I currently live in Southern California where we are navigating simultaneous crises at once - extreme heat, severe water drought, periodic blackouts, deep wealth inequality, and a housing crisis just to name a few. It’s a strange dystopia felt in radically different ways by different groups based on your location (social and regional). Those situated in poor neighborhoods are more likely to be unhoused and unemployed, overexposed to extreme heat and climate impact, lack access to clean water, more exposure to police brutality and a lower life expectancy rate. To add insult to injury, these are not new issues, but stem from a legacy of inequality that the late and great Barbara Ehrenreich dedicated her life to writing about and organizing around. A preeminent author, known for her chronicle and commitment to the American working poor, died last week at 81. Her legacy includes essential reads such as Witches, Midwives and Nurses, Nickel & Dimed, Bright-Sided and Natural Causes, Ehrenreich challenged conventional thinking and raged against the machine. She left us with a legacy of critical thinking, a practice of always asking hard questions and a commitment to never settling for injustice. As she once said of the self care community “Get it together!”. I think we’d be wise to take her advice. Kerri (she/her) Art by @miabirdsong
The water crisis in Jackson, MI, Baltimore, MD and other Black communities reveals racial cost of legacy infrastructure disproportionately affecting poor, Black communities and their access to food, water, wealth and healthcare services. Over 180,000 people are now indefinitely out of clean water and have been advised not to drink, shower or cook with what’s currently flowing out of their taps. Here are some ways to show up from our friends at Anti-Racism Daily. DONATE MONEY DONATE WATER
Art by @isaac_murdoch1 Last week’s CTZN Summit was epic. Led by some of our favorite disruptors and movement leaders, we came together to ask hard questions and build the courage and capacity needed to meet this moment and shape the next. Here are some of our favorite reflection questions from this weekend’s Practicing Change, Shaping Futures summit:
Big gratitude to our amazing summit faculty who led the way with grace and courage. Please continue to follow them and their work: Dr Jasmine Syedullah, Dr Sará King, Nicole Cardoza, Kennae Miller, Rae Leiner, Frank Escamilla, Kerri Kelly. If you missed it, no worries. We will be doing a community replay on Patreon in the coming weeks. You can sign up here. Another world is possible. Art by @chaninicholas CTZNWELL is community powered and crowd-sourced. That’s how we keep it real. Please consider joining us on Patreon for as little as $2/month so that we can keep doing the work of creating content that matters for CTZNs who care. |