The question I get asked most frequently is “How do I organize?”. Here’s what I wrote about the practice of organizing in American Detox:

Organizing is how we take care of each other. And it starts where we are. What begins at the local level expands so that our efforts and resources aggregate for love and justice. We move on behalf of the whole (not the few) in collective action with social and political movements that advance our values and democratize wellbeing for all. This requires both organizing depth (in how we build trust/relationships and create culture) and scale (in how we engage the disengaged and bridge across movements). It is a holistic approach to organizing through personal practice, community building, and collective action as we transform ourselves and restructure our world to support the conditions of wellbeing for all.

We the people are the heart of this ecology and what we believe about ourselves and one another matters. Which brings me to the following inquiry.

• What do we find personally irresistible about the movement and the work of solidarity? What called us to this work?

• What is our collective worldview? How do we make it irresistible?

• How do we meet people where they are and accompany them along the way?

• How do we build the depth of relationship that can root and anchor the scale that we need?

• How do we make joy amidst the sorrow?

• What do we believe we area capable of? What do we believe is possible?

Let’s make our commitment to one another irresistible y’all.

Kerri (she/her)

Art by @kellymalka

NTK (need to know)

• “At the Supreme Court this week I am arguing for my life”. Chase Strangio, the first openly transgender lawyer to argue before the Supreme Court, on what’s at stake.

• In this episode of Movement Memos, Shah and host Kelly Hayes discuss the threats posed by the incoming Trump administration, how organizers are preparing to defend immigrant communities, and what actions we can take to prepare and respond.

• Let them eat deductibles. As UnitedHealthcare faces scrutiny over AI-driven claim denials and vulturous executive compensation, a dark spotlight illuminates American healthcare's deepening crisis.

• Democrats Will Keep Losing Until They Cut Ties With Billionaires and Corporations. Progressive movement leader Alexandra Rojas writes for Zeteo that those in charge of the Democrats’ 2024 campaign should have been fired a long time ago.

• Far from the white-picket-fence propaganda of earlier eras, we must reimagine how we live and whom we live among, embracing the wisdom of limitations and sustainability, interdependence and multigenerational thriving, proximity and tenderness. We Can Solve Our Care and Housing Crises, Together.

PRACTICING SOLIDARITY

On December 4th, Chase Strangio, civil rights lawyer and co-director of ACLU’S LGBT & HIV Project went before SCOTUS to “argue for his life” in US v Skrmetti, a landmark case challenging Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for transgender youth. Here are some highlights from the courtroom. People are gearing up for a culture of care and protection that centers trans rights. Here’s what you need to know:

• United States vs Skrmetti Explained: Everything you need to know about what’s at stake in this Supreme Court Case.

• Map: Attacks on Gender Affirming Care by State: As of August 2024, 39.4% or 118,300 trans youth aged 13-17 are living in the 26 states that have passed bans on gender-affirming care. This includes 2,300 youth living in the two states–Arkansas and Montana–where bans are currently on hold or blocked from enforcement through court orders. Check out what’s happening in your state.

• Get the facts: The truth about gender affirming care. Check out this podcast that addresses what’s at stake and what practical next steps we can take to help protect transgender rights from an avalanche of legal and legislative battles.

• Action for TRANSformation fund: Transgender Law Center and Emergent Fund announce $1 million in rapid response dollars for trans-led organizing through the Action for Transformation Fund. Learn more (apply) here.

• Guide to being an “ally” to transgender and non-binary young people. Here’s a helpful support guide from The Trevor Project on how to get started.

Art by @Feminist

DIGGING DEEPER

In the midst of so much disfunction and destabilization, it feels like systems of power are doubling down. So how do we show up in the face of this onslaught given everything that is at stake in our communities?

I've been playing with this term "mutualing" to represent the practice of actively engaging in relationships and culture of mutuality. Mutuality understands that we interdependent with all of life, that our liberation and wellbeing are bound. Dr King famously said:

“All life is interrelated” and that all of humanity is “caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be, and you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be...This is the inter-related structure of reality.”

Of course, mutual aid and collective care is not new and has a long history in Black liberation movement, disability justice, survivor communities and more. (Here's a great explainer by Dean Spade).

How we meet this moment in order to protect each other and build collective power is rooted in mutuality and collective care. And it is the very medicine we need to push back on systems of consumption and build circles of care. Here are some amazing resources to get you started:

• Mutual Aid by Dean Spade

• Building Power Through Mutual Aid: Lessons From the Field

• Pods: The Building Blocks of

  Transformative Justice & Collective Care, Mia Mingus

• Mutual Aid US Hub

• Healing Justice Lineages by Cara Page and Erika Woodland

• The Care Manifesto

WE-NESS

Become a safer place.

Art by @tiffanygilgore

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