Messaging Roundup: Making space for our activism grief
amidst an increasingly rigged system, why our grief is sacred
Image Credit: @winsorkincade
Good morning, Resisters.
The decimation of southern Black voting power over the past week has been devastating. It’s tempting to throw up one’s hands in the wake of the Virginia Supreme Court ruling and other gerrymandering moves throughout the country. The system, we can see, is ever more heavily rigged in the dying GOP’s favor.
This rigged system is of a piece with the vast array of corruption we’re seeing from this administration. It includes the billionaires and family members flying with Trump to China, presumably to gain some sort of deal for themselves. It also includes Donald Trump exploiting his position to build his extravagant ballroom and bunker, a project which is growing increasingly more unpopular by the day.
Of course the system is rigged. It has been for some time. But it is essential that we remember that we have something powerful on our side: people power. As Jess Craven points out, the net gain of all this gerrymandering is around 11 seats, and Democrats won the midterms in 2018 by over 40. Trump’s polling numbers are at record-breaking lows. If we can get all those angry and dissatisfied voters to the polls, we will win.
Image Credit: @fabfeministart
And we’re seeing civic wins throughout the country even now. Take data centers for example. Ordinary citizens have successfully blocked massive developments, despite tech billionaires doing everything they can to bypass public input.
And then there’s the pending closure of Alligator Alcatraz, the inhumane and ill-conceived detention center in the Everglades, after months of pressure by immigrant rights and environmental activists.
We’re also seeing Black leaders in the South showing us how to fight the good fight. This Saturday, there are plans for a massive Emergency Day of Action in Selma and Montgomery, to honor the legacy of civil rights leaders for their transformative work and to kick off a summer of voter advocacy.
So let’s not despair. Or, as Kate writes below, go ahead and despair. But then, let’s get back to the work.
Image Credit: @chiara.acu
Our grief is sacred
By Kate Dalton
Over the past several weeks, as we have faced a slew of devastating setbacks, we seemed to hear from one Resister after another about their horror at what has been happening, along with a sense of hopelessness and futility. Most recently, it was one of our most dedicated and badass members, Mandy. Mandy is the type of person who pulls solo ICE patrol shifts, stocks a food pantry, organizes a Visibility Brigade weekly over the BQE with Lisa, calls electeds, raises her three awesome kids, and empowers mostly first generation college students through the classes she teaches. And just this past week, I learned that Mandy hails from a line of badass activists–her mother marched on Selma. It was one of the reasons she was so upset by the Jim Crow reinforcing decisions of late.
Mandy is also incredibly thoughtful and insightful about all things justice, so when she talks, I listen. And so do a lot of our group members. When she shared on Signal the other day that she was feeling particularly low, response after response came with a mix of care, advice, and commiseration. We all want to help each other not give up, to follow the credo we mentioned last week of action being the antidote to despair, and it was heartening to see the community rally behind one of our most committed members.
While I certainly don’t want to lose Mandy or anybody else in this fight, I don’t want to paper over feelings of hopelessness either. Those feelings are a reflection of our grief, and I believe that grief is sacred. It comes from an engagement with the world as is, and attempts to honestly reckon with the overwhelming forces we face. We grieve because we see the injustices, the real human cost of fascists and fascist enablers. We mourn what we’ve lost and what feels like we’re continuing to lose.
Image Credit: @revloveproject
We certainly don’t have to live in our grief forever, but we can make a little more space for it. We can recognize its connection to our humanity. Even when grief comes in the form of wanting to give up, we can see that it’s a reflection of how much we really do care. And we can express it and not be silent about it. We can look to leaders like Justin Pearson and Justin Jones in Tennessee sharing their grief, rage, and determination for all to see.
And we may need to take a beat to tend to our feelings of hopelessness. This is indeed a long fight we’re in. But we’re much better prepared to engage in it when we’re in touch with our humanity, including our ability to feel loss so deeply that it seems like we can’t continue in this struggle. So often that is the well from which our strongest fight springs.
Amplify this
A pep talk on VA from Jess Craven
And here’s another, from Robert Hubbell
Ms. Rachel on the ongoing genocide in Gaza
Forget Broad City–it’s Brad City: Brad Lander talks to Ilana Glazer
A little comic relief—because lord knows we need it: “Say Something Normal” - a game show.
And this—Operation Epic Furious, the video game! (from the Secret Handshake group) (h/t Mandy)
Visit the Donald J Trump and Jeffrey Epstein Memorial Reading Room. Book your reservation here.
Celebrate Brooklyn schedule is out, and it’s got Sleater Kinney and Liz Phair, a generational sweet spot for these two feminists.
And as always,
‘Til Next Time,
Kate, Julie, & the Messaging Team
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