On a current Monday in August, Kevito Clark hosted a video convention name to debate the subsequent installment of a sport evening he runs on the LINE LA, a resort in Koreatown. However over the course of the hour-long assembly, he by no means stated a phrase.
As a substitute Clark, who has a shaved head and a full beard with a contact of grey in it, used different communication instruments. When the resort’s model supervisor expressed hesitation round passing out rubber bracelets, he nodded. When a collaborator talked about the title of a tentative performer, he used Google Meet’s settings to ship coronary heart and thumbs up emojis. In between these interactions, he typed his ideas — “Branded cups are cute,” “Any final questions?” — into the chat. Not as soon as did he make his voice heard.
It was an uncommon approach to run a gathering, however Clark’s collaborators have grown accustomed to it. As he reminded the group earlier than the decision started, he’s at the moment dwelling out a 3 month vow of silence.
Throughout religions, vows of silence are used to quiet the thoughts, develop self-knowledge and join extra deeply with the divine. They have an inclination to conjure pictures of monks meditating within the mountains or ascetics dwelling in desert caves. Clark, who’s 41 and lives in Leimert Park, has added a modern-day twist to the apply. All through the length of his vow, which started on June 1, he has continued to reside his on a regular basis life, throwing events, volunteering, attending live shows and even happening the occasional date.
His is a vow of silence that applies solely to talking, which suggests he’s nonetheless texting, emailing and typing into the chat on video calls. In individual, he communicates by typing messages into the iMessage app on his cellphone or writing in one of many pocket-sized notebooks he takes with him all over the place.
“Because the saying goes, ‘What you don’t change, you select.’ This vow was for me to develop, not for views or likes.”
— Leimert Park resident and entrepreneur Kevito Clark on his three-month vow of silence
When he’s out in public he wears a purple and blue button that reads: “Silent By Selection. Thanks to your understanding. I can discuss through Textual content notes.” The same message is written in marker on the entrance web page of every of his notepads:
“Buenos Dias! Hello! Hiya! My title is Kevito! Good to fulfill you. I’m at the moment on a vow of silence. I can discuss through textual content chat and this notepad. (Thanks to your understanding!)
Clark wears a pin that states “silent by selection,” whereas training his vow of silence. (Carlin Stiehl / For the Instances)
Kevito Clark holds a notepad he makes use of to speak with those who has pre-written pages explaining why he’s chosen to not communicate for 3 months.
On the next pages he retains pre-written solutions to 4 questions he’s most steadily requested:
- You possibly can discuss!
- This was taken to handle unchecked grief, redirect power and heart on my goal and private/skilled targets.
- The vow ends Sept. 1, 2024.
- Environmentalist John Francis impressed this vow.
Clark, who arrived in L.A. in 2022 by means of New York and Ohio, has constructed his life on the facility of intention. His choice to go quiet in an period the place so many individuals spend their free time talking to front-facing cellphone cameras, and in a metropolis the place the squeakiest wheels get the grease, is in service of his broader ambitions. Earlier than his vow began, he was dwelling out what he calls “444,” which is shorthand for his goal to constantly interact with “4 acts of volunteering, 4 acts of self-care and 4 methods to point out up and present out for others.” His current vow has allowed him to commit extra firmly to this purpose.
“Because the saying goes, ‘What you don’t change, you select,’ ” he wrote. “This vow was for me to develop, not for views or likes.”
Nonetheless, it hasn’t at all times been straightforward to combine silence into his day-to-day schedule. Clark usually works in positions the place the phrase “communication” is in his job title. He’s the founder and chief inventive officer of Love, Peace & Spades which has a month-to-month residency on the LINE LA, and he at the moment does occasion companies for a safety firm and serves as a group liaison for the non-profit Black Males Hike, all whereas refraining from speech.
There have been enterprise homeowners and collaborators who stated they wouldn’t work with him till his vow is completed. And whereas he had enjoyable taking a date on a choose-your-own journey expertise by means of Mickalene Thomas’ All About Love exhibit on the Broad, she stated she would solely see him once more when she might hear his voice.
Kevito Clark makes use of a notepad to speak with Kimoni Oliver, a barista at ORA.
Kevito Clark walks by means of the streets of Leimert Park.
