Each of us is here now because in one way or another we
share a commitment to language and to the power of language,
and to the reclaiming of that language which has been made to
work against us. In the transformation of silence into language
and action, it is vitally necessary for each one of us to establish
or examine her function in that transformation and to
recognize her role as vital within that transformation.

For those of us who write, it is necessary to scrutinize not only
the truth of what we speak, but the truth of that language by
which we speak it. For others, it is to share and spread also
those words that are meaningful to us. But primarily for us all, it
is necessary to teach by living and speaking those truths which
we believe and know beyond understanding. Because in this
way alone we can survive, by taking part in a process of life that
is creative and continuing, that is growth.

And it is never without fear - of visibility, of the harsh light
of scrutiny and perhaps judgment, of pain, of death. But we
have lived through all of those already, in silence, except death.
And I remind myself all the time now that if I were to have been
born mute, or had maintained an oath of silence my whole life
long for safety, I would still have suffered, and I would still die. It
is very good for establishing perspective.