As I write this, we are 6 months into a live-streamed genocide of the Palestinian people and the world feels upside down. I do not want to center myself or my feelings as a white, cis, woman in the US who enjoys every privilege because I am obviously not enduring what the people of Palestine, Congo, Sunda, Myanmar, and others are enduring- and have been- for much longer than 6 months. This post is meant to express my deep gratitude for the community I have been blessed to join during these times, so I will speak from my lived experience. I hope this will help you find the courage to step into yourself as an organizer for change.
Choosing to step out of privilege, silence, and inaction into the light of truth is hard. Not necessarily because that particular step is hard but because of what changes to your life comes with that choice. As a white woman raised in the comfort of the US dominant class, I could have stayed very comfortable in my ignorance of what was going on around me. I had been conditioned to not even understand it was ignorance so I was oblivious to my complicity in the systems that are actively oppressing anyone who doesn't look like me, or hold the level of class distinction I hold. But then I woke up, and now I can't be silent.
I didn't know about what Israel and its allies had been doing to the Palestinian people before Oct. 7th. I take responsibility for that ignorance, and I am sorry it took me so long to wake up. Now that I know, I can't turn away and this has made some of my relationships strain and/or crumble. But this isn't about how hard that is, it's more about gratitude for the community I am building with folks who care about standing up for those in the world who need it and for working to dismantle the global systems of oppression that stem from white supremacy. This is the community I have been seeking for the past 9 years and I know that because I have done the work to open myself up to be ready, that group of comrades has emerged.
I say all this to say, when you open yourself up to something new by clearing out what no longer feeds you, the new will arrive and fill you up! I had to let go of holding on to people and systems that simply caused festering and disease to allow for the new to present and that, I think, is the scariest part. In our society we like to desperately cling to the familiar, even if it is causing us to rot from the inside out. The fear of not knowing what will come in its place can be so overwhelming that we will stay in a sinking ship, convincing ourselves that we can bail out the water faster than it is coming in, or that we can swim when the ship finally succumbs. I now know that jumping into the water is the correct course of action because it is ACTION, instead of sitting in place, furiously trying to avoid the inevitable drowning of my soul that will happen when it's too late to jump. I have found a community who jumped off that same boat, that is filled with people who decided that we would take the risk together to make the world better for all people; and in doing so, we have found new purpose and new family who will be there when we cry, when we feel lonely, and when we march together to demand a better world. That community is Here4TheKids and it is available to each and every one of us who is ready to take this step.
Reclaim your humanity, take a deep breath, and jump with me.