Beloved Community-

So many of us are grieving this week. Our hearts are still broken and heavy as we mourn the stolen lives of beloved Black elders and community leaders at Tops Market in Buffalo, and of Asian community members in Laguna, California. On May 25th, we remembered the two year Angelversary of George Floyd, beloved community member stolen by police violence in Minneapolis.

And now, before we have healed, before we have processed, before we have put ourselves together again, or figured out how to fully respond to change these deadly conditions, we’re faced with the unspeakable tragedy of the stolen lives of 19 school children – mostly Latinx – and two Latinx teachers in Uvalde, Texas.

Beautiful babies who should still be with us, and caring public servants going into schools each day to build community, to nurture, to grow young minds.

As teachers around the country return to school this week with no more tools than the day before, we know we must collectively fight to resource our communities with what’s needed for true public safety.

Not cops. Not Customs and Border Patrol. Not arming teachers. But school counselors and social workers. Worker protections. Socio-emotional curriculum, healing circles and Restorative Justice for young people. Trauma-informed teaching and anti-violence pedagogy. Authentic Ethnic Studies. And arts, self-expression, physical activity, and community-building. Life-affirming schools and communities. 

We damn sure know more guns aren’t keeping us safer, whether in the hands of community members or cops.

Those of us who are abolitionist carry the weight of fighting empire, patriarchy, and violence; we collectively hold on to the insistence that the lives of our most vulnerable – including and especially children like the beautiful Latinx children stolen from us in Uvalde – must be protected through a Care First world.

Rather than be hardened by grief at yet another senseless tragedy, we will wade through grief together to keep envisioning a world beyond violence, imperialism, and harm.

Focus on your own healing this week, and on holding up your loved ones with care. Support those in Texas if you have excess resources. And when you have the energy and spiritual fortitude, keep organizing with loved ones in your own community for #AuthenticPublicSafety; we’re all we have and #WeKeepUsSafe. This work takes all of us.

Support families impacted in Uvalde: https://www.gofundme.com/f/mtdrdc-texas-elementary-school-shooting-victims-fund

#Presente #CareFirst #BelovedCommunity #AuthenticPublicSafety #Grief