Most people who know me well, know "Lord of the Rings" is one of my favorite books and movies, and one of my favorite quotes is, "you shall not pass."
In the movie, Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, a fellowship from different worlds travel together to return The One Ring back to Mordor and destroy it. They end up traveling through the mines of Moria, the land of the Dwarves. This is not Gandaulf’s first choice because in the caverns is a great evil, a demon called Balrog. Due to circumstances placed upon them by outside forces, they are forced to travel through the mines to continue their journey. As they enter, they realize the mines have been overrun by their enemies, the Orcs, and the dwarves have been killed. And the Orcs come after them. As they are attempting escape, the Balrog comes out and even the Orcs run from it.
So, I know this is lots of setup to get you to my favorite scene. The fellowship must cross a chasm to escape from the mines and escape Balrog. As they are running, Balrog catches up and Gandaulf stays behind to protect the others and take a stand against Balrog. And then comes my favorite scene...Gandaulf turns to face Balrog and says, “you cannot pass...go back to the shadow...YOU SHALL NOT PASS!” he screams and jams his sword into the ground before the Balrog and the demon goes down into the bottomless chasm below. If you’ve seen the movie, you know in the last moment, Balrog's whip catches Gandaulf and he is also pulled into the pit below.
Great pain from all that love Gandaulf, because it seems that he is lost forever. He looks the scariest, ugliest thing in his life as a wizard, eye to eye and in taking a stand, he also falls.
My question today is when are we going to look at the ugliness of racism eye to eye and take our stand to scream as Gandaulf did, “YOU SHALL NOT PASS!” You shall not pass this minute from before me. I say you shall not pass to anyone else, my children, my friends, ANYONE in this world. You shall be destroyed! When will we value humanity over ideology and beliefs, systems, forces that seek to destroy all of us. Racism harms all of us. It lives in the bodies of all of us and traumatizes ALL of us...that includes white people, black people, indigenous people, and other bodies of color.
Racism is a scourge on our planet. It’s not just a people problem. It kills, it harms, it traumatizes, it depresses, it creates fear.
Gandaulf stood alone...and he said the Balrog was a foe beyond any of those with him. While part of our individual journey with transforming racism is personal, collectively, we are not required to stand alone. Racism is a foe that is within our power to rid our consciousness of. If we stand together, if we do the work of decolonizing our own minds, spirits, and souls, we can destroy it.
I am asking us to stand together to face the scariest system in our lived history! Even if we fall or fail. It's the fear of falling that keeps us from moving...what if we come out on the other side more empowered and transformed because we are willing to take a stand. Our magic is in our willingness to stand against this TOGETHER!
We fight not against flesh and blood (PEOPLE), we fight against principalities and powers (BELIEFS, SYSTEMS, FORCES) that seek to harm, dehumanize, and demoralize. Eph 6:12
YOU SHALL NOT PASS!
Adria Kitchens is a Certified Feminine Power Transformational Coach, Facilitator and Leader and mother of three amazing adult children living their passions in the world. She has been personally mentored by Dr. Claire Zammit, creator of Feminine Power and founder of Evolving Wisdom, for over a decade. She has a MBA, MAFM from Keller Graduate School of Management, a BA from Johns Hopkins University and is a native of and lives in Atlanta, Georgia.