By George Pratt, Contributing Writer
When considering the present moment, there are critical questions that are necessary for oppressed peoples to ask and attempt to answer. The present time has revealed that while disenfranchised communities have experienced progress in the United States, populating and receiving acclaim in various industries and sectors, oppressive, unjust, and exploitative systems still pervade the lives of many Black, women, indigenous, and queer folks. Sometimes, children and elders as populations and social identifiers in the American consciousness are excluded from mainstream conversations concerning injustice. As unique groups with different interlocking oppressions, they too must be named when calling the role of those who are the least of us living at the margins and fringes of society. As we experience the blows and abrupt shifts that this everyday life brings, accompanied by mass acts of violence from lone gunmen and the state, we must collectively think about our health, spirit, survival, and future.
The reality of today has left masses of people vulnerable in different ways than in the past. While minoritized and subjected groups have always mitigated the terrors of simply existing and safely gathering in their institutions, presently, more people are being forced to rethink their wellbeing. We live in a society where we have become desensitized to the fact that gun violence is the leading cause of death for children and teenagers. In 2022, women in America find themselves negotiating their bodily autonomy and integrity with an androcentric government, being reduced to second-class citizens. It still proves true today; Black people are not safe anywhere. Not in our homes, churches, grocery stores, parks, colleges and universities, hospitals, or any location we frequent. Danger is eminent everywhere.
Historically excluded and marginalized people know all too well the plight of struggle that is never ending and is absent of escape. However, this has never prevented us from creatively carving out ways to find and share the joy and leave room for hope. As agents of hate anticipate and attempt to conjure dark days ahead, we must think seriously and deeply about fostering healthy environments of genuine love and support among each other while resisting the global imperial powers that seek to keep us bound. We must encourage one another to dream beyond current conditions to imagine a world where we know freedom and begin to actualize it. We must begin living out liberation and linking our struggles with others to triumph as the victors of our own salvation. The reality is we must navigate these waters while being good and gentle to ourselves, handling our bodies with ease and care. As communities, we must contemplate how we will continue to build familial bonds, forge kinship ties, invest in friends and loved ones, and establish safe spaces where our sources of peace and pleasure are protected. We must live whole, healthy lives, coming to create our own Canaan though it may not flow with milk and honey presently.
