TRANSFORMATIVE MOVEMENT BUILDING

What does it mean to deeply love, protect and care for those closest to you? Those who stand to lose so much in the face of bigotry, misogyny, xenophobia, homophobia and sexism? What are we willing to do to actively demonstrate our love and solidarity with those who are most vulnerable in these trying times? What does it mean to love someone in a way in which you understand that your wellbeing is inextricably tied to someone else’s safety and dignity?
The harsh truth is that this is not love. It is not love when someone knowingly puts you in danger, jeopardizes your safety and wellbeing on a gamble that “he didn’t mean all those things he said during the campaign.” When we love someone, we never intentionally put them in harm’s way. And, if we do so by accident, then we do everything in our might to make things right. When we hurt someone that we love then we do whatever it takes to restore them and make them whole again.

in this political moment, we who believe in freedom for all people must love one another with a ferocity that scares off any threats. We must be unabashed and unashamed about who we care for and how we care for them. In this moment, loving one another must be active and dynamic. We cannot waste time being passive and stagnant with how we care for one another. We must always go back to one another, check in, and ask “What more can I do to love you?

A bold love requires us to turn and face those shadow thoughts that haunt us about one another. We must reach in to feel the tense knots in our relationships and have the challenging conversations that allow us to knead out our disagreements, our misalignments, so that we can continue to love and fight for one another. In this process we may not always come to a place where we completely agree on everything, but at least we can find some resolution that allows people of different strategies and various tactics to stand in their truth with the shared understanding that we are all working to achieve our collective liberation.

Even bringing all our intentionality to a situation, we may still make mistakes and missteps in our attempt to love one another. We are imperfect human beings and that is inevitable. What is telling about our true character and the depth of our love is how we show up after that mess up. Being able to be accountable for how we may impact one another, regardless of our intention, is how we move forward towards mutual reconciliation and healing. Our ability to engage in a two-step dance of taking responsibility and providing forgiveness is what allows us to always return to the side of love after hurt and harm has been done. Committing to the process of restoration is what allows us to grow as individuals, in our relationships and throughout our social movements as we struggle to address pressing problems together.
In this political moment, we have the right to demand that those who care for us love us in the manner that is true for us. We must not compromise ourselves by settling for anything less. Yes, we should be kind and understanding as people learn to love us in the ways that we need, but if someone is unwilling to honor us in our fullness, we must let them go.