“How do I stay active with activism?”
An amazing question. I hear so many additional questions when I read this one! Here are a few:
How are we supposed to fight back when we’re so damn tired?
How do we stay consistent in showing up when so many systems are crushing us?
How do we create conditions where there is no genocide? Where everyone has access to incredible health care? Housing? Food?
To me, the answer at the center of all of these questions is building relationships; and creating shared understanding of what exactly we’re fighting for and how. Education, intimacy, and connection are some of the biggest threats to the US empire. The U.S shows this through their determination to break up education, intimacy and connection via police brutality, voter suppression, endless bureaucracy, and the like.
I’m not talking about people learning and building connections with people who are in our social media echo chamber (though I’m down for this too!). I’m talking about doing these things with people in our neighborhoods.
I’ve noticed a lot of queer friendship circles are incredibly isolated with people that look, talk, and act like us. And in so many ways, bless up! We deserve and need that kind of comoradary and representation. On the other hand, it makes us incredibly sensitive to building friendships with people who don’t look, talk, and act like us. There’s a lot of anger and protection there. Rightfully so. The world is brutal to folks who are attuned to the travesties we witness and experience and speak up about it.
Andddd, we can cut people out, even in our community, too soon, too often (I am certainly guilty of this). When we’re constantly seeking out people who are like us, it makes it hard to build together and create a shared understanding of what we’re fighting for and how. I also think it isolates us from building comoradary with people we need to organize with if the US empire is ever going to tumble.
We need more people, new people to be connected to liberatory educational materials, communication and somatic resources, mutual aid projects, tenant organizing, local farms (including literally gardens in folks’ yards), and police alternatives.
The Black Panther Party (BPP) was able to garner support because of their commitment to knocking doors, canvassing businesses, and rallying folks behind causes that mattered to them, such as childhood hunger. BPP also worked with people who didn’t necessarily agree with their “politics” at first, but did agree with the programs they were providing.
Today, from my perspective, a majority of organizing is done online, through text message, or even through phone calls. I very very rarely, if ever, see folks organizing around in-person canvassing outside of candidate campaigns. I very, very rarely see neighbors gathering to learn or create resources together outside of religious gatherings. Of course, knocking doors isn’t accessible to everyone, and there are so many things that can be done to support the effort of knocking doors and canvassing.
So my questions to us are:
What can we do to replicate and expand these tactics today, as well as make them accessible to others?
How are we going to continue the legacy of groups like the Black Panther Party, while also combatting things like misogyny and government infiltrators that violently disbanded BPP?
First and foremost, I invite us to ground in building relationships that are outside of our comfort zones. To be clear, I don’t want us to build relationships with people who are bent on misunderstanding us. Let’s focus on people who seem open, sweet, and kind, but maybe aren’t the archetype of our friend group. There are so many people like that out there! People who see the injustices and are looking for others who see them too. That’s something to ground in too, that there are people out there who are thirsty for the knowledge and skills that you have.
A primary component of relationship building is curiosity and desire to understand who a person is at their core; beyond surface value cultural differences (race, class, gender, education, politics, etc.). Not to say these cultural differences are to be ignored; certainly not. Cultural differences can and do create power dynamics in our relationships. It’s important they are acknowledged and that there is space for accountability and learning when hurtful things happen. Cultural differences are also a beautiful opportunity to see the world and people in a softer, more expansive way.
And I think all of this impacts our activism as it relates to voting, government, and policy work too. At the end of the day, we need more conversation and cohesive, organized strategy around how we’re gonna take power, land, resources that were stolen by the state, large corporations and the military. A cohesive strategy that is replicable and adjustable based on community needs.
It’s well known amongst folks who sense there’s something real messed up about how the world currently functions: that politics are a theater and sport aimed to capture our attention, stir up emotions, and garner support. Despite the illusion that there are sides, recently, I’m feeling like it goes much deeper than that. Like, the whole system is actually working together to make sure that we don’t talk to each other. Because if we actually talk to each other and look beyond the surface level of what politicians and mainstream news are saying and we are repeating, it would expose that we actually do have the power to fight back.
So, yeah, all that to say. We need to get on the same page!
Like, for real how do we create a people’s movement? How can we learn from Palestinian resistance and other global resistance movements? How do we connect these struggles for people and get more people to a general understanding of what we’re fighting for and how?
At the end of the day, right now, we don’t have the numbers. But, hey, the Uncommitted Movement got 10% of the vote in the 2024 primaries: a tangible and hopeful number of just how many people out there are looking for something different. We need to bring more people into the fold, give them hope that it doesn’t have to be this way. And that’s gonna happen through relationships. Talking. Moving through conflict with the intention to come back to each other.
We can find little ways to build relationships and engage with people in your neighborhood using our passions, skills and interests. Some questions I invite you to consider and talk about with your friends:
What do you like to talk about or do when it comes to activism?
What kind of activism have you been interested in but haven’t taken that first step yet?
What skills do you have that would be fun to share?
What skills do you see your neighbors have that you’d like to know more about?
Use these things to motivate you and make it more pleasurable, even if it feels hard. And it might feel hard! If you’re depressed, or have severe social anxiety, I understand. I manage both and have a lot of people in my life who do as well. Whatever you can do, just one small thing every day, or every other day, or even starting with once a week or once a month. Online, or in-person. Any commitment we can make to ourselves to keep going is good, even if it changes tomorrow.
Some ideas for activist-centered relationship building might look like:
Sending a text to someone you’ve been wanting to hang out with to bake a batch of cookies for neighbors.
Take an extra moment when you’re ordering coffee or paying for something at a local business and ask the stuff that’s impacting them.
Share zines and other resources with your neighbors and ask if they want to read them together.
Find a local pen pal exchange that facilitates connecting folks in prison with penpals like Black and Pink.
Invite your neighbors over for a bbq, outdoor movie night,or to an event you’re already hosting/going to!!
Some things to practice:
Feeling uncomfortable when you are challenged to look at or hear something in a way that you don’t agree with.
Setting a boundary numerous times with the intention to continue the relationship even if time/space is needed (NOT talking about assault or physical violence here).
Being curious and affirming people in making connections about the way systems like capitalism, patriarchy, white supremacy, colonization make us unwell.
Patience and trust in what time, space and exposure can create
Over time, space, and practice, I hope you’ll find relationships that offer you skills, tools, and knowledge you didn’t have before. I also hope you’ll find an expanded capacity for discomfort and compassion.
The world needs our wisdom realllll badly right now. It needs our patience, love and kindness. It also needs us to not tolerate BS and to let folks know when they're out of line. It's okay to do that and it's okay for both people to build capacity to be able to say, “that's not cool”, be able to hear “that's not cool”, AND really integrate the lessons from that. The world needs us to be brave in those things. It needs us to find the courage to stay grounded in our vision and dreams for the future.
Lastly, I write all this because I’m learning to do it too, not because it’s something I feel is completely embodied at the moment, or because I think I have all the answers.
Lots of love to you, friend. Thank you for your question hope you find a place for your activism that feels nourishing.