victory! & now we get to work.

I didn’t fully believe the results of the election until seeling Kamala Harris’ speech last night. Madame Vice President-elect, Kamala Harris. Beautiful vision in white, melanin poppin, WOMXN, Kamala Harris, smiling her megawatt, politician smile, talking her compelling prosecutor talk, taking note of the way the crowd was responding to her. I hope she was soaking it in. I hope she was feeling the collective hope she brought all of us last night. Looking at her at the podium, speaking with confidence and grace and self-awareness, I wept. It was like watching a futuristic movie. Of course a woman of color will lead us into the future. She’s been trying to all along. I am not surprised, just grateful that for once, she is in power.

I forgot what it feels like to have someone on stage who doesn’t actively hate me. I was re-sensitized to the idea that words mean something. The fact that she is up on stage, talking about systemic racism, healthcare for all, and- can you believe it?- a primary focus on containing Covid-19. The sanity of it all was refreshing and inspiring and gave me hope, even as I noticed the fear creeping up deep within me. It’s a familiar fear- one that I felt while watching Obama in the early days of 2011/2012: the fear that this person, whom I’m hanging some limited hope on, will be assassinated- and I might have to witness that.

Joe came out and gave his boring speech and lulled me into a weird sense of safety, then when they came together in front of the plexiglass, at the edge of the front of the stage, taking in the crowd and the confetti, their hard won victory, a popper of confetti made a large bang a little too close to them. They winced- surprised, as anyone would be, but for a second, I thought I caught that glimpse of fear- a reflection of my own- that it was a gun shot.

This is a win, but it’s a perilous one. Progressive folks who’ve been in Movement work for far longer than me continue to have cautious optimism. The candidates elect are saying all the right things. But will they follow through? Are we so conditioned to being ignored that we can’t accept a victory when we see one? Surely this is a step in the right direction. The words coming out of their talking heads match the words of so many grassroots organizations I’ve taken to following- work that has primarily been done on the backs of people of color- especially womxn of color. And now, a womxn of color is standing behind a podium, being a loudspeaker for their voices. Even if it’s window dressing, it’s a fucking start.

We’ve done the work personally, individually- a lot of us, anyway- and made our voices just a little bit louder. We showed up in the streets. We flipped off the cops and refused to cooperate in corrupt systems. We stood up to the INJUSTICES of this world- and we won- we are winning. Lauren said something to me yesterday that’s sticking with me: it matters what the messaging is from the top. It matters what people in power say. We’ve become so numb to the sheer idiocy spouting off from the leader of the “free world” of the last four years that it’s hard to believe someone has actually LISTENED and thought about the experience of the American people. It’s enough for me, for the moment.

But we cannot sit back on our haunches and take a breath for real. An obstacle has been removed out of our way so that we can get the real work done. Now we get to work creating the future we want to see. We need to create our plans of action now- a commitment to upholding the issues that matter most to our most marginalized people. This is when we create the communities of care that we are dreaming of. They are not our “back up plans” for if Trump got re-elected. They are the true solution to moving forward to the utopia of communal care, mutual aid, skill-based living and resource pooling that we are dreaming of. That is still the vision.

Investing in a future that diverges and divests from the current rotten systems in place is a longterm solution for peace, justice and liberation. Only then, when we come together as communities in unity and abundance, will we be safeguarded against the ebbs and flows of moral corruption in our government and the systems that flow from patriarchy, capitalism, racism and individualism. Biden and Harris are not the antidote or a vaccine, they are a treatment to the symptoms of corrupt government and institutions who profit off the pain and disenfranchisement of the people at large. We, the people, are the antidote. Love, care, and mutual aid are the antidote.

What can I commit to in this time that ensures well-being for ALL? (Guess what, that includes Trump supporters, because holy shit they are literally half of our country and apparently this disease that has gripped them won’t die even after 4 years of hell as evidence.) What am I willing to sacrifice for the greater good of ALL? In a land and time of abundance, we should all be interested in wealth redistribution. No billionaires until there are no homeless people. No tax cuts until there is food on every table. Basic human rights like food and housing- how do we care for each other? How do we lift each other up? How do we share our resources and stand firmly in our integrity?

I don’t believe there are solid, universal answers to these questions. They are meditations as we pioneer a new way forward. We must continue to get clear on our personal values and find a way to imbed those values in our communities, eventually infusing them into our systems, healing from the inside out.