Notice that We Have Lost a Fight
I’m a woman of Yoreme/Mexican/Chicano heritage who lives in the United States. I’m glad to be me. Today is a challenging day.
It’s good to be alive. It’s good to be human. It’s good that we have this process of RC. It’s good that we have each other. It’s good that the contradictions of this particular type of oppressive society (capitalism) are showing themselves. It’s challenging that people’s fears and other hurts are being massively manipulated. It’s challenging that someone just won the presidency on the basis of unabashedly blaming and targeting people, particularly with sexism and racism.
I ask those of you who are my allies to discharge on and consider what it is like to be a person in the line of fire. Trump has organized explicitly on the basis of targeting people. Please think about what it is like to be female, to be Native, to be Mexican, to be Muslim, to be African American, to be a member of any other group that he and his campaign have actively and viciously targeted. Please challenge any numbness you have to sexism, racism, and other oppressions, and any defensiveness you feel (on behalf of yourself or others).
Please discharge on your own early defeats. (I will too.) I ask that you clear out this space so you have enough room to notice that this election was a big defeat and to not try to convince me that it was not. We still get to live and enjoy living, fight and fight hard, think and have brilliant new thoughts, and love all humans with big, open hearts. We get to use every moment to move human beings toward a non-exploitative society and to discharge and think about every opportunity and challenge. But we are at a major disadvantage if we are so scared, numb, or defensive that we cannot notice when we have lost a fight. We have to be able to accurately assess our wins and losses to be able to think about where we are and where we are headed.
Oakland, California, USA
Reprinted from the e-mail discussion list for RC Community members
(Present Time 186, January 2017)