I’ve been busy!
I have been doing a lot of outside engaging on other people’s Pages and also with others offline. It’s been instructive and illuminating.
I have heard people talk about their struggles and their fears; heard people talk about ‘new paradigms’ about how we can glean best practice and learn new ways of forging community. I have seen earnest faces, all of whom know we need to do things differently, because it has become plain, nakedly plain, that the old ways are not working; and have heard reminders and acknowledgement that for all too many, the old ways never worked. People making the first stirrings of wondering if all the things we have done in the last 60 plus years have been effective.
People wondering, sometimes out loud and publicly, sometimes only to me, if we need more.
If we need new questions, and new action. People remembering that the plans they are contemplating now are disturbingly similar to the plans they performed 40 years ago. People wondering if they will be any more effective and durable in this current crisis than they have proven to be up to now.
I nod quietly, sagely (heh), but inside I am straining at the seams.
I don’t want to say ‘I told you so’; I want them to get there on their own; don’t want to drag them to water they may refuse, so I stick with them, individuals and groups, nodding with vigor when they seem on the right track, hoping to affirm their stirrings wordlessly, as they inch closer and closer to the stream.
But then only to look on with dismay when they pull back, lips inches away from the water. We need a rally! With Cars for Social Distancing! We need a manifesto! We need coalitions! We need a 115 point plan drafted by 20 disparate committees in 40 minutes! We need media attention! We need 15 Zoom meetings a week!
We need to call ‘Them’ out; expose ‘Their’ fetid practices; bundle resources (but you do it first!); consolidate agendas (but my bullet points are sacred!).
All these things ‘they’ need to do, but even among (sometimes especially among) those who have been fighting the good fight for decades, they never look to see if even one single part per million of the current situation can be attributed to them.
We want to help, but can you make sure you get our name out there too? We want to exhort others to action, but don’t ask more from us; after all 15 Zoom meetings a week take a lot outta ya, right?
Meanwhile, there are quiet groups doing the very work the Zoom meetings wish to replicate and rebrand. There are individuals plodding along, like doctors on the front line in Philadelphia, workers standing up for vulnerable LGBT+ of color, and Birdie Gutteriez at the Tijuana border.
They’re not Zooming. Nor are they pontificating. They are quietly, reliably, relentlessly, serving groups of people who simply cannot wait for a white paper.
These are the people and the groups who we partner with.
Make no mistake. There is room for Zoom; room for planning, room for asking hard questions about the future of activism and advocacy. I’m here for it. I have quite a bit to say actually (and there, like here at LoR, it’s so often about timing and delivery)
But, as always, it is a both/and. We can ask the questions, and (hopefully) take our time on definitive answers, because this is indeed the time to take a hard and unsparing look at every element of social justice work.
But it is also the time to move, and quickly and decisively. Because those in trouble, those who need us, can’t wait for Powerpoint presentations and virtual conferences.
You all have been so faithful in walking with the orgs we have chosen for April, so faithful that we are already more than 75% of our goal for the month. We want to make a real impact on those orgs.
And–here is the best part. We will do it quietly, with joy and solidarity. We will ask for no bullet points. We will not attempt to cover grassroots efforts with Lace on Race orange. We will neither feel entitled to recognition nor will we advance an agenda that turns on toxic power. We will not demand a thank you. We will not feel entitled to their gratitude. We will continue our walk with them without any of the usual strings.
Because we know, on a marrow deep level, that the walking is in itself a reward.
This is the second month we have engaged with the community we have forged here, and then turned outward and done mighty things for the people we stand with and for.
To say I am proud is an understatement. I am gratified and galvanized, but not all surprised.
Let us keep walking, even alongside those who will never know we are there.
Sustainers, if you have not yet had the opportunity to fulfill your commitment, I invite you to do so!
For those of you who want to become Sustainers, or who consider yourselves Sustainers but have yet to fill out the form for 2020, let us know, and we’ll walk you through the process.
To all of you individual contributors to our community, every dollar we receive through the end of this month will go where you designate. If you want us to spread it for you, just say ‘General’. We take our responsibility as stewards, both of the community we have co created here, and for our Org Partners incredibly seriously.
Thank you. We are living it out. No gushing, no hyperbole. Tangible love in our garden here, and watering and nurturing gardens nationwide.
How we do.
I love you all.
Your Lace
Leave a Reply