Here We Are.

I wish I had something profound to tell you today. Something that could erase the sense of dread you feel right now. I wish I had the words that you could carry as a shield around your heart and not feel the daggers of bitterness and disappointment. I wish my sentences were strong enough to carry your frustration. I wish you didn’t have to log off to preserve your mental and emotional health. I wish I could save you from feeling. Except I don’t want to save you from feeling because those feelings make you human, and we are going to need to hold tight to our humanity.

I wish I had something profound to tell you today. Something that could take away the fear. I wish I could tell you that your fear is unfounded or that it’s bigger than what will actually come to pass. I wish I could tell you that your fear is just left over, just your body remembering and not your body preparing. I wish I could give you some language to push the fear away. But I cannot. And I should not, because that fear means that you are awake. You are paying attention.

I wish I had something profound to say today. Something that would eliminate all the ways Kings name is sure to be co-opted today. I wish I could spend the time putting all his quotes in context, or force everyone to read his quotes in context. I wish I could put King himself in context of the Civil Right Movement specifically and the Black liberation movement more broadly. I wish I could make everyone understand the radical nature of Black freedom and stop co-opting past and present. I wish I could make them stop using King’s quotes, and our terminology and turning it all upside down and inside out all to keep calling black folks n-.

I wish I had something profound to say to you today. Something that would assure you that everything is going to be okay. Something about checks and balances. Something about a so called great nation. Something about democracy. I wish I could tell you that it’s not a big deal and that we’ll all make it through. But I can’t. Because a lot of people’s lives are going to be profoundly impacted. Maybe yours. I don’t know what the next four year will bring but it is a fact that not every single person alive right now will be in four years. But even if I could give you some false positivity, it would be wrong of me. Because that is what makes our work so urgent. Lives are at stake.

But not only lives. We will be in danger of losing epic love stories if we don’t keep fighting for LGBTQ rights. Revolutionary books and movies and music that could move the world will be at stake, if we don’t protect Black children. Families and shared meals and shared laughter and shared accomplishments will be at stake if we don’t protect immigrants. The flourishing of women and the ways they pour into people and places of worship and neighborhoods and community centers will be at risk if we ignore healthcare rights. We will miss out on profound inventions and new medicines and leaps in art and the deepening of our connections to nature and to one another if we pretend none of this is happening. We must face it in order to protect one another.

I do not expect you to feel positive. Or to feel hopeful. I do not expect you to enjoy your day today or to sleep well tonight. I do not expect you to offer flimsy assurances that all will be well or to paper over your feelings with religiosity. In fact, if I have any hope, it is that you will look this thing, this season square in the eye and say “I see you.”

I see who you are trying to attack.

I see who you are trying to scapegoat.

I see who you are trying to dehumanize.

I see you.

I need you to feel all that you feel, and decide that we aren’t going anywhere. We are still going to call out injustice. We are still going to keep learning. We are still going to push for the causes we believe in. We are still going to participate in mutual aid. We are still going to advocate for the disenfranchised. We are still going to write, still going to speak, still going to create art, still going to vote, still going to participate in mass actions, still going to show up. We are still going to speak truth to power.

because that work… the work of hope as a duty… is ever more important when we feel like acquiescing. They are going to try to steal a lot over the next four years. Don’t let them steal the work that you’ve already begun and that must be continued- especially now- for the folks you love… for yourself… for your own dignity.

There is much to mourn. But I hope we will not be mourning the loss of you as a comrade over the next four years.

Do what you need to do today. I certainly won’t be watching the inauguration. But I will be paying attention- the true force behind “stay woke”.

Yall. It’s time to stay woke, no matter what dream they try to sell today and every day after.

Austin

this is probably filled with typos. I’m sure you’ll honor my humanity by ignoring them

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in case you missed it, I am moving this newsletter away from substack soon. Don’t worry, I plan to set up shop somewhere else so that we can stay connected for what’s to come. More details on the way, but my sincerest hope is that you’ll hardly notice the smooth transition and we won’t miss a beat.