There is no sugarcoating the Truth. These are tumultuous times. The more conversations I have the more I encounter an ever present uncertainty about the future, sadness about the state of our world, ambivalence about our ability to create meaningful change, and anger. Anger aimed at our unjust systems, at those it seems have given up or who just don’t care, at those with whom we disagree. In the face of mass global protest and uprise we are told that our anger, and not its target, is the problem. Make no mistake. I am not here to tell anyone not to be angry, or feel uncertain or feel distraught at what we are witnessing. The proper response to genocide, to the hoarding of wealth and resources, to the rising housing crisis, to mass incarceration, to the dismantling of our education systems, to settler colonialism in all it’s forms, iterations, and phases should be anger. As I’ve always said, if you aren’t angry, you aren’t paying attention.
I am not advocating for an inert, hopeless or even fear-mongering form of anger. Holding on too intensely to any emotion, especially one so tied to stress, without grounding it in action, is not a solution. Instead, what I am advocating is to turn our attention intentionally to the sources of our anger, to name them, see them as concrete manifestations of neo-liberal racialized and gendered capitalist policies, to understand that our divisions are a product of those forces, and to use that knowledge to guide how we show up for our world, for our communities, and for one another.
So let’s begin by naming some big Truths that should have us all yelling from the rooftops:
- Currently, the world’s richest 1% hold roughly 47.5% of all the world’s wealth. Adults who have less than $10,000 (in actual cash or assets) make up nearly 40% of the global population. Further, much of this wealth is being hoarded by the billionaire class in the United States, where the wealthiest 1% is represented by more people than the next seven ultra rich nations combined.
- The United States, the so-called “freest” nation on the planet, has the largest incarceration rates in the world. Roughly 5 million people are currently under the supervision of the State. This is not just because we have more people. It is because our lawmakers have promoted and preserved draconian policies which profit from the criminalization of poverty, mental health struggles, and arresting those who speak out against facism, environmental degradation, and human rights violations.
- Genocide is an essential feature of Nation-State building and settler colonialist projects. The number of Palestinians murdered by the Israeli State is currently surpassing 40,000 and more than 14,000 people in Sudan have lost their lives over the past year and nearly 300,000 people were killed there in the early 2000s. Since the inception of ethnic cleansing and war in Congo in the early 90s nearly 6 million deaths are estimated. European colonizers beginning in the late 1400’s through the 1700’s, killed roughly 56 million indigenous people throughout the Americas as they raped and pillaged their way through North, Central and South America. An estimated 4.5 million Native Americans were murdered in the United States alone from 1492-1890 during colonial settler expansion, and approximately 10 million captured African people were murdered or died during their forced journey known as the Middle Passage to the Americas as part of the U.S.’s nation building goals. We must honestly confront the fact that genocidal practices based upon fights over borders, control of resources, cultural intolerance, and xenophobia is nothing new.
- Access to affordable water, food, and shelter are becoming increasingly out of reach. Too many are unhoused or facing the devastating reality of housing insecurity. As wealthy investors buy up huge swaths of land and housing stock, landlords are raising prices to such a degree that many Americans are spending up to 50% of their income on housing. Poor, Black, and Brown people continue to face the repercussions of unjust housing policies that have kept them locked out of stable housing throughout history. We are facing an unfathomable and inhumane crisis.
- The addiction to fossil fuels and the wealth they generate for the richest 1% of the world is literally killing us, numerous other species, and our planet. Oxfam states that the wealthiest 1% are responsible for as much pollution as the poorest two thirds of humanity and that it would take roughly 1500 years for someone in the bottom 99% to produce as much carbon pollution as the richest billionaires in one year.
And if that’s not enough, you know it’s bad, when even the International Monetary Fund (IMF), a bastion of neo-liberal capitalism and one of the largest progenitors and holders of State debt across the globe, says the systems upon which it relies are insufferably and unsustainably inequitable.
So now, if you weren’t one of the angry ones before, hopefully you are now, and thus let’s go back to the original question, what should all of this mean in the context of turning dissatisfaction into action, into new narratives which speak Truth to both power and to those who want to change how power is held? I’d like to share with you some insights I’ve picked up working alongside passionate grassroots organizers, dedicated longtime movement leaders and community members who cry out for compassionate and common sense policies at both a local and global scale.
