SIAP 2024 Reflections

there are certain experiences in our lives that feel like breathing again after a long period of holding our breaths. As a community organizer with deep roots in Los Angeles, I did not know my place in a conference filled with philosophers. Pele brought me back to the Big Island, and it was my kinship with Celia that truly led me back into the loving arms of Hilo. In 2023, during an Indigenous Sustainability conference at UH Hilo, I met Celia. My appointment as an Activist-in-Residence with the UCLA Institute on Inequality and Democracy at Luskin and Asian American Studies Center gave me the opportunity to attend the conference as a way of expanding my vision of our food systems, an opportunity to build with Filipino + Native Hawaiian farmworkers, farmers, food workers, people with their hands on the earth—growing, tending, cooking, stewarding the land in the islands.The Summer Institute in American Philosophy opened me up in ways most of my organizing spaces could not. It felt like a pointed reflection of theory and study I have known, but with a focused and active engagement with the people who are dancing with the source of our ideas as human beings—a deeper understanding of our world that I felt was missing in my work as an activist. I was inspired at the conference because I was challenged to investigate my own ideas around my experiences, and sometimes the reflections I heard during the presentations did not align to what I have seen on the ground. The opportunity to confront these ideas in a safe space, with methodology already embedded in that very activation truly gave me life: it poured into me. For many organizers, the biggest challenge is conflict in our movement spaces—these conflicts create fissures between individuals, organizations, and sometimes communities. It stalls our work so often; the energy of it prevents our work from moving forward. The Summer Institute in American Philosophy was a window into a space where theory and praxis collided, but it acted like a safe container to reflect without being attacked, a place to learn and be heard and challenged with new ideas. It was a breath of fresh air.I have been a community organizer in Los Angeles for over twenty years. The foundation of my work is centered around our relationships with each other. Moving in heart-centered work is difficult; it's that daily grind of showing up for others during the most difficult periods of their lives, and often we forget ourselves in that process. At SIAP, I met versions of myself over and over again, from Daniel Guentchev's presentation “Traumatized Peoples Traumatize People: Can The Modern West Listen to Indigenous Thought?,” which reflected back to me my work of incubating community-based projects across Los Angeles and rural areas of Southern California, and the fight to have the most vulnerable and often Indigenous peoples voices heard and seated at tables where big decisions are made. The two keynote panels grounded me even deeper into who I truly am: “Resilience and the Brown Babe's Burden: Writings by Filipina Philosophers” and “Un-Settling Philosophy: A Tribute to Haunani-Kay Trask” connected me to my homeland and activist heart. I felt so honored to witness a beautiful collective of Filipina philosophers and their brilliance, knowing that Filipinas are not often recognized in the field of philosophy, but to see it in person changed me. Seeing women from my homeland shine with an unwavering fierceness, challenging some of the most complex issues that have plagued our peoples from gender violence to drug wars—it made me weep, it unlocked a place of radical hope. Meeting mentees of Haunani-Kay Trask was an honor of a lifetime. Haunani's work and legacy in Hawaiʻi have guided my internal fire in some of the most painful experiences I have had as an activist in the last ten years working in homeless rights.The Summer Institute in American Philosophy was not just another conference for me. The week blended together fragments in my life that needed tending, that needed tightening, that needed reflection. As someone who works closely with Indigenous peoples and vulnerable communities—a space of deep reflection with others allowed me to teach others back in Los Angeles another path into our evolution of radical hospitality during these challenging times. What are we missing in our work as organizers and activists? What are our greatest challenges in our movement spaces? The Summer Institute in American Philosophy was a window into possibility—that maybe our conflict, our opposing ideas as human beings can be met and held with tension and care, and for philosophers and activists to hopefully work together to build a path forward to a better world . . . grounded in more expansive ideas rooted in the love of us. Melissa Acedera Founder and Executive Director, Polo's Pantry Co-founder, Home-y Made Meals, Peace & Healing Center–Skid Row