ChangeMaker Interviews
Interview conducted by Alex & revised by Sarah
The leader and founder of the Walk for Change, Ms. Sonya Spriggs, was interviewed by an LCTA changemaker. Here are some of the highlights:
Parts of the answers have been edited to account for length and comprehension.
Q. What inspired you to start Walk for Change?
A. I think that the inspiration were the George Floyd and Breonna Taylor cases, all the things that were happening right in front of our faces again and again and again. It was time we could all gather together and I thought it was the perfect time to not hide in our homes, put our masks on, let’s get together and talk about how it affects you and everybody else.
Q.What message do you want to spread, or what impact do you want to make?
A. LOVE!
Q. Which incident awakened you to the problems?
A. I think it was the discussions with my daughter that was living here at the time. She was educating herself by reading tons of books and I wanted to give her an opportunity to not just think about these issues, but have discussions. If we can get a group of people together and get more ideas we can maybe think differently, so I wanted to get a group of people together so that we could all gather feel we’re doing something
Q. How successful do you think the Walk for Change is so far?
A. I think the biggest question is how you measure success. For me it’s successful because I’m making a promise and I’m doing what I said I would do. As for verbal approvals and disapprovals, there have been more verbal approvals than disapprovals.
Q. How do you expect Walk for Change to grow?
Well I’ve learned that expectations are probably going to give me problems. I find expectations take you down a route where you get disappointed. Rather than expecting this one way or another I’m just going to continue with the movement in this way. It may change, but I hope I can do something that others can join me for.
Q. Was there a specific incident that made you create Walk for Change?
A. I’d like to go on record and say: For me the incident was the George Floyd incident. More so it was that all of these injustices go on every day. It’s time to get up and make a difference. We are one humanity . We cannot place blame on other people but we can change our own thoughts and more importantly actions. Be Authentic. Back up your talk with action that is what WalkforChange is about.
“I thought it was the perfect time to not hide in our homes, put our masks on, let’s get together and talk about how it affects you and everybody else.”
“It’s time to get up and make a difference. We are one humanity . We cannot place blame on other people but we can change our own thoughts and more importantly actions. Be Authentic. Back up your talk with action that is what WalkforChange is about.”
“Q.What message do you want to spread, or what impact do you want to make?
A. LOVE!”