The Tribune

There is a meme, circulating with great frequency, in which a person begs to live through some “precedented times”. Living in unprecedented times is exhausting. At this point, it seems endless. The world is constantly on fire, literally and metaphorically.

For some, it is easy to dismiss what is happening outside of The Bahamas as irrelevant and of no consequence. Many of us know better. Many of us have watched the trends and have seen the impact of North American politics on our realities in The Bahamas and across the Caribbean. Those of us working toward social justice and full access to human rights - especially with a focus on women, girls, and LGBTQI+ people - know the tactics of the anti-rights movement and how they gain footing beyond their places of origin. It is not hard to see, especially now, with the current US president, back for a second term.

Some will insist that nothing that is happening politically and socially in the US should matter to us. They claim the laws, policies, and executive orders mean nothing beyond US borders. They are wrong. Many of them are lying—to other people and to themselves. Some want to believe what they say, and some want us to believe what they say so that we can put our guards down. We, however, have to remain alert and we have to be awake to our reality.

In The Resilience Myth, Soraya Chemaly makes a distinction between optimism and a decided delusion.

“[…]Resilience often requires us to feel discomfort, sit with it, and parse what it means. Adapting positively involves accepting the unsettling feelings and engaging in the careful listening. It takes changing and accountability. Instead, “if it doesn’t feel good, you can choose not to feel it” has somehow come to define resilience. Learned optimism suffers from a similar slide into denialism. In theory, learned optimism takes acknowledging both negative and positive experiences, but in practice and nomenclature, that distinction is easily lost in favour of looking away from difficult truths. In this thinking, positivity means minimizing truth, history, the advantages of power.”

Chemaly goes on to make the connection between optimism support systems. It is much easier for people to have a bright outlook when they have family, friends, and resources they can rely on in difficult times. She also notes that there is a positive correlation between optimism and wealth. “Circumstances,” she notes, “are why some of us struggle more than others with being positive and use pessimism and pragmatism to move forward.”

Optimism has been sold as a positive and motivating force, but we can see, from Chemaly’s study of it, that it can be disabling. It can prompt us to close our eyes, relax, and be overtaken by whatever is in store. In the state of exhaustion so many of have been experiencing for years, especially following Hurricane Dorian and the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is tempting to stop and to believe that all will be well, no matter what. We must, however, know what has been exhausting us from the very beginning. It is, of course, partly the burden of work and the everyday struggle to survive; what is often overlooked is the shortage of people engaged in the work of changing the world for the better.

Tired by Langston Hughes

I am so tired of waiting,

Aren’t you,

For the world to become good

And beautiful and kind?

Let us take a knife

And cut the world in two—

And see what worms are eating

At the rind.

Even for those who are tired, there is work to do. There is no celebration, of course, that we must continue and that the world-changing work is almost entirely undertaken by the people who are burdened by the current and persisting inequalities and violence that benefit the people who refuse this work. It ought to be an embarrassment to those who refuse to join us.

As Audre Lorde, told us, “Without community, there is no liberation.” Community, in this sense, is not just a group of people in close proximity to one another, nor is it a group of people with the same identity or identities. It is not a group of people taking similar action. Community is intentional, and it is rooted in care. We have a gargantuan task ahead of us because building community is not easy. While we do that work and in contribution to that work, we are tasked with survival.

1. Pay attention. It can be tempting to look away. Do not give in to that temptation. It is important to know what is happening. Be attentive to what is happening in your community, in your country of residence, in your region, and beyond. Trace the trends. Know that what happens at the global level has impact at the local level. Anticipate, prepare, and watch for the ripple effect.

2. Talk about what is happening. Refuse silence. Your information will almost always be incomplete. By having conversations with others, you give yourself the opportunity to fill in the gaps. Choosing not to talk about what is happening all around us does not make it go away, and it definitely does not make it easier for us to manage. Increase the awareness of others. Be willing to teach and to learn from others.

3. Control what you can. While you cannot change the behaviour of others, you are in complete control of your own behaviour. Make a difference for yourself, and for others, through your actions. The way you speak to people, the way you spend your money, the places you occupy, and the people you surround yourself with all matter. Participate in the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement in support of Palestine. Avoid giving your money to businesses that exploit workers. Make an effort to support small businesses and local businesses. Volunteer with nongovernmental organizations that are focused on making a difference in areas that are important to you. Be intentional about the way you use your resources, including your time, money, and community.

4. Feel your feelings. Fear is a normal reaction to (threats) of violence and tremendous loss. There are times when we fear for our lives. It is important, especially for people who are Black, who are women, who are lesbian, bisexual, trans, or queer, to remember that, as Audre Lorde put it, “we were never meant to survive.”

Excerpt from A Litany for Survival by Audre Lorde

For those of us

who were imprinted with fear

like a faint line in the centre of our foreheads

learning to be afraid with our mother’s milk

For by this weapon

this illusion of some safety to be found

the heavy-footed hoped to silence us

for all of us

this instant and this triumph

we were never meant to survive

5. Manage your media consumption. Being informed is critical. It is also important to moderate the consumption of news and news commentary. This does not mean it should be completely cut out, but it is important to find a balance in accessing information, processing and responding to information, and engaging lighter activities. It may be necessary to limit news consumption to a discrete time of day. The amount of time spent watching, listening to, and reading the news may need to be limited. It may also be necessary to do something after consuming news to create and/or mark the shift in energy for the day. It could be body movement, listening to music, having a cup of tea, or anything else that can serve as a pivot point.

6. Build trust and nurture healthy relationships. We need one another. We have to actively, intentionally reject the idea that we must do everything for ourselves and by ourselves. We are interdependent. We need people who can hold our truths, who can care for our children, and who will answer when we call. We need people to be in conversation with us, to challenge our ideas, to help us reach more people, and make it possible for us to rest.

7. Imagine the world we need. It is important for us to envision the world we need to create together. It is easy to get bogged down in the mess of today and all of the forces that are against peace and equality. We are not, however, just working against or dismantling. We are working toward and creating. Get clear on what the destination is, both for yourself and for the people with whom you are working.

Angela Y Davis recently said: “If we look back at struggles for justice and equality, we find that there aren’t often propitious moments for those struggles. We’ve always confronted waves of conservatism, and while we cannot create the conditions for the struggles in which we engage, we can bring our determination, we can bring our vision for a better future. It was Dr King who said that we cannot capitulate to finite disappointments, and what we do is confront those finite disappointments with infinite hope.”

8. Create your own resistance. Everyone does not resist in the same ways. For some, it is social media content to educate people who do not have access to the same information. For some, it is directly engaging with people to change their hearts and minds. For some, it is creating, whether paintings, music, books, or other media. For some, it is organizing workers. For some, it is challenging people in positions of leadership. How can and will you push against the systems that are normalizing violence and inequality? What can you access, who can you influence, and what resources do you control? Find your power, and use it.

A Question of Climate by Audre Lorde

I learned to be honest

the way I learned to swim

dropped into the inevitable

my father’s thumbs in my hairless armpits

about to give way

I am trying

to surface carefully

remembering

the water’s shadow-legged musk

cannons of salt exploding

my nostrils’ rage

and for years

my powerful breast stroke

was a declaration of war.