By Judge Breean L. Beggs, Spokane County Superior Court.
“Sometimes showing grace breaks us before it heals us. Forgiveness can feel like a betrayal of justice. We want others to deserve grace, or at least ask for it, even knowing full well that the greatest grace was extended to us ‘while we were still enemies.’” — Amy Lynn Green
Like many elected leaders, I have struggled to bring community healing to the deep wounds of racism, sexism, transphobia, homophobia, and hate. This is the story of my personal journey over the last few years—a journey of discovering and engaging with the concept of “Belonging,” a framework I had not previously considered.
In the spring of 2021, the Spokane City Council and staff, whom I led as Council President, participated in an intensive, two-month Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) training facilitated by Better Health Together. We faced unique constraints: we met exclusively via Zoom due to COVID-19 precautions, and the Washington Open Public Meetings Act required our sessions to be open to the public. Consequently, community members could observe our raw, personal reactions to challenging material regarding historical systemic racism and our own unconscious biases.
The first breakthrough occurred simply because we created an intentional space for these conversations. During the sessions, several staff members disclosed for the first time that they were people of color, despite not initially appearing so to others. We discovered that we had inadvertently built a council office comprised of 40% people of color—double the demographic percentage of the broader Spokane population.
These enlightening, bonding conversations unfolded on camera in front of anyone in the community who chose to watch. My most significant personal takeaway was that we could bridge much of the polarizing rhetoric around race and diversity by focusing on the universal human need for belonging. To be clear, we were not initially familiar with this specific framework, but grappling with these issues together led us first to the experience of belonging, and eventually, to its language.
Conversely, I also observed—both in our training and in the charged public comments at City Council meetings—that a combination of white fragility, historical and individual trauma, and a generalized fear of change often resulted in intense pain, distrust, and anger whenever we attempted to discuss equity. In particular, our country’s longstanding philosophical and legal commitment to fairness had been twisted; the moment the word “equity” was used, many fell into the trap of believing that justice is a zero-sum game.
As City Council President and a longtime civil rights attorney, I wanted to find a way to navigate these divisions and heal them. Years earlier, while attending the Washington State Leadership Academy, I was taught that one powerful way forward is to focus on “Expanding the Circle of Human Concern.” Synthesizing that concept with our DEI training, I proposed a new motto for our work on behalf of the community: “In Spokane We All Belong.” Having spent several decades fighting various “isms” without seeing systemic success, I felt this concept offered a healthier civic vision and a more immediate measure of progress. Belonging is experiential: people either feel like they belong or they don’t, regardless of who is at fault.
Predictably, there was skepticism from all sides. Some within the dominant majority culture expressed fear that working toward universal belonging meant losing their own status. Meanwhile, some members of historically marginalized communities expressed pain upon hearing the phrase, noting that they explicitly did not feel included. They worried that a new catchphrase would merely paper over historical and ongoing injustices to avoid real action. Over time, however, the majority of people I spoke with endorsed “In Spokane We All Belong” as both a meaningful start and a vital call to action.
Yet, a critical piece was still missing: how to reach the people perceived by the progressive community as the ones doing the “othering.” In the rush to champion a welcoming spirit, some advocates began othering the residents who complained about our neighbors experiencing homelessness or substance use disorders. Our council meetings devolved into factions, each demanding that different groups be judged, canceled from the circle of human concern, and physically removed from the community.
Determined to shift the narrative, I began using “In Spokane We All Belong” at every speaking event across the city. Whether cutting a ribbon at a new downtown business, dedicating a new middle school, or speaking at a local service club luncheon, I closed every speech with those words. Spokane Arts even commissioned a local artist to develop logos and branding materials to weave the phrase into our civic identity.
Still, I struggled with how to authentically engage those who seemed most committed to marginalizing others. They were angry, fearful of inclusion, and actively causing harm to vulnerable populations. As a trial lawyer trained for battle and a fierce protector of the oppressed, my instinct was to use all my legal skills and knowledge to defeat them. While I do not regret defending the vulnerable, I realized that a purely adversarial approach provoked long-term backlash and further suffering.
Turning to the wisdom of john powell, I discovered the concept of “Bridging” as a means of sustainably transforming conflict. Bridging means finding common ground between groups who perceive themselves as fundamentally separated. It is a practice rooted in diverse historical movements and faith traditions, epitomized for me by the strategy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. “Love your enemy” was not just a philosophy; it was a strategy centered on the shared needs of a neighborhood: safety, adequate housing, livable wages, good schools, accessible parks, healthcare, and the shared milestones of birth, graduation, marriage, and death. My most vivid mental image of the 1960s civil rights movement is a group of Black men marching in suits, wearing sandwich boards that read simply: I Am a Man. It spoke volumes about the power of demanding recognition as a human being, regardless of surface differences.
In June of 2023, the Spokane City Council had the privilege of hosting john powell to train council members, staff, and community leaders on how to operationalize bridging and belonging. Today, that work continues, championed by the City Council, the Mayor, Spokane’s newly created Office of Civil Rights, and a broad coalition of community leaders.
Building bridges with those most opposed to my work is never easy, but it preserves the possibility of a city that includes everyone in its circle of concern. I ultimately realized that if I wanted a better world, I carried the responsibility to make the first move across the divide.
This realization brought me full circle: I recognized that I had been building bridges across differences my entire life. Because my family moved frequently when I was young, I was constantly navigating new schools and unfamiliar cultures—including attending three different high schools during my freshman year alone. Surviving those constant disruptions forced me to quickly find common ground with peers just to feel emotionally and physically secure. Although I didn’t use the word bridging, I was proactively creating common ground both to protect myself and to feel more connected to new groups of people.
Most people feel disconnected at times, and most possess an innate desire to find common ground because it makes them feel safer. The challenge is to actively focus on that shared ground and quickly construct even a narrow bridge across our differences. The interpersonal tools for doing this are remarkably simple:
- Ask the other person a question with an authentic intent to know them better.
- Be vulnerable enough to share something about yourself that they otherwise wouldn’t know.
The more we practice both, the stronger the bridge becomes, providing a solid foundation to resolve both real and imagined conflicts.
At my final City Council meeting before resigning to accept a local judgeship in the summer of 2023, the council passed an ordinance establishing “In Spokane We All Belong” as our city’s official motto. Two years later, while watching the Spokane Pride Parade alongside ten thousand spectators, I watched City of Spokane employees march proudly behind that very banner.
But perhaps the most profound validation of this work happened recently with a group of students at West Valley Middle School. I had been invited to speak to them about youth leadership, and I shared my thoughts as a judge on how bridging can solve community problems. When I opened the floor for questions, a sixth-grade girl raised her hand and asked, “Judge Beggs, what is your favorite flavor of ice cream? Mine is chocolate.”
“My favorite flavor is mint chocolate chip,” I replied. With that simple exchange, a room of sixty middle schoolers and I launched into a beautiful cacophony of bridge-building—the kind that still brings a smile to my face.