And remember, the Christian Right only took up abortion as a topic after they lost school segregation for good when the IRS went after Bob Jones’ U status, & needed a new issue to rally the troops.
1/x all our issues are intertwined.
🧵
The United States has always been a democracy for some and a brutal authoritarian regime for others, and the effort to expand it to democracy for all has led to a 70+ year backlash culminating in SCOTUS claiming that kings are totes cool and also judges are the ones to coronate them
To say nothing of who abortion bans harm hardest and first, always.
Oh, I don’t have it in me to list all the intertwining ways all our issues are intertwined this time, I just don’t.
But it is every thing every step of all the things all the way down. Gender justice and racial justice and disability justice and queer justice and economic justice and all the things all tangled up together, always.
Because that’s what kyriarchy is. That’s what it does.
“Kyriarchy” was coined by feminist theologian Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza in 1992 to describe her theory of interconnected, interacting, and self-extending systems of domination and submission—from “kyros”, master.
Which is the whole point. All of us. Are in it together. All of us are impacted by this stuff and trapped in this unjust system that does not benefit ANYONE because even those who may ostensibly be “winning” in a game of domination and hierarchy have lost what really matters most. You know that.
The thing where I win by crushing you, by dominating over you? That is not humanity retained.
What is now is not good for anyone.
Another world is possible.
There is another world that is possible that we can only get to when we begin to live into it now. I don’t know how else to say it.
Like— we can’t get there by continuing to act into the world of domination and hierarchy in any place where we have a choice not to.
We must cultivate relationships of care and respect that actually honor the humanity of those involved. We have become dehumanized, because that is how we are able to participate in kyriarchy.
There are real implications.
How do I take responsibility for harm I have caused?
Whose voice isn’t getting heard, and what might change if we really actually listened this time?
So many more real things. How do I have to change my life in relation to the people around me? I mean.
And also:
WE MUST BE BUILDING MORE RELATIONSHIPS ACROSS LINES OF DIFFERENCE.
ALL OF THEM.
WE NEED EACH OTHER.
ALL OF OUR STRUGGLES ARE INTERCONNECTED.
THERE IS ONLY COLLECTIVE LIBERATION.
On a practical level: the only way out politically now is a grassroots mobilization across coalitions. Everyone. All together*.
On a philosophical level: the only way out now is a connection across types of humanity. Everyone. All together.*
*white supremacists are not invited to this party
We must live into the world that we are trying to bring into being by becoming those people now. Imperfectly—there’s a reason it’s called spiritual *practice,* ok? - but by nonetheless trying to center every person’s humanity.
And we must recognize the urgency of this moment and activate.
I say sometimes that we need all hands on deck, and there’s a lot of deck. Figure out where you’re supposed to be in all this. Where are you in this grassroots movement?
What area are you passionate about, what (time, $, skills) can you offer , and MOST CRITICALLY DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP 🚨🚨🚨what are the needs on the ground? There are already lots of people doing great work. They are the experts. Your job is to figure out how to be of use, not the other way around.
Anyway.
Collective liberation or bust. 💥
And how we get there is by living that world as much as we can now, today, here.
With each other.
And also: by mobilizing our tuchuses off.
Both.
Woke up middle of the night, just so anxious about it all. Saw this and it brought me peace. Not because things are settled, but because they aren’t. As long as humanity is here, there is work to do. Appreciate it.
Thank you Rabbi for this entire thread and everything you have said. It encompasses so much of what I have been learning and feeling in the past years. Your taking so much precious time to educate is a demonstration of your character and has moved me to my core. #NoComradesLeftBehind
It's more depressing that someone protested this.
I greatly admire those who do the work of reaching out to people in hate groups and change their heart. But the job is not everyone's, and the time is not when those same hate groups are a key part of the existential threats we're fighting against.
*I beg to differ. Nothing gets fixed by excluding white supremacists who are willing to engage in civilized tones. I don't have to love everyone to work w them. Bringing down walls of self-defense, superiority, even pure hate means talking. Find what we share - go from there. Clean water & fishing
We don't have to actively exclude anyone willing to engage respectfully, sure. But sometimes people do this "we must respect differences!" in which "differences!" are "You wish to see me dead!!" and that's NOT the same as "Our communities haven't been close" or "old stereotypes linger."
There are enough of everybody else that we don't need them. If they can show up and play nice, great. If there are people who are willing to do the labor to engage them deeply, great. But the emergency is getting everybody else aligned.
Your comments reminded of this video and the discussion about needing an "act of liberation" to break the bonds of something like MAGA. www.youtube.com/watch?v=ww47...
Collaborating with people who come to the party saying "sure, we hate you and think of you as inferior, but not as much as those other guys" has not turned out well, historically speaking.
Hitler used civilized tones.
Pol Pot was a very soft-spoken, shy, warm and reassuring man.
Josef Stalin had a very soft voice as well.
You see, in their minds, genocide is the *ultimate* expression of civilization.
They are "civilizing" the savages, the heathens, and the impure.
Permanently.
This is a daily battle for me. To overcome prejudice involves conversation, communication, humanization. How much time and energy can I afford to spend on this? Some days, lots. Some days zero.
