Sustaining the Movement: Carving Out Your Role
A guided reflection exercise via Deepa Iyer’s “Mapping Our Social Change Roles in Times of Crisis”
by Wendy’s Subway Staff
Wendy’s community: We hope you are staying safe, engaging in the resistance however you are able, and taking care of yourself and your loved ones. This week, we want to continue the work of imagining a better world together. We believe the uprising happening right now demands that we engage, that we mold this space into one of learning, processing, and healing for you all--that we make this space one that can serve the movement.
Today, we want to focus on how we can work in community to sustain the movement--to carry this radical energy with us and build on it, to dismantle the systems of oppression at work. We will not allow this energy to fade. We must find tools to build antiracist, anticapitalist, abolitionist work into our lives.
When you don’t know where to begin, look no further than PIC abolitionist organizer and transformative justice advocate Mariame Kaba. On May 12th, she shared an incredible resource on her Twitter: “Mapping Our Social Change Roles in Times of Crisis.” Developed by rapid responder Deepa Iyer, with help from Shelby House as part of the Solidarity Is project, this map provides a framework for reflecting on your particular skills and strengths, your way of relating to movement building, and allows you space to consider the particular role(s) you can occupy to best serve the movement and best sustain your work. Deepa asks: “What are my values, how can I be aligned and in right relationship with them, what are the needs of the communities who anchor me, and what can I offer with my full energy?”
How do you see yourself? What is the work that feels most fulfilling to you, and why? Which of these, instinctually, did you gravitate towards? Imagine that person. Imagine yourself, a month from now, a year from now, five years from now. What are the communities you’ve embedded yourself within, and how are you serving them?
We recognize that this is a lot to consider. These roles are interweaving, your capacities changing, the way you identify with your communities always shifting. Right now, try to see yourself as doing this work as a part of your everyday life. And later, when you find time for deeper introspection, we recommend completing the entirety of Iyer’s reflection guide: https://tinyurl.com/Roles-Reflection.
Sources
https://twitter.com/prisonculture/status/1260335433852092419
Note: Mariame Kaba’s twitter is private. You must request to follow to see this tweet.
https://medium.com/@dviyer/mapping-our-social-change-roles-in-times-of-crisis-8bbe71a8ab01
http://deepaiyer.com/about-solidarity-is-this/
Option - Stream of consciousness writing
An exercise in reflection and mind wandering:
Today’s prompt is an exercise in healing and meditation. Let's begin with a simple meditation. Sit comfortably, eyes closed. Start with a deep breath, hold it in...then release. As you release this breath feel your shoulders relax. Take a few more deep breaths, working through your body. Let your mind andor body collapse.
Search for something within you that you carry from your ancestors. Bring it into your consciousness. Draw energy from it.
What do you see, hear, smell, feel, fear? Begin writing associatively, impulsively and continuously. If you engaged in last week's prompt, let your mind wander to those imaginings. Be in the past, present and future.
Poems