Dear Beloved,

Don’t Forget to Breathe.

The misplaced shame, fear and greed of few rich and powerful people is threatening to suffocate us in an ocean of hatred. In this onslaught of executive orders and dog whistles we are drowning in the ghost of enslaved past, the violence of our imperial present and the premonitions of a bloody future. We are struggling to find the space to open our mouths without oil from the Presidential gas lighting we are receiving filling our bodies. Yet we must breathe. We must take the time to remember what we fight for. We must breath in the visions of a new world that rise from the shell of the old in times of resistance.  We must let the life giving oxygen of our desire for liberation fuel the fervor in our bellies. We must let the remembrance of the lives we desire to live fuel our opposition. We must let the air into our throats so that we can expel it in the fierce roars of resistance.

 

Dear Beloved,

 

Don’t Forget to Hold Each Other.

It is not our differences that separate us. It is merely the fact that we have been so long without being deeply held, without the feeling of bottomless belonging, that we have begun to think we do not deserve it. We have been told that our bodies, our native tongues, our culture, our wallets and our ways of loving have made us unworthy of being loved. In this lovelessness we have been separated from each other and are now being picked off in coordinated assaults. The Trump administration is not the love we deserve. Militarized policing is not the love we deserve. Low wages and raising rents is not the love we deserve. We deserve to be so deeply held that wounds of our past are allowed to heal. We deserved to be so deeply supported that no obstacle put in front of us can stop us from being fully powerful. A sense of deep belonging that calls us forth, together, to build the worlds we deserve is our birthright.

 

Dear Beloved,

Don’t Forget to Love.

Love trumps hate, not because positive feelings are more powerful than negative ones but because love is a meta emotion that reminds us not only of who we really are but of the power that we have when we stand together. Love reminds us that we deserve more than what this current society has to offer. Love reminds us that borders are unnecessary barriers between human communities. Love reminds us that policing can make us secure but only healthy communities and mutual encumbrance can keep us safe. Love liberates us to head towards the light and not merely stand against the darkness.

 

Dear Beloved,

Don’t Be Afraid to Ask For What You Want.

We have been so thoroughly disinvested in and had oppression so thoroughly “occupy our breathing” that we have learned to ask merely for a reprieve from the onslaught. We have developed a reflex to ask for what we think our oppression will give. We have forgotten to ask for the things we need to thrive. Yet if we are going to take the streets in defense of our freedom then we must remember to ask for what we truly want. If want support then we must ask our neighbors to jump into the trenches and fight with us. If we want to be held then we must be willing to articulate the love we deserve. If we want to change the world then we must learn to demand the world we want, not merely the world we feel powerful enough to win. Collectively, we have the power to manifest with velocity. If we truly want liberation then we must demand and expect more than just an end to our bondage. We must articulate, demand and build the world that we deserve.

 

Dear Beloved,

Let Love Fuel the Fire This Time.

We have been so flooded with hate that we often find ourselves drowning in anger. Yet there are many types of anger. Some bind, some hold us back and many burn us down with the fire. Yet if we breathe, if we hold each other, if we remember to love yet do not shy away from the anger that arises from what we love being threatened we can spark the fire that finally sets us free. If we move from a place of love—for ourselves, for our community, for each other—then we can build engines of combustion that push us towards freedom. If we let love fuel this fire—instead of hatred, anger or shame—we can be warmed in the solidarity of our resistance. If we let love fuel the fire this time we can burn down this world we were not meant to survive and build many worlds of love, liberation and abundance in its place.

 

Dear Beloved,

Love Yourself Enough to Burn This Shit Down If You Need To.

It is only when we dare to assert that we deserve to be loved and that what we are being given is not love that we start to name and dismantle the systems that thwart our growth. It is only when we ask ourselves where it hurts and allow ourselves to sit with that pain, rather than listen to the stories of pain and greatness that are told to us or about us, that we develop a revolutionary drive for social transformation. We must realize that sometimes love looks like burning down the prison that holds us and divides us from one another. Sometimes love looks turn burning this shit down when it no longer serves you. Love will allow us to build a new world from the ashes of the old.