Turning the Toxic into the Tonic

"What's sad is that people claim that poor Black communities need policing the most - to protect them. But this is not quite true. Capitalists need policing the most - to protect their property, billions, businesses and borders by arresting the people whom they've exploited, excluded and extracted from the most." - Derecka Purnell, Becoming Abolitionists (2021) 

We woke up on the last Friday in June to find the red robin's nest removed from where it was resting underneath the roof of our back deck. When we went to bed the night before, three baby birdies were chirping. Now it was silent. It was a sign. The predator showed up just a few hours before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. 

We joined a mass of mad people marching in downtown Detroit later that day. The stories and statistics have been spilling out on social media ever since. About the 10-year old girl who was raped in Ohio but had to drive to Indiana to get treated. About how husbands and boyfriends use pregnancy to control the physical and social lives of women. About how Black women are three times more likely than white women to die during childbirth. 

A week after the predators ripped away agency, Black women were testifying at a press conference in Detroit about the whacked-out way that the water department is making decisions. Fifty percent of those who have had their taps shut-off in the past decade have been single Black women with young children. We the People of Detroit called the presser to put the heat on appointed leaders who put the spin on everything. Mrs. Brown (below) stepped up to the mic and proclaimed, "People are talking about how unborn lives matter. What about the lives that are already here?" Mrs. Brown is also known as Auntie Na. She runs a whole damn village on Detroit's westside where she bought abandoned houses and lots and turned them into outreach centers catering to the medical, nutritional, learning and clothing needs of the community.

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So far, our hot, humid summer in the city is providing us with quality time to read in the sun, the shade or inside, with the privilege of good insulation making a little central AC go a long way. We picked up a popular book at the library called Why We Can't Sleep that explores the epidemic of exhausted Gen X women who were told they could do it all - and they have attempted to do just that. The author Ada Calhoun writes that women used to be judged on four things: their looks, their home, their husband and their kids. Now its those four things...plus their career, their finances, their eco-conscious shopping, their health and wellness...and on and on and on. 

Women are taught that if they don't care about everything, they are squandering their opportunity. If they don't go for it, there is guilt and regret. Calhoun concludes that the game is rigged, that women are scripted to do so much with so little support and they are soaked in shame because they cannot possibly perform it all. She offers three next steps: (1) ditch the denial and face up to the reality of the situation; (2) let go of the high expectations pitched from a very young age; and (3) realizing that this stage of life doesn't last forever, find a viable support system to get through it. 

There's no doubt that this trend is soaking society, pouring out on to Millennials and Gen Z women, femmes and non-binary folk as well. The heaviness and exhaustion and isolation and fear and shame are simply too much, and there really is no end in sight. We wonder about what it might look like to move beyond symptom relief and get at the roots of the matter. We believe this reframe should start with a concrete diagnosis. 

The rigged game is neoliberalism, the clinical name for the Reagan Revolution of the past fifty years. This profit motive pandemonium is best summarized as having three hands. There's the so-called invisible hand of the marketplace (little to no regulation on wages, taxes or regulations on corporations/wealthy - and a lot less spending to support families). There's also an iron fist (dramatically higher spending on police, prisons and the military). And then, there's a greasy palm (no limit on any campaign contributions from wealthy folks and corporations). 

Neoliberal priorities have created a world where middle-class and low-wealth families have to pay far more for food, fuel, housing, healthcare, childcare and college, with very little job security and time off for pregnancy, birth and other necessary leaves of absence. And here's the really depressing part: both political parties believe in this cult (Dr. Bruce Rogers-Vaughn actually calls it a "religion" in his brilliant book that chronicles what neoliberalism does to our souls). Just think: on the day he caught Covid-19, President Biden was supposed to be in Philly announcing his intention to give $37 billion in federal funds to police departments. What else could Biden have committed that money to? Talk amongst yourselves. 

In the midst of our heaviness and exhaustion, the first thing we should do is diagnose the disease, which starts by (A) honestly confronting the neoliberal lies that are dehumanizing ourselves: that we are not good enough unless we look a certain way or buy certain stuff or make certain financial investments or accomplish certain things; and (B) honestly confronting the neoliberal lies that are destroying our society: that police, prisons and the military make us safer and that lower taxes and regulations for the wealthy trickle down to everyone else and that unlimited campaign contributions make elections freer and fairer. This is all bullshit - and it is making our lives miserable. 

