Uncaged Bird
The Sunlit Project and UNUM Magazine present HER JOURNEY, a narratology mapping the unique and universally-shared experiences of women’s extraordinary journeys.
“This Sunlit Project developed during the worldwide pandemic over my kitchen table, but the idea of mapping women’s journeys began with my own, as a migratory mother, driving a thousand miles westward. I encountered commonalities and differences within the Hero’s Journey, a mythologically-informed template that identifies the classic elements of a “journey” - a call to something more, obstacles, a supreme ordeal, transformation and more - but it overwhelmingly centers a male archetype. Thus, HER JOURNEY seeks to lift the “her” in the Hero’s Journey and identify what makes it uniquely and universally female.”
-Sun Cooper
Cece Jones-Davis, Bird. Photo Credit @rdionefotos
Birds make an appearance as if emblems of her journey. As a symbol of freedom, as a songbird. Her music can be found on Amazon and her sopranic vocal pipes were nationally-broadcast last August. In an image we've become accustomed to during the pandemic, she stood as a lone figure with a mic in an empty public space; but her voice and fervor filled the arena. Due to a rare skin condition called vitiligo, she has referred to herself as “God's Speckled Bird.” This unique combination calls to mind the thrush, a bird well-known for its brown-and-cream spotted plumage and its full range of notes, so unique that it was often featured in poems by William Wordsworth and in Homer's Odyssey; but Cece Jones-Davis’ journey best summons the poem penned by Maya Angelou, "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings."
The caged bird sings ... /of things unknown /but longed for still ... /for the caged bird sings of freedom.
Cece Jones-Davis is an ordained minister, singer, social advocate, and entrepreneurial mother from rural Virginia. She is a graduate of Howard University, Yale Divinity School, and the Yale Institute of Sacred Music, Worship, and the Arts; she is also a member of the inaugural class of Princeton’s Black Theology Leadership Institute. Working at the intersections of faith and justice, she started Sing for Change to "mobilize humans in compassionate, thoughtful social engagement" and to "help our neighbor reimagine justice." This passion brought her to Oklahoma – the state with the highest incarceration rate worldwide – and, at the end of 2020, it pitched her on a flight to our nation's capital, Washington D.C.
Cece has come to national attention with her advocacy for Julius Jones, a man “caged” – behind bars on death row in Oklahoma. Cece has been a prominent leader of the worldwide effort for commutation for Julius. She has been awarded an Abolitionist of the Year Award and Special Congressional Recognition. Her call is to uncage others. In perhaps the most profound year of our generation, Cece Jones-Davis has made powerful gales in the journey towards justice.
Cece Jones-Davis, Founder of Justice for Julius, sings the National Anthem at a nationally-broadcast basketball game Photo/Video Credit: NBA
SC: When did you first sense a "call to something more"?
CJD: Issues in the news broke my heart, particularly the rates of HIV/AIDS in communities of color. During my Yale years, I began volunteering at an AIDS hospice in New Haven, Connecticut, and that began my journey into social justice work. My theological reframing during seminary really helped me to understand that my responsibility was much more than tithes and Bible study. I understood that the Gospel required me to have a public witness – to be a light.
SC: What have been some of the obstacles you've encountered along the way?
CJD: It is emotionally and spiritually taxing to engage in hard and huge social problems. On top of that, it can sometimes be isolating and difficult to find your tribe when you're a Christian activist. People don't always get you, and that can be hard.
And on Christmas Eve in 2019, Cece found herself within the heavy confines of a cancer diagnosis ...
CD: Yes, it was Christmas Eve when I received the news, and I had a houseful of family, and no doctor’s offices were open. I tried hard to carry on … because that is often what we "strong" women do. I am blessed – I had my thyroid removed before anything spread, but it's been a struggle to adjust to life without it. I'll always have a scar. But scars are proof that we survived. I was worried the doctors would damage my vocal chords during surgery, and here I am today dropping an album called “Alive.”
SC: In a journey, helpers are often found. In your work, you are the helper. And through your work, other helpers have come. Over the holidays, you met with Kim Kardashian West…
CJD: The #justiceforjulius campaign has really been catalyzed by people like Kim Kardashian West, who has been amazingly supportive. Julius Jones has been on Oklahoma's death row for 21 years for a conviction that has some pretty overwhelming issues. I learned about Julius’s story through Viola Davis’s docuseries, “The Last Defense.” As a person of color and a person of faith, I knew I couldn’t stand by while an innocent man was killed. I’d love to point people to 20/20’s Special Edition on Julius Jones (August, 2020). Advocacy work around issues like the death penalty are very heavy lifts. People with vast influence can help take the ball further down the court, so to speak.
