where the words equality, equity, and inclusion are our love language
by Austin Channing Brown
Footnotes
Hope is not lost
Supporters of Zohran Mamdani at an election party in New York by YUKI IWAMURA (AP)
It has not disappeared. It is not floating in a nebulous nowhere with your one missing sock. Hope is not hiding under the bed or lying in the junk drawer. Hope has not been trampled underfoot. It has not been smooshed like a bug.
Hope is not absent.
Hope is a duty.
And I am so damn proud of you for practicing hope in a season when all good sense has felt out of reach. Despite the rollbacks. Despite the millions being spent against our interests. Despite the commercials. Despite the media opinions. Despite the executive orders. Despite the distractions and the outright lies... you held onto hope.
You showed up for the demonstration in the streets and the demonstration at the polls. You gave time to the phone bank and groceries to the food bank. You went to the rally because you know, the excitement of community fuels our hope. You spoke truth to power. You did your homework to be clear about the referendums and provisions with twisted meanings. You refused to be tricked into acquiescence. You showed up and voted your values. You didn't believe that it was too late or that we've gone too far to ever come back. You fought for the vision you know is possible.
You practiced hope, because you know it's our duty.
And I hope you celebrated. I hope you took a moment to dance or sing or exhale. I hope you took a moment to remember how it feels to come together. I hope you remember what we can still accomplish. I hope the joy seeped deep down into your soul because many of our wins are going to improve people's lives... their real, actual lives. I hope you celebrated because you want more. More reasons to shout from your lungs, "We did it!"
Hope is not lost. Hope is here. Right here. Inside you and your desire to create change—no matter how you're feeling.
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Book List
A Resistance History of the United States. Bacon’s Rebellion/ Metacomet’s War (1676), Salem Witch Trials (1692), The Black Loyalists (1783), The Underground Railroad (1850): Through these and many more examples, Stoermer dismantles the mythologies that pass for American history—exposing the curated nostalgia, moral evasions, and institutional silences that have long protected abusive power. What emerges is an essential look at how we can take lessons from the past to understand, and effectively respond to, the injustices we face today.
Yoga as Embodied Resistance illuminates the essential—but often unseen—relationships between caste and gender in yoga. Bridging scholarship, history, and cultural analysis, yoga educator and practitioner Anjali Rao exposes how caste oppression, patriarchy, and colonization impact contemporary practice, and offers readers radical ways to re-envision a yoga grounded in liberation, inquiry, discernment, and even dissent.
We Refuse. The dismissal of "Black violence" as an illegitimate form of resistance is itself a manifestation of white supremacy, a distraction from the insidious, unrelenting violence of structural racism. Force--from work stoppages and property destruction to armed revolt--has played a pivotal part in securing freedom and justice for Black people since the days of the American and Haitian Revolutions. But violence is only one tool among many. Carter Jackson examines other, no less vital tactics that have shaped the Black struggle.
The holidays are coming up quickly, and we are all weighing how to approach this season of giving in the midst of boycotts, blackouts, and our commitments to our loved ones. I want to honor any decisions you are making. So next week, I'll be using social media to collect the names of companies who align with your values, places like Ben & Jerry's that have stood ten toes down in solidarity, come what may. This season is a chance to vote with with our dollars- by not spending them or spending intentionally. The responses will be featured right here Thanksgiving week and sent to your inbox.
TIP JAR
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Austin Channing Brown is the author of NYT Bestseller and Reese Book Club pick, Im Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness. Her newest book, Full of Myself is already a USA Today bestseller but she's waiting to be placed on your bookshelf.
