Dear Community,
Like many of you, we are feeling a mix of emotions including disappointment, grief, frustration, and discomfort in our hearts and souls after the outcome of the election. We hope you are taking the time you need to sit with and process your emotions, as well as engaging in care for yourselves and loved ones. Know we are with you in this, and you are not alone.
We are facing a time of uncertainty for our fractured nation, with trust in our institutions eroding, along with a mental health crisis of disconnection, anxiety, and depression. It feels a bit trivial to just say we should keep hope alive.
Instead, as we’ve shared in all of our work with you, we are reminding ourselves of our why. Whether it be our personal experiences struggling with belonging growing up, or having a hard time recognizing our worth when we’ve felt othered and marginalized, our why is what nourishes us and gives us the energy and hope we need to continue the work of social justice and to imagine something different―to imagine what is possible.
Austin Channing Brown, Black activist and writer, asks us to consider what the alternative is to hope. She asks, “Would you rather have chosen apathy? Would you have rather chosen silence? Would you have rather swallowed yourself whole? Surely not…What is at stake is dignity and your dignity is always the right thing to fight for. You must hope because you are worthy.”
Thank you for being a part of our community. Together we can continue to support one another, take time to restore as needed, and stand side by side on our on-going, necessary work for justice and liberation. All of you give us hope.
Take care.
Caprice, Ilsa, J.P., Richard, and Judy