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- Not everyone is your friend. I know, I know, we are supposed to tell fantastic tales in our social justice community and policy work about embracing all opinions, calling everyone to the table, having just one more conversation that could change someone’s mind. And while doing all of that will always be an important part of the work, there must also be the recognition that some people cannot be swayed. And this is not merely because they haven’t seen the evidence, but because they are actively advocating for and working towards the aims of the neo-liberal racialized and gendered capitalist project. They are doing just as much work, going to just as many meetings, writing just as much policy, and studying just as much literature as we are. Their goals are DIRECTLY IN OPPOSITION to sowing love into our communities, expanding practices which enable the equitable sharing of and distribution of resources, investing in communities rather than corporations, abolishing systems which see people as disposable, as commodities, as fodder for personal material gain. Billionaires don’t raid Detroit’s taxpayer dollars and land because they don’t know the kind of pain and displacement their practices cause. They do it because these systems are designed explicitly for the ultra wealthy to do as they please with impunity. Their minds will not be swayed because we invite them to a political education pop-up about the ills of gentrification and wealth hoarding. And make no mistake, it’s not just wealthy billionaires who have bought into these violent systems. When someone shows you who they are, believe them. So, find your people and focus your attention on those who are dedicated to the practice of waging love in all its forms. Dig in to investing in the creation of trusting and accountable community bonds. This imperative cannot be understated.
- The time to get involved was yesterday. It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been away, that you’ve never perhaps gone to a community meeting, whether or not you hold a doctoral degree or never finished the third grade. Whatever talents, experiences, stories, abilities you hold are invaluable and necessary to building a world where all of us matter. Some people are writers, others sing songs, some paint pictures, some are great at feeding people or helping to set up a room, some are good at invoking faith or a universal spirituality that speaks to us all, others are good at research, speaking to neighbors, crafting a poem, and some are born to grab a microphone and take to the streets to shut s*it down! Keep in mind that it might take some time to find the particular political or social justice home that feels right for you, but know that there IS a place you can be connected to driving us towards new worlds. And, sometimes, that also means starting your own group and seeing the wonderful ways in which we can all grow together once we decide to take a stand and turn our anger toward the outside and to love on the inside.
- It’s fine to embrace the messiness of the movement. We are human after all. And this occasional “mess” isn’t because our fights are doomed to failure. It is because change and metamorphosis is in and of itself a process that requires grappling with old ideas, struggling to break free from misconceptions, testing out new ideas, sometimes getting it right, sometimes getting it wrong, but always with a commitment to continuing to growth. This does not mean that we downplay real harms based upon misogyny, xenophobia, trans- and homophobia, and racism that happen within an organization. Rather it means we must learn to recognize the difference between political or strategic differences of opinion and moral or values based differences which expose fundamental misalignments of our ideologies. When possible, we must strive for reconciliation and restoration. When not possible, we must pay attention to the pitfalls of ignoring such issues and take action to protect those who have been harmed. While these experiences can be deeply painful when they reveal fractures that may seem insurmountable, they also always lead to new wisdoms. As we experiment and play with what new worlds we may want to join, carry in your heart the notion that nothing worth fighting for is ever easy. And, carry in your heart that fighting for liberation, for justice, for global peace is a cause worth fighting for. My father always said “If we learn from our mistakes, then we better get out there and make as many as possible. Just make sure you don’t forget the learning part.”
I open this edition of Rivewise in this way, because a few months ago when the collective got together to think about the theme for this edition, quite quickly we decided that we wanted to focus on the idea of “following the money.” And you can’t follow the money, can’t expose and fight against these corporate cartoon villains if you don’t take action and find your people who will do it with you. You’ll hear from Russ Bellant, a champion in Detroit for economic transparency who has fought long with various coalitions to shed light on the rampant raiding of taxpayers dollars in service of the ultra rich and greedy corporate class. You’ll read Nicki Van Lier’s excellent deep dive into the racist and intentionally cruel designs behind Detroit’s water shut-offs. You’ll hear the call from the folx at Detroit Will Breathe for why we need to stop funding our own demise at the hands of the racist and violent police state. You’ll also encounter liberatory artwork and poetry which speaks to the horrors of genocide and war, while also affirming that even when faced with extreme absurdity we encounter the beauty of life. You’ll find the tales of community organizations like those of Dr. Ventra Asana and her birds and The Feedom Freedom Youth Enrichment Program, working to teach the young how to become leaders of their own visions. All these come from people who found their place in revealing the deep structural inequalities of our world and offer up of themselves, talents and passions to inspire us to look about and see where we can shed some light, do some good, and bring a little more justice to our world.
Part of reclaiming our society from the hands of the violent and greedy ruling class is ensuring that we begin to specifically name who it is that is behind the proliferation of dangerous and destabilizing policies and practices. It means creating power maps to track specifically the agents behind how funds and power flow around our communities, using tools like littlesis.org to pinpoint exactly which corporations and people are behind the most egregious policies shaping our world, and truly believing that when we say “another world is possible” we mean it.
Always remember there is deep love out here for you even through dark times, even when it seems you’re too tired to carry on. Embracing the liberatory ideology of “We Got Us” gives power back to the people. It reminds us that it’s always been there. A famous proverb attributed to the Native American Cree people tells us “Only when the last tree has died and the last river has been poisoned and the last fish has been caught will we realize we cannot eat money.” So then, join us sisters and brothers, and let’s follow the money until the money don’t matter.
