This is Temporary. What Are We Building?

Hi Friends,

Have you been getting into Good Trouble?

One of the mantras I've been using for myself and my family lately is that this moment we find ourselves in is temporary. This is a helpful perspective for two reasons: (1) This administration will end. New leaders will come forward. As awful as things are, and as harmful as it is for lots of people, it will end. (2) Be present in the current moment with joy, gratitude, self-care, and rest, and squeeze every last bit of greatness out of it that you can, when you can.

Because this moment is temporary, we must consider what comes next and start building it now.

The ways we resist can turn into what we build. I'm inspired by the examples in this update from the Catalyst Project about how people are supporting their communities in Los Angeles and in this article from Prism. Waging Nonviolence encourages us to build alternatives to counter authoritarianism:

"Authoritarianism thrives when people are isolated and dependent — when food, energy, housing and safety are controlled by a handful of elites. But when communities feed each other, house each other, teach each other and protect each other — they are less dependent on dominant systems, which allows them to mount a more effective resistance. Such communities, then, don’t just survive. They become ungovernable by any unjust governing body, regardless of who is in power."

The recent increase in ICE funding and the potential politicization of the military in the violent and chaotic deportation efforts by the federal government across the country require us to think carefully about the role of these groups, the role of imprisonment and criminalization, and our roles in challenging these tools of systemic oppression.

You might remember the word "abolition" from history lessons related to ending the institution of chattel slavery, and it has evolved into a broad effort to abolish mass incarceration, a modern version of slavery in our country. The modern abolition movement is rooted in restorative justice principles, envisioning a world of full humanity for everyone.

Angela Y. Davis is one of the founders of the prison abolition movement. Critical Resistance is an organization she and others founded in 1997 to end the prison industrial complex "by challenging the belief that caging and controlling people makes us safe." In January 2024, she wrote an article called "Abolition Can Mend Our Democracy" in which she asks, "How might we reimagine our rights and liberties in the absence of incarceration?" The movement requires us to imagine a world that does not yet exist, much like those abolitionists in the early 1800s imagined a world in which chattel slavery no longer existed. That vision has been realized.

Mariame Kaba is one of the visionaries imagining a world based on repair and restoration, no longer based on punishment and retribution, things that do not make us any safer from harm. In an interview with Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, she said, "... what I want is to basically build up another world that is rooted in collective wellness, safety, and investment in the things that would actually bring those things about." The full article is well worth the read. I want to highlight:

"Contrary to the beliefs of their critics, abolitionists are not impervious to the realities of crime and violence. But they have a fundamental understanding that crime is a manifestation of social deprivation and the reverberating effects of racial discrimination, which locks poor and working-class communities of color out of schooling, meaningful jobs, and other means to keep up with the ever-escalating costs of life in the United States. These problems are not solved by armed agents of the state or by prisons, which sow the seeds of more poverty and alienation, while absorbing billions of dollars that might otherwise be spent on public welfare. The police and prisons aren’t solving these problems: they are a part of the problem."

One of the critical shifts in thinking is from personal responsibility to an understanding of the systems and structures in place that lead to harm. Taylor explains, "To approach harm systemically is to imagine that, if people’s most critical needs were met, the tensions that arise from deprivation and poverty could be mitigated. And when harm still occurs, because human beings have the propensity to hurt one another, nonlethal responses could attend to it—and also to the reasons for it."

Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor concludes, "The point is to work in solidarity with others toward the world as they wish for it to be."

Understanding abolition efforts as broadly and inclusively as possible is essential. This includes understanding that roles like parenting and caregiving are an essential part of the resistance movement and have been for a very long time.

Maya Schenwar and Kim Wilson edited a book called We Grow the World Together: Parenting Toward Abolition. In an interview about the book, they say "When parenting and caregiving are erased from the stories of abolitionist movements, we lose something massive. The project of building a liberatory, caring, loving, abundant future must include fully acknowledging the work of birthing, raising, caring for and loving future generations."

Kim Wilson follows later to say, "The most radical work isn’t always the most visible or public-facing work — it’s the stuff that happens behind the scenes, out of view, or that we are actively choosing to not see because that work is often gendered, devalued and seen as superfluous. Presence is the collective care work that we do for each other. It is the labor, time and energy that is the love-in-action that we pour into each other. It’s the countless ways that we demonstrate that people matter to us, and that serve as important reminders that someone is thinking about us and is happy that we exist."

Dr. Abdul El-Sayed (brought to my attention by Giridharadas) has a vision for moving us past this current era to something better for everyone. He's also running for US Senate in Michigan. He envisions a world in which we confront bullies and welcome their followers, in which we don't punish people for being wrong but invite them into being right, in which we stand up for the version of America that makes us proud, in which we fight the causes of pain to win the peace, and in which we address the roots of insecurity. Read the whole interview, it's brilliant.

For another inspiring example of what we could build, I want to highlight the words of Liz Theoharis and Noam Sandweiss-Back about a movement to end poverty: "Poverty will end when poor people and their allies refuse to allow society to remain complacent about the suffering and death caused by economic deprivation. It will end when the poor become an organized force capable of rallying a critical mass of society to reorder the political and economic priorities of our country."

Kelly Hayes and Maya Schenwar highlight the reliance on criminalization by our political system. "From the criminalization of poverty, homelessness, and acts of survival and despair to the incessant targeting of social movements, prisons and policing have suppressed challenges to the system as the rich amassed obscene concentrations of wealth." They continue:

"Rather than catering to that mythology, we must dismantle the lie that criminalization safeguards democracy and ensures our safety. The death-making potential of the public’s faith in criminalization has now reached an inflection point. If we maintain our faith in these mechanisms of surveillance, control, stigmatization, and disposal, we are worshiping at the altar of our own destruction. We are faced with the ultimate surrender of our humanity, our freedom, and ourselves."

For another example, Moira Birss and Zia Kandler share a strategy from Central America in the 1980s called international accompaniment. "Recognizing the global power dynamics and unequal treatment across borders by state actors, international solidarity movements and accompaniment organizations emerged to provide a protective presence, using international volunteers to deter violence and support grassroots struggles for justice." Building on historical resistance movements and rooting ourselves in solidarity with each other is how we will ensure that this albeit temporary situation is limited in its harm and impact.

As you choose to engage in resistance, liberatory vision, and community building, remember how to stay safe. I also recommend Indivisible's One Million Rising Campaign and trainings. Find something to engage in and bring your friends!

Emily
Listen. Amplify. Follow. In Solidarity.