11/06/2024
If your feed and conversations look anything like mine today, you are likely seeing a lot of anger, shock, grief, reminders to drink water, the breaking down of data and numbers, lists of organizations and campaigns to join, reminders that folks are not experiencing this as a new pain, calling in of people who are, and a whole host of other big, real feelings about this moment. I am still piecing together how I feel. We are all holding a lot.
One thing that has been coming up for me is the original concept of self care, as was spoken into the world by Audre Lorde in her book A Burst of Light, before the idea was whitewashed and co-opted to further feed capitalist interests. The idea of radical self care as community care. This isn’t bubble baths and scented candles, this is about creating the healing we need to sustain collectively. Check in with each other. Share food, snow shovels, ideas, needs, wants. Meet with each other, with intention. Plan together. Organize. What does your body/spirit/heart/community need? Who can support you? What has to be built to get you what you need? Whether your need is a filling meal and unmitigated access to healthcare. None of this is said lightly or with nonchalance. We're talking about building power in a system that does not want us to have power. About sustaining in a system that thrives on us left wanting. But power and sustainability can and must be built together.
We don’t know for sure what is coming. What we do know is there is work to be done and that the way through is with our people. We take care of us.
CEJ is working on transit justice, workforce development, labor solidarity, and with the Buffalo Mutual Aid Network. If some of your needs fall into those areas, we are happy to talk with you and get you involved. If your needs lands outside of what we have capacity for, I’m also happy to connect you with an organization or campaign working on what you care about. If that doesn’t exist yet, I will do what I can to help get you trained in organizing and support however I can.
“Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare” -Audre Lorde
“Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.” --Audre Lorde