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What we allow is what will continue.
It is what has sustained what bell hooks calls the “imperialist white supremacist capitalist patriarchy” for all of time. It is our complicity. It is our obedience. And it is our unwillingness to demand real, transformative change.
Because incrementalism isn’t going to get us free. This moment is calling for more than reform. It’s calling for abolition, a complete deconstruction of the systems that have controlled our bodies for centuries - systems of punishment, systems of education, systems of profit and productivity, systems of sick-care and even systems of wellness. Abolition is an unwavering commitment to harm reduction and a complete reimagining of systems of care that are designed for all people to thrive.
Changing our country is going to make you uncomfortable. But what’s on the other side of this kind of change is worth it. You are worth it. We all are worth it.
Kerri (she/her)
America’s half-assed reopening is a mess [[link removed]] but our outrage should be aimed at the institutions that have failed us, not one another. [clicktotweet] [[link removed]]
Self-reflection is welcome. But until we undo the structures that hold up anti-blackness across the world, injustice will persist. How anti-racism is so much more than “check your privilege [[link removed]]”. [clicktotweet [[link removed]]]
“Recognizing that Black people matter as much as all other Americans is only acknowledging what’s always been true”. [[link removed]] Here’s what’s next. [clicktotweet [[link removed]]]
Indifference is closed eyes, closed mouths, closed hearts. Therefore, love is in need. Five things you can do to center Black freedom [[link removed]] by Erin Trent Johnson. [clicktotweet [[link removed]]]
The NY Times had to sue the CDC for access to the data that proves what we’ve known all along: that “Black and Latino people have been disproportionately affected by the coronavirus [[link removed]].” [clicktotweet] [[link removed]]
The Breathe Act [[link removed]] is modern day civil rights bill that would radically transform the nation's criminal justice system through such changes as eliminating agencies like the Drug Enforcement Administration and the use of surveillance technology. Here’s how you can support:
LEARN: Read a summary of the bill. [[link removed]]
SIGN ON: Sign on in solidarity [[link removed]] and spread the word.
STRIKE: A national coalition of unions and social justice organizations will stage a mass ‘ [[link removed]]Strike [[link removed]] for Black Lives’ [[link removed]]to highlight racism on July 20.
I’m making another round through Radical Dharma, Talking Race, Love and Liberation. And this time, I’ve been particularly struck by the intimacy of our struggle. Because while we are being impacted by state violence in different ways, we are all a part of it. This idea is captured most profoundly in this passage by Rev angel Kyodo williams:
The mandate is to control Black bodies.
The need is to have the constant specter of the other.
When the other exists, it strengthens your need to belong.
Your belonging is necessary for compliance.
Your compliance maintains the system.
You are policed, too.
You are policed by your need for belonging.
Your need for belonging requires control of the other.
…or at least the illusion of it.
You are policed through the control of my body.
You are policed, too.
Self-care isn’t just bubble baths and yoga. It’s resistance and non compliance. It’s overthrowing the systems that are designed to define, restrict, and police who you are. The question is: how will you get free? How will we all get free?
(art by @femalecollective)
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