In the wake of the 2024 elections, the work of dismantling inequality and pushing back against White supremacy continues. Today, we must acknowledge the context that enabled the election’s outcome and refocus on the necessity of healing for impact. By caring for ourselves and our communities, we amplify our capacity to drive meaningful change. In today’s Race + Power newsletter, we acknowledge the past and present to forge a future where justice and healing are intertwined.

We begin with an interview by NPQ’s Rebekah Barber with Leslie Grant-Spann, senior director of Facing Race, the largest multiracial and intergenerational racial justice conference in the country happening this week. At the conference, organizers and attendees plan to strategize solutions and build power. Next, people talk about the importance of love in our social justice and movement building work, but very few define and operationalize it. A new three-part series explores what it would look like to be guided by a Critical Theory of Love. Then, while multiracial coalitions are essential in social justice movements, there are tensions around the role of White people in spaces of collective healing for Black, Brown, and Indigenous people. How do we move beyond this impasse and develop more robust, intimate relationships with White allies while ensuring the safety of others? Finally, healing and joy can become acts of resistance—by prioritizing self-care and moments of happiness, activists challenge oppressive systems that feed on despair.