Cece Jones-Davis and Kim Kardashian West, Justice for Julius, Oklahoma City, November 2020, Photo provided by Cece Jones-Davis
We’re stronger together, and it would do all of us some good to remember that in this moment in history. No one can make it alone. We need our brothers and sisters beside us, which means they need to feel welcome there.
The Black imprisonment rate at the end of 2018 was nearly twice the rate among Hispanics and more than five times the rate among whites. – Pew Research Center
SC: How has personal experience or ordeal inspired this passion?
CJD: People were still very segregated by race and class when I was growing up in rural Virginia. Watching the experiences of my grandparents and hearing their stories gave me a deep understanding of how evil racism is. My parents and grandparents instilled in me the importance of faith and community service. I watched my Mom advocate for people in our community all the time, and so it was natural for me to become an advocate.
Attending a university that was established when African Americans were not allowed to attend other institutions gives one a deep perspective and gratitude for the struggle for academic rigor and racial equity in this country. I feel blessed to consistently live between worlds – Black and white, rural, suburban, and metropolitan, etc. The different places I've lived and the people in these places keep me curious and flexible.
Cece's Beautiful Hands, Photo provided by Cece Jones-Davis, Instagram, Nov. 25, 2020
SC: You have an intimate, unique intersection in your own journey, as a dark-skinned woman with vitiligo. What strikes me is how deeply personal the color of skin is for you, and how historically centered the color of skin is to the oppression of Black communities …
CJD: It's been a strange journey coming to terms with a disorder that threatens such an important aspect of my identity. The idea of "turning white" is scary, but it makes me dive deeper into who I really am. I am a Black woman through and through. My skin tone can't change that. I was depressed for a long time. I was hopeless and angry with God. I did not understand how I was supposed to go out and be a light if I were to become "disfigured." But the True Light broke into my heart one day … I'm okay with whatever ways my entire life can be used to be that light … I'm God's Speckled Bird right now. And these hands? They are used to extend God's grace. These hands comfort my beautiful children, who deserve a whole mother. These hands write and fight and clap and praise.
SC: Often following an ordeal, there's a point of transformation. Speaking to all that the year 2020 has brought to the forefront, have you experienced a transformation or witnessed a collective transformation?
CJD: I am anticipating the transformation we have yet to see. It's often hard to analyze the moment you're currently in, so I think we will need some time in the new year to look back and reflect. I'm hoping transformation will come as a result of seeing how unkind we have been to each other because of political differences. I hope we will see that we haven't been doing enough to address institutional racism. I hope we will see that we have been too rejecting of others. Healing is at the core of transformation. We need to heal in some pretty important ways.
Let the light break in. – Cece Jones-Davis
Cece Jones-Davis, Photo Credit @rdionefotos
SC: In wider conversations, you’ve brought fresh language to social and spiritual conversations about justice: "Holy imaginations, reimagined justice, borrowed hope." What light would you share with us?
CJD: I think of the work of justice as the quest to make things right. We can all do justice in various ways. How can you make something right in the life of your next door neighbor? How can you make something right for the children in your school zone? How can you make something right for the elderly at your local nursing home? We can more beautifully imagine justice when we release the word from our dark notions.
SC: Every journey – and flight – experiences a "return home." With so much American political lexicon around returning to certain ideals, what kind of collective return – or arrival – would you like to imagine?
CJD: I hope we can return to the ground. There's been many talking points in political spaces about getting to "the center" and that just doesn't feel like enough to me. We need a return to the basics of our humanity, and remember that we came from dust. Complete humility. Complete kindness. That's the home that includes inner peace and social civility.
Find the ground.
**Blessing from Reverend Cece to sing us into the New Year:
The human spirit, your spirit, was built to survive. Find a blessing in the test today, and give God glory with the work of your beautiful hands.
Cece Jones-Davis, Songbird, Photo/Video Credit: NBA
Find her music on Amazon and her new album "Alive" on her website: https://cecejonesdavis.hearnow.com
This feature is dedicated to Cece's daughter, Halo. And to the holy imaginers, the hope borrowers, and the justice workers of 2020.
Justice is like fire. If one covers it with a veil, it still burns. – Madeline Jones, Mother of Julius Jones
About the author: Sun Cooper is a migratory mother, published author, and multicultural literary consultant. Her work and collaborations have appeared in People Magazine, Rolling Stone, National Geographic, Hill Lily, American Cowboy, Southern Writers, and Severine. With her amalgamation of Cherokee, French, Basque and American West ancestry, she identifies as a storyteller, mother, and sojourner who asks for the wisdom of ancient paths while migrating her own. You can find her at www.sunliterary.com/thesunlitproject.com