Cultivating Sustainable Hope As Activists
Photo by Quinn Corte. A sprouting spring garden, Massachusetts, 2021.
Anti-Racism + Collective Care Series
We recently honored the one-year anniversary of the murder of George Floyd. This grim anniversary is bringing up a lot: prolonged anger and grief, frustration and exhaustion with the lack of progress, and (hopefully) reflection about what has changed.
It’s a natural time to consider where we are as individuals and a society, versus where we want to be. What has changed in the past year? How do we balance urgency with overwhelm? How do we stay sustainably engaged in the fight against white supremacy?
I chose this anniversary to launch a series of anti-racism + collective care essays on the blog. This is my first post.
Why is anti-racism work part of The Retreat Space? Because it's critical to keep the conversation of social justice and collective care grounded within the context of self-care. The wellness industry systemically excludes people of color, while capitalizing on ancient cultural wisdom without context or respect. It also takes its cues from an individualistic society that says everyone is on their own journey. But the truth is, we can't work on wholeness and wellness in a vacuum. Our Work must be done hand-in-hand with others.
The series will contain insights, questions, and resources about the intersection of anti-racism and wellness. For now, it will be written by one privileged white woman who is not an anti-racism educator (me). It is not intended to be perfect or all-knowing, but to humbly keep the conversation alive.
If you identify as a Black, Indigenous, or Person of Color (BIPOC) and/or have experienced exclusion and oppression due to your identity, I invite you to skip this post and tend to your own needs or enjoy a free resource in our library. This post is for everyone, but it is geared more toward those in our community who benefit from and want to dismantle their white privilege. Reading it may feel like extra emotional labor for those who experience systemic oppression firsthand. If you decide to read and have any feedback to share, please reach out to me.
Reflecting on Progress
How has the world changed in a year, in regards to social justice? This group of six stories by Politico examines different aspects of change in the year since George Floyd was killed. We are hearing a lot of talk about ending police brutality, but we have yet to see measurable impact. The level of privilege-consciousness in America has been raised, yet so many still have blinders on. Trump is out of office, yet it will take years to reverse the damage and make strides forward. I think it’s fair to say that things have changed a lot, and not nearly enough. Both can be true at the same time.
One thing I’ve heard during this anniversary month is that people are feeling defeated and overwhelmed by the lack of progress. I’ve heard people questioning whether we can really make change.
When it comes to dismantling white power structures and repairing the damage they’ve caused, some of us are just beginning to feel the vastness of the chasm between where we are and where we need to be. Others have been in this fight for decades and generations, and the exhaustion is bone-deep. What I’ve learned from veteran activists like Mariame Kaba is that overwhelm is a natural part of this work. When our eyes and hearts are open, there are infinite injustices to witness every single day. As loving, feeling human beings, it is understandable to go through cycles of hopelessness. The key is to move through them and not stay stuck.
Strategies for Cultivating Sustainable Hope
The way to cope with this overwhelm can be very similar to how we cope with stress using mindfulness: we feel our feelings, let them move through, and continue forward at an aligned and organic pace. We can make space for the overwhelm without letting it slow us down or take us out of the fight.
Here are a few strategies we can use to root into hope while doing our anti-racism work.
1. Widen our perspective
I appreciated this column from writer Christine Pride about losing hope during these uphill battles. She invites us to zoom out with our perspective and see that the tide of change is happening. We must remember that progress in making big societal changes is often glacially slow, but significant. By considering what things were like for her Black grandmother and seeing the world through her grandmother’s eyes, Pride finds solace in thinking ahead to a brighter world for her grandchildren.
Consciously rooting in a wider perspective is such a good reality check when experiencing overwhelm. For example—when my entrenched ableism and capitalism tugs on me and tells me I'm not doing enough or not moving fast enough in my life, I sit with that thought and quietly ask myself if that's actually true. It never is. I do plenty, I am exactly where I need to be, and my value is not tied to my productivity. That negative inner voice is trying to help me survive and belong, but I can keep realigning with the truth.
Likewise—with our anti-racism work—we can't let ourselves be buried in the weight of what is left to be done. We must focus on the reality that we are making progress, and then we must keep moving forward (at our own pace, in our own way). Writing down the inner and outer progress we have made this past year, or having a (white) friend reflect our progress back to us may help us gain the perspective we need to move through bouts of hopelessness in order to keep moving forward.
2. Don’t take on the world
Another technique for finding lost hope is to remember that we are each *only* one person.
My soulwork group often refers to a lesson we have learned together: "I am enough, and I am not enough." I am enough, because my value as a worthy human being is not tied to my performance or how other people perceive me. I am not enough, because one person can't take on the world. We can’t control or heal other people. We have different capacities and abilities and traumas that allow us to play different roles. We need each other, we need to take turns, we need to lift each other up, and we need to let ourselves off the hook. We are not enough to change the world on our own; we will do that together.
Simultaneously, each person can make a hell of a difference. What you do and say matters. Don’t underestimate the power of many, many people showing up consistently to play their part.
3. Root into community
One of the biggest keys to sustainable activism in any area is to band together. When we band together in our work, we can share resources, process feelings, provide accountability, advocate for others, and remind each other who we are when we lose track. My biweekly anti-racism soulwork group has helped me do all of the above in the past year, and it is the top reason I stay engaged and make meaningful strides in my anti-racism work.
For those who are new to this work, we can find ways to join up. Rather than starting from scratch and reinventing the wheel, it’s more beneficial to find existing groups of veteran activists locally or online. We can listen to what they need, offer our gifts in a way that aligns with our current capacities, slowly build trusting relationships, and let the energy of others sustain and uplift us. Having a group allows people to take turns needing support and offering support, instead of everyone feeling the pressure to perform at full capacity in their individual silos. Rather than burning all our energy gathering resources, momentum, and organization, we can be more efficient with our fuel if we work together and find overlap. If there’s anything the pandemic has taught us, it’s that we need each other.
4. Practice conscious reflection
If there is an injustice that particularly upsets us, we can use that as a lighthouse. Anger can be a signal to show us an issue on which we can focus our energy. We can feel our anger, and then take some time to reflect before acting. I love this exercise from activist Mariame Kaba. To avoid spiraling out when we are upset about an injustice, she recommends that we pause and ask ourselves 4 questions.
(1) What resources exist so I can better educate myself?
(2) Who is already doing work around this injustice?
(3) Do I have capacity to offer concrete help and support to these people?
(4) How can I be constructive in this moment?
5. Recommit to our “why”
Why are we doing this work? What is our vision of a new future? What are we fighting for?
If you are feeling unanchored and blown about by every wind, it might help to write down a personal mission statement for your anti-racism work. The more personal your “why” is, the more it will serve as your sacred compass. Pin it up. Share it with others.
Let a hopeful vision be our north star when we get off track. Instead of only fighting against injustices, let’s try fighting for something better; something beautiful. Focus on what we want to build. Guilt, fear, and obligation will not sustain us. Working towards a deeply held dream will.
If the root of our anti-racism work is to create big change, we must feel our feelings and then gently keep returning to hope. Hope is the only way to sustain us.
Thank you for being on this journey with me.
P.S. My ideas here are not new, though I am fairly new to this work. I am a strong believer in citing sources and influences, and have done so when I’m aware of them. If my words call someone else’s work to mind, I’d love for you to share it with me.