Two San Luis Obispo men are spreading the message “love wins” in a unique way. KSBY’s Neil Hebert explains.
Dave Bartholomew and Dwayne Newman set up a sign in Bartholomew’s yard that reads “Black or white or green, relax and have a beer or soda on us.” The two invited people walking and driving by to stop and open dialogue about equality.
Bartholomew and Newman met while Newman was incarcerated at California Men’s Colony and the two were facilitating rehabilitation groups. Newman was paroled nearly two years ago, and their friendship has blossomed ever since.
“What was so amazing to me is, coming from my background, being an ex-con, he invited me into his home,” said Newman. “We’re brothers.”
Their message Friday afternoon was for people to start talking about solutions more, instead of the problems.
“We can come together, and we can dialogue. We can show people that there doesn’t have to be othering and that we can love one another regardless of our color, regardless of our religion, regardless of whatever,” said Bartholomew.
“When you get to know someone and spend time with one another, you strip away all the stereotypes and the biases,” said Newman. “We are speaking about the diversities right now in life, black and white issues, equality, and so forth.”
Newman says he chooses positivity instead of negativity to talk about equality.
“We’ve hurt each other for a long time. We have a lot of things in our lives that we can talk about that that can hold us down, but there are so many things in life that can build us up,” said Newman.
Their sign that reads “love wins” encompasses the message they’re trying to portray.
“We have enough hate. What rules over everything is love,” said Newman.
The two want to remind everyone that kindness matters, and when we come together and start that dialogue, real change can happen.
The two plan to be doing the same thing at the corner of Palm and Johnson Saturday afternoon.
