"I have come to some protests, and they've been amazing. We just wanted to add something a little bit different, a processing piece of it, so it's not just come down, shout and leave," says Katherine Newell Okojie, one of the lead organizers for the Brick by Brick Collective. "If you know how to cultivate your emotions, your rage, then it becomes a spark that really launches a movement."
The Brick by Brick Collective is led by four women — Anna Frederick, Rebecca Crummey, Stephanie Whitehouse and Newell Okojie — who came together as an "interspiritual group that lives at the intersection of spirituality, social justice and creativity." Came together, and then suggested ways that people can channel their outrage at the current administration.
There's plenty of outrage to go around. Since President Donald Trump returned to office in late January, thousands of protesters have gone to events in Denver to decry deportations and federal firings, as well as to support teachers and celebrate allies like Bernie Sanders and Dolores Huerta.
The women behind the Brick by Brick Collective say that while they believe that protests can change the world around them, they also want to offer a way to settle the emotions that protesters are feeling on the inside. They know religions like Christianity instruct people to look for inner peace with practices such as prayer, sermon and ritual, but they want to help people from all backgrounds, so are organizing events that can teach similar emotional remedies in a non-religious setting.
"When we talk about injustice, it's connected to anger. When you feel injustice, you feel anger," Newell says. "There are so many different ways to use that as a tool, and we want to create the space where they can learn to do that...we want anyone to feel welcome, but we know people don't always feel comfortable with religion. So opening it up to anyone's sense of spirituality is a way we can do that."
The group's first rage ritual on March 25 on the west steps of the State Capitol was small, attracting only about a dozen people. The Brick by Brick Collective brought chalk, stickers, markers, glue and a pile of bricks so that people could decorate and then walk away with their own protest brick. Newell Okojie instructed attendees to take deep breaths, reflect about how they feel inside, and think about the people who came before them. Then the four lead organizers led everyone in a public scream to let out pent-up frustration and anger.
The group is trying to break away from a cookie-cutter protest format and lean into a more creative approach to non-violent protests. The name reflects the founders' desire to "build a community brick by brick," Whitehouse says, but they also decorate bricks with chalk to promote upcoming events; write short, inspirational messages like "rise" and "you belong here"; and draw flags to support trans and gay rights, Palestine and Ukraine.
Frederick notes that the bricks lend themselves to a metaphor for the group's message of using anger constructively instead of destructively; an angry protester can break a window with a brick, but in line with the Brick by Brick Collective's message of non-violence, the group wants protesters to imagine using them creatively.
"It can build and it can destroy, but you can't make that decision with a clear head until you've gotten all the rage out of your body," Frederick says. "I wanted to be part of something using creativity to build community."
"Women, trans folx, gender non-conforming folx, those beyond the binary — we are being completely attacked by this administration," Newell Okojie says. "For anyone who has been devalued to the margins, we're saying you matter...we want to lift up their voices."
A handful of activist groups founded by people with no protest organizing experience have popped up in the area since Trump was reelected in November, including Denver's People's March, 50501 Colorado, the Common Ground People's Collective and r/DenverProtests.
Brick by Brick hopes to build a following by hosting at least one protest at the end of each month. Permits to protest at the State Capitol are free with the exception of a refundable deposit; they group has already secured the permit for anotherrage ritual on April 29.
"If people are really craving something magical at the intersection of spirituality and social justice, the Brick by Brick Collective will be creating more spaces for them," Newell Okojie says. "We're weighed down by all these heavy emotions, they're uncomfortable, but if people are ready to let them go, this is the space to do that."
