Footnotes
Start Now
Start now, while it is still dark and chaotic, and your anger rages into crystal clear clarity. Start now.
Start now dreaming about the world we will create after midterms, after the 2028 election, after this. Start now. I know it's still dark and dreary. I know hope rises and falls like a rollercoaster. I know it can be overwhelming and the weightiness makes it hard to summon the energy required to hope.
But I need you to start now. I need to start anticipating the end, so you can start building a new beginning. I need you to start now.
What will you build once ICE has left your communities? What reparations and repair will need to take place? How do we enfold immigrants- those with papers and those without- so fully into the community that targeting them is nearly impossible? Start now.
What will you do when the centers for Black studies, for queer programming or disability advocacy return? What was missing before that we will make sure to include this time? What was wonderful and will be the first thing on the list to restore? Start now.
What project did you have to put on hold? And how can you start right now to bring it forward? Can you raise awareness about the new state of reproductive health? Can you work on a shoe string budget to create new committees? Can you host a new study? Can you begin collecting stories now that will be the foundation of your launch?
Start now.
Do you feel it in the air? The wave of hope that has accompanied the midterms? Have you noticed how many progressives are on the ballot? Have you been watching the mayors, the governors, the every day people who regularly push back against the racist, sexist, homophobic, ableist assumptions in order to fight for their cities? Do you feel it?
I submit to you that no matter what happen at the midterms, hope is our duty. It is our duty to keep imagining that the world we dream of is still possible. And I dont want us to wait for perfection. You dont have to wait for the next election. You dont have to wait until everyone is convinced. You dont have to wait.
You can start now.
I am starting now.
For weeks, Ive been telling you a little about my next project on riots. And let me tell you, I am fired up about it... even though nothing in the current landscape suggests that what I am studying now will make any difference. But you know what? Im not preparing towards this moment. I am preparing for a future where DEI budgets are restored. A future where it's not illegal to say the words diversity, women or race. A future where all the folks who are excited about progressive candidates wont disappear whether they win or not. We have found one another and that is enough to build on. Im working toward a future where we have found one another.
And I want you to start, too. I want you to dream about the youth program for Black girls. And I want you to start writing the proposal for greater protections for undocumented residents. And I want you to work out the budget for that reproductive health center. And I want you to find the location for trans youth to share their own poetry. I want you to start now.
Over the next few weeks Im going to tell you about my project, for which my greatest hope is that it will inspire the radical transformation of cities in middle America. It's a big dream. And I'll need your help. I can't do this alone.
But I need more than investment in my project. I need you to dream, too. I need you to invite your community into this season of believing that trouble dont last always. I need you to look at the work you have done to push back this administration and now imagine what you will do when you no longer have to push back but can push forward.
There is no need to hold onto a false optimism that ignores all that we've been through and must continue to contend with. Im not asking you to wear rose colored glasses. Im not asking you to deny the energy the last couple of years have taken. In fact, Im asking you to do the opposite. Im asking you take tally of the multitude of angers, the multitude of committee meetings, the multitude of protests, the multitude of disappointments and ask- what's next?
Im asking you to start now.
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