Working on U.S. Issues
I have been working on U.S. issues since I was first introduced to U.S. distress recordings by my dear Co-Counselors in the British Columbia, Canada, RC Community. I am grateful to Bill Horne, Samantha Sanderson, Bill Moore, and many others there, as well as to Jo Saunders, in England, for lovingly putting a wedge between me and my U.S. distress. I also send appreciation to Julian Weissglass (the International Commonality Reference Person for Wide World Change), who has supported me to continue to speak, write, and lead on USer liberation.
Once I started discharging on U.S. distress, about twenty years ago, I started leading gather-ins for the RC Communities in the Seattle (Washington, USA) area. Being from the United States affects everything I’ve learned about people, my country, and the wider world, so it was tricky to know where to start.
My solution was to hold the gather-ins on or near U.S. holidays. In January, for the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday, we learned about Dr. King’s work and discharged on racism and slavery. For Presidents’ Day, in February, we worked on leading and leaders in the United States. On March 8 we celebrated International Women’s Day. In May, for Memorial Day, we thought about the United States and war. For the Fourth of July, we discharged on early memories of the holiday and read the Declaration of Independence. On Labor Day, in September, we worked on the United States and work. For Veterans’ Day, in November, we thought about the veterans in our lives and history. For Thanksgiving, also in November, we learned and discharged about the Indigenous people of what we call the United States.
I also led a day on the United States and “mental health” oppression, including on how everybody we go to war with is made to look “crazy,” and a full weekend workshop on USer liberation.
I continue to work on U.S. distress and always remember that the RC Communities I am the Regional Reference Person for are in the United States. At a recent Regional workshop I got us to agree that, with our varied backgrounds, we all live in the United States. We then worked on how our people had come here, in recent and not-so-recent history.
At every RC gathering in the Region I ask that we learn about and acknowledge the First People of that place. I am honored to live in the homeland of the Duwamish and Coast Salish peoples.
Shoreline, Washington, USA
Reprinted from the RC e-mail discussion list for USA political issues
(Present Time 193, October 2018)