is to enter with our whole persons into relations of mutuality with the entire creation, relations in which we not only know, but allow ourselves to be known.”
• Empowering: Give yourself and others “permission” to act by taking incremental steps toward the direction you want to grow. Growth involves taking risks, but you can make it more sustainable and actionable by taking small steps. Acknowledge your new ways of being, thinking, and doing — celebrate. Now you’ve got the nerve (and literal neural pathways) to do something different, something better. When we believe we’re better than what we were, we’re inclined to keep up the ongoing cycle of educating, equipping, and empowering ourselves.