[Racism’s] “presence poisons everything we are and everything we hope to become. It makes every moment a moment of danger, not just because of the potential for explosions of violence …, but because of the ruined lives, wasted talents, and corrupt interpersonal and social relations that racism causes. But the very danger that racism represents can serve constructive ends if it motivates us to create new ways of knowing and acting.”
George Lipsitz, 2006, p. 183.
Delia
As we ‘meet’ a new year, I have been thinking about the importance of mutuality and solidarity in light of the many challenges we face in our ongoing liberation and social justice struggles.
We are undeniably living in a moment of danger with the ever-increasing attacks on human rights alongside the undermining and destruction of social justice gains, as white supremacy, heteropatriarchy, capitalism, and settler colonial projects continue to shape our institutions, knowledge systems, and social relations, pitting us against each other.
Think of the extent to which we are encouraged – and taught – to see ourselves as equals, and the extent to which are encouraged – and taught – to see ourselves in each other.
The centuries old white settler colonial strategy of “divide and conquer” has become so ordinary, or normalized, that it is rarely acknowledged or questioned.
Anti-racism and social justice work should not be seen a competition to see who has endured the most/more harm.
Just as the various systems of oppression that impact the marginalized are continually evolving, so should our awareness, understanding, and behaviour.
Consideration of which differences matter is not inconsequential; the issue is one of power and the ways in which multiple systems of domination and subordination are reproduced and sustained.
To deny, or even disregard, the violence directed against folx who are not a part of your community is tantamount to a committed indifference.
Indifference constitutes a harm that not only wounds, it sustains and protects the dominant by normalizing the status quo of injustice and inequality.
Alongside inconceivable registers of trauma, loss, fear, and grief, I am thinking about the importance of expanding our vocabulary, and how we might think about and respond to complicated interconnections.
Just as our oppressions are linked, so too are our social justice struggles.
Enhancing our literacy (e.g., racial/gender/sexuality/religion/ethnicity/ableness…), can also help us expand our imaginations, our ways of thinking about, and responding to, complex and contradictory issues and interconnections.
Our freedom dreams – our liberation – our futures – require that we hear and accept our differences, and not use them to compare ourselves to each other to silence, to disregard – dehumanize – to construct hierarchy.
A number of years ago I attended a panel discussion titled, “Resisting Settler Colonial Violence.” One of the speakers, Dr. Sunera Thobani, asked (I am paraphrasing here): ‘Where does one look for protection/support/affirmation when the state is not only implicated, but in her words, “facilitating the violence”? Her answer: “We look to each other.”
Dr. Thobani’s answer disrupts the scarcity model of engagement.
Her response invites a particular kind of consciousness, one that is rooted in mutuality, reciprocity, and a recognition of our interdependence.
I am thinking of refusal as a form of consciousness and pedagogy, one that is rooted in love, hope, and possibility.
In looking to each other, we build relationships, we gain knowledge, and we create the conditions to challenge inequality together.
It is disingenuous to recognize the humanity of some while negating the humanity of others. The care the consideration the commitment can’t and shouldn’t be one way
Refusing to support hierarchies of humanness/the dehumanization of others affirms the mutuality of our collective humanness.
In the words of Aida Davis (2024), “To refuse is a form of love. Love for yourself, love for others, love for a world that doesn’t love you back” (p. 73)
I am thinking about a politic created out of necessity…out of the urgency and danger of this moment. We need to work towards more just futures together: We don’t ‘get out of here’ without each other…
Refusing the current iteration of divide and conquer – and instead engaging in an ethic of care and courage – not only disrupts the practice of ‘exclusion through selective inclusion,’ it enables us to begin to recognize places of common or related oppression and struggle, places which could subsequently offer a foundation for coalition work in support of social justice.
As a new year begins, let’s ‘refuse the assignment,’ and pursue a path that is guided by a spirit of openness and mutuality to enhance our collective capacity to imagine, dream, and build a world that “might be otherwise.”
Resources
Aida Mariam Davis. (2024). Kindred creation: Parables and paradigms for freedom. Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books.
George Lipsitz. (2006). The possessive investment in whiteness: How white people profit from identity politics. Revised and expanded edition. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.
Cherríe Moraga & Gloria Anzaldua. (1981/1983). This bridge called my back: Writings by radical women of color. Second edition. New York, NY: Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press.
Christina Sharpe. (2023). Ordinary notes. Toronto, ON: Penguin Random House.