The second thing we should do is access our agency. We can make small commitments to break rank with the rigged game. In his book Conjuring Freedom, our friend Johari Jabir tells stories about how enslaved people participated in covert acts to resist the plantation. They would “frolic” in the woods at night instead of getting a good night sleep—so they would be less productive the next day. They got “lost” in the woods during the day so as to delay work. They “accidentally” broke tools. They attempted to run away, not on a horse, but with a bridle—as if looking for the horse. 

This dignified disobedience “turned the toxic into the tonic,” as Johari puts it. If we want to learn how to break rank with a violent, unsustainable system scripted by supremacy stories, we can shift our attention to what Black people have been doing for the past five hundred years. Some folks might be reluctant to conjure covert acts of resistance because, well, our economic system is not nearly as bad as it was on the plantation! But get this: in a recent email, Johari shared that the Civil Rights leader James Lawson still calls our economic system "plantation capitalism." Anything that prioritizes the profit motive and property rights over people is going to be soul-killing. 

Today, covert acts that resist neoliberalism take on a similar tact. If enslaved people found agency, so can we. We can slow down. We can say "no" to more items on the social calendar. We can show up late sometimes. We can shut down our Amazon account. We can take naps. We can stop just moving on and explore our ancestral bloodlines. We can spend more time outdoors, taking cues from the rhythms of nature. We can take long social media sabbaths. We can stop building our resumes and legacies. We can only share meals with folks who are willing to share vulnerable stuff. We can finally get a therapist. We can attend al-anon meetings. We can stop watching and/or reading corporate media (see alternative options below). We can give ourselves permission to grieve. We can support third-party candidates or leaders within the Democratic Party (like Nina Turner!) who promote alternatives to neoliberalism. Most of these things will not make us popular or give us prestige with the people in our social networks. All of them, however, will help us heal. 

The third thing we can do is cultivate a community of kindreds who are also exhausted and fed up with building a life based on their looks, their home, their spouse, their kids, their career, their finances, their eco-conscious shopping and their health and wellness. There are others who want to know how to get free from neoliberalism. I am convinced that more and more of our friends want to participate in covert acts of resistance, but we all need others to imagine creative alternatives and others who will nurture, support and be ok being imperfect in the process. 

Really, the goal is simple. Do less and get deeper. Our friend Jeremy is studying to become a spiritual director. He says soul growth and systemic change need a new paradigm. We sub out the ripple effect and replace it with a tectonic shift. Our lives are a drop in the ocean. We are like a pebble, rippling outwards. If we stay on the surface and focus on the ripple, we see that it only affects a few things. Transformation comes when we follow the pebble that drops deep down down down down all the way down to the bottom of the ocean floor where it has the power and possibility to shift tectonic plates that cause earthquakes and tsunamis. 

Neoliberalism trains us to stay on the surface, where people can see all "the really important stuff" we are doing. However, our souls are transformed by the stuff happening far below the surface. We need new scripting. Here are a few folks breaking rank with the neoliberal narrative that you can follow on social media or elsewhere. Bree Newsome Bass: she was the one who climbed up the flagpole a few years back at the South Carolina Capitol building to tear down the Confederate flag), Mark Lamont Hill: a professor at Temple University). Nina Turner: a political leader who really needs to run against Biden in 2024. Derecka Purnell: Harvard Law grad and abolitionist author. Nick Estes: Indigenous scholar and activist: Sherrilyn Ifill: a Civil Rights lawyer. Yung Pueblo: author and speaker. Cole Arthur Riley: aka. Black Liturgies. People's CDC, a coalition of public health practitioners, scientists, healthcare workers, educators, advocates and people from all walks of life working to reduce the harmful impacts of COVID-19. Also, if you are wondering about how corporate media outlets like the New York Times participate in non-stop police propaganda, check out Alec Karakatsanis on Twitter. And definitely watch/listen to the one-hour news show produced by independent media outlet Democracy Now, every day Mon-Fri (or even just the first 15 mins, which offers dot-connecting analysis of the day's more pressing national & global headlines).

When we diagnose the disease, access our agency, do less and go deeper with a community of kindreds, and get scripted by those breaking rank with the neoliberal supremacies choking out a life lived equitably, beautifully and abundantly, we can live into worlds where we will not only sleep easier, but dream dreams more worthy of our one sacred life, and that of future generations.