Wednesday Morning Protests

Or “the work of dreaming new worlds into being.”
(Kelly Hayes in Let This Radicalize You)

I won’t lie: I always feel outdone by those out there marching or organizing mutual aid campaigns. To me, those are the people who know how to show up and get things done. But, I recenter myself by remembering how huge the battle for liberation is, and that it’s fought on many fronts.  It’s easy for someone with imposter syndrome to think my work isn’t (good) enough, but I have to remember that we all have different gifts and talents, and using those for the common good does helpchange the world. Worldbuilding needs plumbers and planners. Most often, I use my keyboard and credit card and push myself to show up in more ways. Liberation is as personal as it is communal.

All of the above serve as methods of protest, and so does reading. I write, and I read!

 It’s becoming increasingly subversive to read ideas that help us as individuals find and commit to a path to liberation. Small presses like Haymarket Books, the New Press, AK Press, Shout Mountain Press, and the Third World Press specialize in publishing books that address injustice, oppression, and inequality. Books of fiction and nonfiction by larger publishers can also inform and motivate our active participation in events around us. Stories inspire us to imagine a world.

Even if we are among those who move to the streets, we need to be informed about the causes we support and realize how they align with our beliefs. Protests are happening right now about ICE’s recent actions to raid businesses for undocumented workers. There are layers of injustice here that have spread, including the federal government mobilizing a state’s National Guard. What are the implications of all of this? What sources are providing reliable information?

Books that work to mobilize, that express dissent, lift marginalized voices, and fill the incomplete narrative of history are the ones that are being challenged in schools and public libraries. Banning books is a simplistic way to control the masses by limiting their access to information, erasing stories documenting lived experiences, and allowing a single narrative to remain unchecked. This only serves to create ignorance of facts while diminishing cognitive ability. It disallows the ability to reason, question, compare, or even create.

When someone can no longer think for themself, they become reliant upon whoever is in control, whoever feels free to make decisions. This creates a huge responsibility for those in control if they have any empathy for those they oppress. If the endgame is to accumulate resources, would human life matter? Would low income, BIPOC, queer, or disabled lives matter?

We have to keep reading the stuff they tell us not to read, the censored and challenged books. We have to share them widely and continue to talk about them. Conversations about books on banned lists will build community and facilitate empathy. Talking about these stories will also exercise critical information literacy skills as we examine how power is articulated. Whose voices do we hear? Whose is missing? Reading beyond our comfort zone helps redefine our beliefs as we confront new ideas and concepts. The well-read person -whether their format of choice is TikTok [they even tried to ban TikTok!], graphic novels, blogs, audiobooks, or print-based books- knows they don’t have to agree with everything they read. They learn how to examine language and thought patterns. They want sources.

Do you march? Write or call your representatives? Donate? Advocate? Light candles? Engage in conversations with family or friends? Pray? I hope you’re doing something! Even if you’re careful of how much news you ingest, I hope you’re aware enough to look for ways to support those who are confronting ICE, speaking out for Palestine, working to provide security for Trans youth, and providing nutrition, homes, or healthcare for those in need. I hope you’re finding ways to stay informed. Communal care is self-care. Here are a few sources I can recommend for right now.

YA

Freedom!: The Story of the Black Panther Party by Jetta Grace Martin, Joshua Bloom, and Waldo E. Martin, Jr.
“It’s the story of the women and the men of the Party. Their supporters and allies. The community survival programs and the Ten-Point Programs. It’s about Black revolution, Black radicalism, about Black people in America. It’s about loyalty, community, and sacrifice. It’s about what it takes to be free.” (from the book’s introduction)

What an informative, mobilizing story. Our young people cannot get enough history. I think we forget how incredibly young the Panther leaders were!

A Most Perilous World: The True Story of the Young Abolitionists and Their Crusade Against Slaveryby Kristina R. Gaddy.
“The shadows that William Lloyd Garrison, Frederick Douglass, Miller McKim, and Harriet and Margaretta Forten cast were long, their expectations of the next generation great. Could George, Lewis, Charlotte, and Lucy really step out from those shadows and meet their parents’ expectations? Could they do that while being their own people? And by the way, did they even always agree with the older generation? Was that generation actually radical enough when it came to something as important as liberty and justice for all? I learned George, Lewis, Charlotte, and Lucy couldn’t just do what their parents did. They had to try to become their own version of young abolitionists.” (from the book’s introduction)

I think it really helps young people to see the history of young people doing such important work and to know that it wasn’t always the adults. Gaddy’s work engages readers. While directly informing them about history, she indirectly teaches them how to examine source material.

Tiktok: Sofia Ongele @sewpheeyuh
“Sofia Ongele (21) is a developer, student, innovator, and activist. At only 17, she created an award-winning app ReDawn, dedicated to supporting survivors of sexual violence. Today, Sofia is the Digital Strategist at Gen-Z for Change, where she engineers tools to streamline digital civic engagement. On TikTok, Sofia shares her digital creations, personal experiences, and sociopolitical perspectives with her nearly 300K followers.” (source)

Do not assume young people don’t know! Listen to how she discusses what’s happening in LA right now.

@sewpheeyuh

shout it from the rooftops ‼️ #fyp #tiktokpartner #la #losangeles

♬ original sound – sofiaongele on ig

Adult

Book: Original Sin by Eve Ewing
“”Race is socially constructed.” This is a phrase we hear a lot. It means that what we call “race” is a think humans build collectively. But who or what did the constructing? How did it happen? And, given that we might naturally expect a structure that is hundreds of years old to eventually crumble and collapses, who or what is doing the upkeep? In this book, I’m going to try to convince you that one answer lies in a place that shapes many of our earliest and most formative social interactions: the institution of schooling.” (from the book’s introduction)

This is not an easy read! I thought of things I said and did as a teacher and how I was taught to teach, and I really wanted a do-over! I can only do better going forward. The history was painful to read, even for me, but it was intense and necessary information.

Podcast:How to Survive to the End of the World
“Join Autumn Brown and adrienne maree brown, two sisters who share many identities, as writers, activists, facilitators, and inheritors of multiracial diasporic lineages, as well as a particular interest in the question of survival, as we embark on a podcast that delves into the practices we need as a community, to move through endings and to come out whole on the other side, whatever that might be.” (from the podcast’s website)

I find the sisters’ conversations to be fun, accessible, and thought-provoking. They explain concepts that may be new to listeners while providing personal anecdotes and humor. I found the podcast through the segment on allyship, and it’s definitely worth a listen.

I’m reading:

Book:Let This Radicalize You: Organizing and the Revolution of Reciprocal Care by Kelly Hayes and Mariame Kaba
“The book is powered by hope. And it draws that hope not from theoretical aspirations but from existing movements that—in spite of all the scary odds—are winning.” (from the book’s introduction)

I just found this book yesterday, and it seems to be what I need at this moment. While it’s meant to inform those new to activism about the whys and hows of activism, it did that for me, but it’s also given me a deeper appreciation for the ways people work to create a more just world.

Filed under: self care