Original Activist
The new question of our time: What is “privilege”? I wrote this piece for those who may feel paralyzed in their own privilege, and how they may use their personal power to break out of it. Each one of us is an #originalactivist in the great fight for freedom.
I was inspired to find my inner voice during a summer of solitude in 2012. Please read and be inspired to see how the motivating past is important in order to keep us individually connected to our present and our futures.
Original Activist
Photography by David Sherman
(With Creative direction from Rebecca Longawa)
I have been privileged.
In 2011, I won a world championship in the WNBA with the Minnesota Lynx. At the time I thought this was the pinnacle of my career and achievement; that at this point I was done being a leader in my community. The hard work somehow felt finished. What I learned, shortly after in 2012, was that there was so much more work to be done in my life, and that a majority of it was out of my control. I didn’t know much about activism, except what I studied in school and from what I individually experienced for myself at home growing up isolated as a little girl.
“Through him and for his name’s sake, we received grace and apostleship to call people from among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith.” -Romans 1:5
Christians have both a privilege and a great responsibility.
My primary hero was Huey Percy Newton of the Black Panther Party For Self Defense.
Panther, 1995 (imbd.com)
I had been in awe of this historical figure since around 1995-1996, when I watched the movie Panther, directed by Mario Van Peebles, in my bedroom on a VHS tape. Sitting on the floor cross-legged looking up to the TV watching this movie, both in complete fear and inquisitive adulation, felt like a 2-ton brick hitting the core of my entire existence. I was only 8 or 9 years old when I truly became an activist in my heart and soul, and I knew that God was silently stirring this revolutionary spirit in me for an appointed time.
But the time felt so far away, because even then, in the mid 90s, I sat defeated; wondering what I could possibly do, or say, as I was in grade school, attending one of the best public schools, living in a gated community, and overall enjoying some of the “finest” things that life was providing me in a rather obscure way (as I was often the only black girl at the schools I attended). Who would listen to me? What could I say that will allow people to understand my voice and not misinterpret the meaning, on both sides? I had no answers to these significant questions, so I kept quiet and kept on my journey.
“What advantage, then, is there in being a Jew, or what value is there in circumcision? Much in every way! First of all, they have been entrusted with the very words of God.” -Romans 3: 1-2
The Jewish nation had many advantages, but these privileges did not make them better than anyone else.
In high school I magnified my appreciation for my hero Huey. This was when I started to listen to the thunderous speeches of Malcolm X, who I quickly learned was the source of inspiration behind Newton’s philosophies, on my earphones at lunchtime and in my free time. Of course I was already aware of Malcolm X in the early 90s from watching the movie starring Denzel Washington, but listening to his voice restored a new power within that still kept silent, but was always listening and learning…and waiting.
Later on, I learned that my father, Alan Wiggins, also listened to Malcolm X speeches just as I did, and he learned a great deal from them with his equally ambitious and studious spirit. This would help me feel a connection to him, as he died when I was 3 years old, preventing me from knowing him personally.
“In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.” -Ephesians 3:12
It is an awesome privilege to be able to approach God with freedom and confidence.
All this learning led me to my university years, where I changed my pace and focused primarily on where the sport of basketball would take me, which led me to being drafted third overall in the WNBA. This career achievement ended with me being in the ultimate position of sports leadership, as I became a significant part of the Minnesota Lynx’s first championship in 2011, truly opening the door to endless opportunities and an athletic legacy that will always stand on its own in power.
As I mentioned, I have been privileged.
Which brings me today to this dynamic set of images from 2012: that time period of self-reflection and discovery in Minneapolis after I found myself having everything I thought I wanted. To be perfectly clear, I’m not trying to prove anything with the sharing of these images now. It has taken me many years to understand both the power of my voice and my words, but most of all, the image that I project to the world. This outside image is all that people who don’t know me will see, so it is important that it’s preserved a certain way. I keep it hidden and private to protect the power of its core message. In sharing this, I accept that people may never look past the reflection of privilege that looks back at them.
20 years ago, when I was 13, I watched the Blaxploitation film Foxy Brown and immediately Pam Grier became my ultimate heroine. To me, no woman will ever represent female power, strength and sensuality like this icon of feminine black American expression. She simply cannot be matched. Here, I give honor to the true goddess of our age.
But I do hope these pictures prove that I don’t just accept that privilege—I always have and always will use the privilege I carry to create a platform that can communicate the problems that I see around me, even if only silently.
I understand the solution is not up to me, it belongs to a greater force above me; I only contribute what I think and feel in the genuine hopes that it will shift a greater collective conscience.
Above all, I feel that God leads all good decisions in my life. This 2012 project was a summer of solitude, as I was opening my Bible and reading and learning about the Word of God for the first time in my entire life. Although I was a baby in my walk with Christ, this summer was when I really took giant steps in a moment of true understanding of myself and of the world around me.
Many things have changed. One thing that has remained the same, however, is this: so much was out of my control then, and so much remains out of my control now.
What I hope to convey is the fact that everyone can conquer their fears of self-doubt, and consequently get over the crippling feelings of their own insignificance. This is the way you truly find your inner voice to share with the world.
“22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. 25 Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” -Hebrews 10:22-25
We have significant privileges associated with our new life in Christ.
Everyone is a freedom fighter.
We all have power over the narrative of our lives, even when it seems we have zero control. The small, fragmented part that we feel we are becomes the profound piece in the overall big picture. Please don’t downplay your part, as a lack of confidence within corrupts the perfect picture to which you imperfectly belong.
Overall, as an #originalactivist, understand how time stitches all meaning back together; circumstances link the past to the present, which connect you to the unknown and untold future.
Candice Wiggins, 2020
I wrote an original piece that corresponded with the shoot in 2013. The text that was intended to accompany the pictures demonstrates what my thinking was at the time, the direction I was trying to go in my life, and exposes the timelessness of an oppression against which I still feel I am silently fighting.
Four time All-American, WNBA Champion, Edutainer and Coach