Creating Realities

Hi Friends,

I sometimes find myself reminding my children that almost everything we see around us and interact with - our houses, our roads, our government, our laws, our language, our culture - was made up by people and that it can be changed.

This sometimes feels like an audacious thing to say, like giving humans some kind of divine power that we don't have. And there are so many things we assume are unchangeable, saying "That's just the way things are," that we forget that we do have power over how things are. Everything humans have created existed only in our imaginations at first.

Our current government and the people who support it have been trying to create a reality that serves them and controls the rest of us, one full of fear and danger, "strong" and "smart" people, who would rather pillage our tax contributions and our national reputation for their own gain, trying to convince us that our neighbors down the street are the enemy and not them and their short-sighted extraction ventures. More and more people are rejecting these attempts.

I have written before about all of the amazing ways people are responding with their own versions of reality, those in which people care for each other, stand up to threats and violence, and say no to the narrative our government has tried to implement. We continue to do this work of building the world we want to live in as we are dismantling and resisting the realities others want us to inhabit.

And, as individual actors, we are often faced with the truth that on our own, our power to enact change and build new worlds is limited. Nikole Hannah Jones wrote recently about her own personal journey with her daughter's education and the choices they made, wanting to change the system by making more informed and thoughtful choices about where she went to school. Her article highlights the limits of individual choice in having an impact on generational, pervasive racist and oppressive systems AND emphasizes that our collective work in addressing these challenges in systematic and holistic ways is all the more essential:

"As long as we continue to rescue our own children from the failing schools where we allow other people’s children to languish simply because those children have been born Black and poor in a nation of racism and riches, there is no absolution here. Not for me. Not for you. Not for any of us."

While hyper-individualism in our society divides us from each other, isolates us in our homes, our relationships, our neighborhoods, our individual acts matter, even if only to till the soil in preparation for seeds of change. The conversation we have with a friend matters. The donation to an organization making change matters. The way we treat other people matters. The petition we sign matters. The ways we advocate and ask questions matter.

The votes we cast matter.

I have been reading How to Be a Dissident by Gal Beckerman, published earlier this year, and I have been struck by how impactful individual acts can be in resisting the reality that oppressors are trying to create. This is not to say that one person can stop all bad things from happening. But acts of resistance, acts of dissidence, the act of saying no, have a cumulative effect. They set an example for others. They poke holes in the fragile fabric of lies and illusion. They model for others another way of being. They open the door to breaking social rules that prevent us from helping each other. They move us from the individual mindset to a collective, community mindset, allowing us to feel like we are part of something bigger and stronger and more impactful, fueling the power to grow and confront even the daunting, systemic challenges that we face.

This fall, I participated in a postcard writing effort to encourage people to vote in November. I was able to reach out to voters in North Carolina, Alabama, and Georgia. A little voice in my head kept saying "What is one little postcard going to do? Is this even going to help?" And then I remembered that in the last 8 years of elections in the United States, 660 elections were decided by 10 or fewer votes. And I decided that if, out of the 60 postcards I wrote and sent, only one person voted when they might not have otherwise, that was well worth my effort.

This coming weekend is the next No Kings event, focused on encouraging everyone to vote, early if they are able. "It's a day of nonpartisan voter participation, being in community with each other, and making sure every eligible voter has a plan, knows their options, and is ready to make their voice count." Power to the people, let's get out there and take it!

Momentum is building for a significant period of accountability. The number of people saying no keeps going up, and people want those in power who have been making such a mess of things to stop and to be held responsible. Massive amounts of money are being spent on the upcoming election, and if the primaries are any indication, that money will be wasted because the American people can see through the lies and deceit and are not buying it. We are tired of people thinking that they can buy our power away from us. We are tired of people thinking that they are not accountable to us.

The recent Door Dash settlement for wage theft is one example. The backlash to data centers and ICE concentration camps is another. The cancellation of Flock contracts in communities across the country, exposés of war profiteers on Pentagon contracts, efforts for decarceration, approval of socialism is growing, continued backlash to Target's continued anti-Black racism (please stop shopping there if you haven't yet), and communities divesting from complicity in genocide are all signs that a vast majority of us do not want to live in a reality in which people in power do not have to follow the same rules as the rest of us, or get to destroy our planet in pursuit of financial wealth at the expense of all life.

One last shout out, to Jess Craven at Chop Wood, Carry Water, who I wish I had started reading MUCH earlier than this. Her frequent posts highlight HUGE lists of great things happening in the world and wonderful resources for taking action and staying informed. I find her writing to be grounded and helpful without bringing me down. Check her out if you haven't already!

Thanks for being here, friends. Onward to the election!

Emily
Listen. Amplify. Follow. In Solidarity.