Check It Out: Actions Are Back!
So. You might have noticed that, for the past month, I've switched gears from "here's an action to do right now" to "here are things we need to deeply understand about the –isms, particularly racism." A brief bullet-point story about that:
Diana Prince says, let's keep going! Source
- I started writing early on Election Day, when it was clearer than ever that our country was rife with –isms and mayyybe ready to deal with them. I believed the polls indicating a win for Clinton and expected a bit of breathing room to write about ideas, history, and action side by side, in one mindful, coherent stream.
- HA!
- Then the cabinet nominations began, and it felt like when you're standing on a sandbar in the ocean, and a wave is breaking across your face every 1.5 seconds, and you keep trying to jump the waves, but it's not working, and what you really need to do is dive under them, as anyone with a modicum of water sense can tell you.
- In this case, diving under the waves = figuring out how we got here in the first place. Figuring out what's always been true, not just what's been (horrifically) true for the last 24 insane hours.
- But you, my kind reader, are to be forgiven for thinking, um, this blog is called For Love and Action, and there's quite a bit of action needed right now, and why are you trying so hard to convince us of the existence of systemic racism, when the world seems to be falling apart today, under our noses?
- Fair point.
- Here's the thing: I really, really believe that the systemic –ism fundamentals are at the root of ALL OF THIS INSANITY, and it will behoove us to deeply understand them. Because we white progressives can get riled about Causes (particularly Causes that cost us mere charity, not full-on equity [ouch, but true]) and then turn around and enforce full-on –isms on an hourly basis. Also: what makes, for instance, the recent refugee ban even possible? The –isms.
- But. When I started here, I promised to be the nerdy researcher who proposed specific actions for our community of novice activists. So. I'm going to stop flailing my arms like Kermit, cross them like Wonder Woman, and try doing two things:
- Super-streamlined* posts about particular issues, with curated links to more info, and Small / Medium / Large action suggestions;
- Continued thinky posts about the –isms, because they are really so fundamental, and we need to build our muscles.
* I mean, super-streamlined. Here's the first one!
So here's what I'm asking of you:
- Please please keep reading the –ism posts, because we need to understand this stuff.
- Do the things in the action posts.
- Send me links: to donation/volunteering suggestions, helpful call-your-reps scripts, and good "explainers" on issues—particularly from neutral-ish news sources. Catch me at michelle [at] forloveandaction [dot] com or in the comments.
- Keep letting me know what's helpful and what's not.
xo