{"id":45462,"date":"2020-09-14T23:58:40","date_gmt":"2020-09-15T03:58:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wendybrandes.com\/blog\/?p=45462"},"modified":"2020-09-15T01:36:42","modified_gmt":"2020-09-15T05:36:42","slug":"stay-militant-audre-lorde-style","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wendybrandes.com\/blog\/2020\/09\/stay-militant-audre-lorde-style\/","title":{"rendered":"Like Audre Lorde Said, Find Your Work and Do It"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nearly every day, someone asks me if I have hope, and shares that they feel hopeless. I wish I could pour people a serving of hope the way I might supply an imaginary neighbor with a cup of sugar<\/a>. (Do people still do that somewhere? “Borrow” sugar?) To be honest, I feel low on hope myself at times, but I’ve finally learned the life lesson that feelings aren’t facts, and that they come and go. We can regulate our feelings. We can even push right through bad feelings in a life-or-death situation, the way an ordinary person sometimes finds the strength to lift a car off someone pinned underneath. (That really does happen<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

The U.S. is in a life-or-death situation right now. It hurts to say that, but ignoring the facts will lead to more pain in the long run. The good news is that you don’t have to wait until you’re feeling some type of way<\/a> to do your part to lift the weight. Action doesn’t require hope; it leads<\/em> to hope. What you do need is a sense of responsibility. This quote from Audre Lorde’s Sister Outsider<\/a><\/em> has been floating around the Internet recently, for good reason:<\/p>\n

“To refuse to participate in the shaping of our future is to give it up. Do not be misled into passivity either by false security (they don\u2019t mean me) or by despair (there\u2019s nothing we can do). Each of us must find our work and do it. Militancy no longer means guns at high noon, if it ever did. It means actively working for change, sometimes in the absence of any surety that change is coming.”<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Finding your inspiration will help you find your work. I’m inspired by Auschwitz rebel R\u00f3\u017ca Robota<\/a>, who urged her fellow resistance fighters to “Be strong and of good courage.” At that point she had no hope for her own life, but she still had hope for the future. When I have a moment of fear — and I don’t mean sitting-at-home-being-worried type of fear, which is bad enough, but a more physical fear at a street action — I repeat the words “Be strong and of good courage” to myself like a mantra. There is no right or wrong inspiration. Mine doesn’t have to be yours. Your motivation should come from what resonates with you personally. As for finding your work, if you need a first step, check out my weekly Indivisible Activate NYC action newsletter.<\/p>\n

Click here for this week’s newsletter<\/a><\/center><\/p>\n

This week’s newsletter has good options for people outside of New York City. While certain actions are geared towards my NYC-based subscribers, others can be done anywhere in the country. Look it over. Subscribe if you like. In addition to what’s in the latest newsletter, you might consider a small donation to the #TrumpRat project that I blogged about last week<\/a>. In that post, I explained the #TrumpRat protest-art concept, and shared the GoFundMe for getting the rat to D.C. at the end of this week. Well, the team decided to give #TrumpRat an outing in New York ahead of its journey, so I grabbed my protest signs by We Will Not Be Silent<\/a> and joined #TrumpRat on the median of the West Side Highway last Friday. Check out my personal Instagram account<\/a> for photos and videos describing the reaction of people passing by, both by car and on foot.<\/p>\n

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During yesterday\u2019s outing with #trumprat on the #westsidehighway my mask twin walked by! \ud83d\udc6f\u200d\u2640\ufe0f Our #justice #facemasks are from blacklivesmatter.com (they have women\u2019s sizes – much appreciated) … sign by @wewillnotbesilent … #trumprat by @bravinlee @johnpostlee … \ud83d\udcf8 @aperture.delta … click #linkinbio to help send #trumprat to DC next week! If you can\u2019t donate (and no donation is ever too small!) please share the link! #nojusticenopeace #protestsigns #protestart #trumpsliesarekillingus #trumpliesallthetime #bidenharris2020 #defeatfascism #refusefascism #impeachtrumpagain #removetrump #arresttrump #activism #wearamask #covid19 #staysafe #200000deadamericans<\/a><\/p>\n

A post shared by Wendy Brandes<\/a> (@wendybrandes) on