Tussle and Flow

An Invitation to the River of Collective Struggle

Abstract

One of the most powerful commitments in the community self-care practiced by Black and Indigenous feminist collectives is to name the lineage from which our work issues. It is a practice that refuses the individualism characterizing white meritocratic culture, in which the actions of the individual are privileged over the collective worth, power, and possibility in community. Naming the lineage of imaginaries, activism, and care reflected in our community, teachers, and elders gives us access to a powerful river of dignity and belonging. To be a part of this river means we never begin nor arrive alone. We did not invent the conversation, and we will not have the last word. Understanding our belonging to the past, present, and future in this way allows humanity and dignity to flow through and around us. We are part of a current that has the power to change shape and velocity, to be imperfect yet ongoing, to be harmed and to repair, to revisit where we’ve lost and where we’ve won, to transform ourselves and others. We learn and we contribute, knowing that liberation is in the way we conduct ourselves in the now. George Lipsitz’s The Danger Zone Is Everywhere has entered the river in a powerful way, bringing with it the resources we need and lineages of activism that have made this instruction possible.