“I skilled how folks will come to their conclusions, make assumptions (e.g., imagine I’ve a incapacity),” he wrote in an e-mail. “It takes a whole lot of work, persistence, understanding and settlement by all events for it to occur.”
There isn’t any single purpose that Clark took his three-month vow of silence, as a substitute, he says a sequence of occasions catalyzed the choice. His kidneys failed in 2012 and he waited six years for a brand new one earlier than a good friend stepped up with a donation in 2018. Earlier this 12 months, he mourned the back-to-back losses of two longtime associates and mentors who have been like second dad and mom to him. Within the wake of their passings and the following anniversaries of the deaths of different folks he liked, he realized that he hadn’t made time to honor life’s transitions.
He began to ask himself, “Who’re you when nobody is wanting?” He puzzled if taking a vow of silence may present a solution.
“It appeared like a whisper,” he wrote. “And the whisper grew right into a voice.”
On-line analysis led him to the story of John Francis, a Black environmentalist who stopped speaking and using in motorized autos for 17 years after witnessing two oil tankers collide and dump half 1,000,000 gallons of oil into the San Francisco Bay in 1971. In a well-liked Ted Discuss, Francis stated when he determined to cease speaking he discovered he was higher capable of hear others — moderately than formulating a response whereas they have been speaking.
“It was a really shifting expertise,” Francis says within the discuss. “For the primary time in a very long time, I started listening.”
Clark was impressed by his story. “In him I noticed somebody who was not solely interested in himself however about how you can implement optimistic change by means of self-discipline and going through adversity,” Clark wrote.
On the finish of April, Clark started to formulate a plan to take his personal, a lot shorter vow of silence.
He selected the time interval of June 1 to Sept. 1 for his vow after studying that it takes 21 days to interrupt habits and 30 days to start new habits. He crafted an e-mail explaining his choice and despatched it to associates, household and collaborators describing what he was about to embark on. He might nonetheless talk, he wrote, however solely by means of non-speaking platforms like Google Meet, cell textual content and handwritten notes.
Pals and collaborators have been principally supportive and intrigued.
“He’s a laid again, calm, cool collected dude,” stated Courtney La Prince, a digital designer who met Clark whereas volunteering at Love, Peace & Spades. “He’s actually cautious together with his phrases, so when he stated he was going to take a vow of silence it wasn’t laborious for me to think about.”
It has additionally been an adjustment for these he commonly interacts with. Conversations transfer at a special tempo when one individual is typing out their responses.
“I’ve discovered I must be stationary after I discuss to him,” stated Kelli Boyt, who additionally goes by DJ Kaaos Jones. “I do a whole lot of my calls from the automobile, however I must be in tune with no matter dialog we’re having on textual content messages, so I nearly should plan it out. So I’ll be within the workplace or sitting nonetheless in my automobile within the car parking zone.”
Kevito Clark at ORA in Leimert Park.
Jennie Wright, regional model supervisor on the LINE LA the place Clark hosts Love, Peace & Spades was initially fearful concerning the logistical implications of his vow. She and Clark grew the occasion collectively and he or she didn’t understand how he would run it if he couldn’t discuss. On the similar time, she wished to respect his choice to give attention to himself.
“He took this vow of silence to heart himself and discover some peace inside himself, so I used to be like, ‘Let me take my selfishness again,’ ” she stated.
Over the previous three months she found that throwing occasions with a silent associate isn’t as troublesome as she thought.
“We’ve continued to have Love, Peace & Spades from June and so they have all run efficiently,” she stated. “And it pushed me to step and develop into extra of a pacesetter.”
As Clark approaches the tip of the vow on Sept. 1, he mirrored on its influence in a written interview.
“I discovered to mood my ideas, embrace gratefulness, give myself grace, pour into myself to be out there for others and magnetize the optimistic into manifested outcomes,” he wrote.
Nonetheless, he’s wanting ahead to it ending. Love, Peace & Spades is internet hosting its first tradition and video games fest on Sept. 21. He can’t wait to speak on the occasion. However wanting again on the previous three months, he stated his silent vow felt extra liberating than restrictive.
“I hugged deeply. I laughed heartily,” he wrote in a Zoom chat. “These are honest methods to speak whether or not you’re talking or not.”
