Choosing Humanity
“It is necessary for us to become and to remain humans. That means a lot…we know deep down what’s right, and what’s true, and what’s needed. We gotta get there. We just have to.”
-Toni Morrison
Yesterday morning, I had the unenviable job of explaining to a nine- and six-year-old that this time, a bully won. My eldest cried and asked “why?” My youngest asked, “will there be war?” My partner and I did our best to assure them that they are secure and that Mommy and Daddy will protect them no matter what. But the truth is that I’m not sure what’s coming–or even that I will be able to protect them. As a parent, it’s the most terrifying fact of life: there is very little we can actually control.
At a loss, I reached for the ancestral principle of Sankofa: going back to fetch the past that guides the future. I went back and found Toni Morrison’s reminder that within each of us exists a unifying knowledge of what’s right and true and necessary. We become human when we embrace the idea that the fact of our humanity affords rights like bodily autonomy, clean air and water, shelter, nourishment, and freedom to live safe and dignified lives with the families we choose. We remain human by embracing the truth of our shared humanity in all that we do.
No election decides whether we remain human; we do.
The truth is that the world we’ve known until now is shifting in groundbreaking ways. It is rough-and-tumble and difficult to find our footing. But it is also true that, in nature, when the ground is disturbed and growth interrupted, the first plants to re-emerge–the pioneers–grow out of the broken places and reproduce and develop quickly to create the forest floor out of which more diverse plants take root and form a mighty, self-sustaining ecosystem.
We are pioneers. With a goal of creating a nation that serves our shared humanity over any party, we are building the forest floor from which those who will shape the future can grow. We know that our work started long before us and that the real work of remaining human will continue beyond whatever the next administration throws our way. Join me and help pioneer a more just and diverse (eco)system for us all. This country has taken so much, but “we know deep down what’s right, and what’s true, and what’s needed.“ We are going to get there. Together.