Decompiling Oppression #144
Sam McVeety
Amongst all the chaos, I found myself buoyed by a sense of hope this week. It's a precious feeling, and so I endeavored to regard it with curiosity, rather than suspicion or apathy (part of treating hope as a discipline, I suppose). As I thought about what threads might have woven this moment into the present, I wanted to take this week to share those reflections.
The first flicker that came to mind was a joyful conversation with the leadership of Spokane's Spectrum Center. We talked about their organizing work, yes, from local change in Spokane to supporting community members contending with Idaho's requirement that name changes be listed (and worse, paid for!) in a newspaper of record. We talked about more, though, too. We talked about what we're growing in our gardens (more on that in a bit!) and the little things that make a community, like assembling a neighbor's swing set.
Looking backward, I realized that this conversation wasn't alone, and that there had been two, three, four like it over the past few weeks. Just the night before, we had seen the leaders of Rural People's Voice during a surprise visit to Seattle, one of them looking to the future of that organization, another readying herself to lead Progress Alliance into its next chapter. We celebrated the victories in Washington State over the past year, with residents across the state sending a clear message that, indeed, billionaires can and should pay their own taxes. We talked about the future, and how to get people talking to each other, seeing each other, seeing that our fates are bound together.
Before that night, there was the time spent with Washington Bus, supporting their efforts to build power among young people. Against a national backdrop of an authoritarian swing among young voters, the Bus's campus organizing efforts brought thousands of students into movements for positive change. Naturally, we also quizzed each other on the latest slang (unfortunately, "bus" itself is so 2024) and whether one can ever truly stay current these days.
Then, there was the farm. If I were to pick a beginning, it would be our long-awaited visit to the land maintained by Canoe Journey Herbalists in Tacoma. To be invited to share this space felt like an honor in itself, and we were grateful for the opportunity to hear about what the group has been doing. We also talked about their organizing model, which centered the importance of sharing the work: endeavoring to be seeds, rather than the unmoving trunk of a single tree, to have a model that can be passed on and spread. We learned small things here, too, like the many colors of the yarrow plant, far cry from the monochromatic patch in our yard.
Their work was grown from a seed, too. As part of the legacy of Standing Rock, they helped us remember that the movements that form as offspring of an instant might not immediately make themselves known. Even as people left the lands of the Sioux, they carried with them the relationships and power of their time together, ideas and dreams that were waiting to burst into reality.
Looking around, there are seeds sprouting everywhere. Formed in the wake of the WTO protests, CARW celebrated 25 years with its largest gathering since the start of COVID. Occupy Wall Street may not have reshaped (or abolished) the financial system, but it did birth groups like Solidaire in its wake. Setbacks like Bowers energized the organizing of groups like ACT UP. The legacy of the racial uprisings of 2020 is inextricable from the leadership and vision of folks like Prentis Hemphill and countless others.
Yes, it is a daunting challenge that we face. The threats are real. So too, though, is our will to show up for each other. For me, that's what binds together the moments above: they are about people doing the work, raising each other up, sharing power, so that we may all grow the future that we dream of.
Here are this week's invitations:
Personal: What is a seed in your life that took years, or even decades to spring into being?
Communal: If you are wishing for community at this moment, what does it look like to voice those needs?
Solidarity: Support one or more of the (c3) organizations above. If none of them resonate with you, take the time to find one that does.
Decompiling Oppression will be on vacation for the next few weeks. In the meantime, I encourage newer readers to check out the archive. See you next time!
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