From Gaza to Marcellus “Khaliifah” Williams

If your heart has been perpetually weeping since last October, I’m with you.

You’re not alone.

This week we collectively witnessed another state-sanctioned murder of Marcellus Williams.

I cycled through my stress responses so fast that I became frozen in despair. I was enraged. Then, I took direct action. Then, I numbed out on Instagram. Then, I was ashamed for numbing out. So, I called Gov. Parson again. Back to feeling enraged, to collapsing into tears…

Tears that were ancestral,

Tears that were unwept by my Thai-Chinese ancestors who knew war, dehumanization, and violence.

You’re not alone in your grief, rage, and pain.

The politically sanctioned murders around the world and in the U.S. is the one tactic that white, colonial, capitalist patriarchy uses to thwart any social change.

Whenever you and I and our Beloved communities threaten the status quo, Empire wants us to internalize how powerless we are.

No matter how much your bandwidth is today, may I invite you to root and resist?

Root in your dignity to resist this bullshit gaslighting from Empire.

Root in your past lineages and present communities to resist despair and cynicism.

Root in our direct action and solidarity to resist the lie of “this is the only way it’s supposed to be.”

Each time my heart breaks, my eyes see clearly the cracks in the system.

The very cracks that our children will split open and build a more liberatory world.

Gabriel Zacuto, a parent & artist, wrote “what we see in every mass uprising and revolution is youth releasing the massive potentiality they carry. They refuse the burden of Atlas and tear the world apart. They determine whether this world will be reproduced or made anew. These cataclysms change the face of our world and terrify the old at heart, but they are the precursor to the new worlds, just as the shattered egg opens new life.”

When cynicism tells you, you’re powerless…

When despair tells you, you’re not doing “enough” advocacy,

You’re consistently and imperfectly raising and loving our future generations.

Thank you for being in this struggle together.