A Moment to Withstand
At a moment in history when justice is maligned and democratic norms are pressured to the point of collapse, I think of boulders in a river. A storm brings pounding rain and rising water. A current pressed forward by powerful winds and sweeping debris. Despite an unrelenting force rushing all around them, the boulders remain. They withstand the storm, holding firm to the riverbed.
Like those boulders, I believe that the work of our partners is strong enough to endure. History teaches us that to withstand, we must face the rushing waters by being firmly planted in our principles, knowledge, and collectivism. It is when we are planted firmly that we, over time, shape the direction of the river, of our collective future.
Withstanding Requires Principles
Withstanding the currents demands radical clarity on why we do what we do and on whose behalf. This is the bedrock of our principles — the enduring, non-negotiable beliefs that drive us. Principle is not anchored in what is most palatable or digestible. It is not flimsy or wayward. It is core to us and requires that we stand firm, even in the face of hostility and opposition.
Despite the pressures of the past year, Public Welfare Foundation remains steadfast in advancing a transformative approach to justice that is community-led, restorative, and racially just. We withstand in support of our partners, even as the water rushes around us.
Our partners are also advancing with principle, conviction, and courage – working to beat back harmful policies and uninformed decision-making, while continuing to seize opportunities to advance change. We celebrate the work in Louisiana to prevent youth from being sent to adult court, the victories in Michigan to expand Community Violence Intervention even in the face of funding cuts, and the efforts of partners in Atlanta to expand diversion programs and shape transformation. They are withstanding – boulders in their own right – pressing out a deep space for justice and safety amidst the rising tide.
Withstanding Requires Radical Clarity
Humans love to simplify and categorize. We want to be able to identify harm, so we attempt to segregate the world into neat, clear categories – desirable and undesirable, harmless and harmful, safe and unsafe. We resort to these mechanisms to make sense out of complexity. But while the practice is common, it is profoundly flawed.
Our capacity to make those calls is only as useful as the information we use to inform the judgments. When persuaded by prejudiced inaccuracies, false histories, and maligning omissions, we build systems of oppression and terror that only heighten unsafety.
When armed with robust, honest, and nuanced knowledge of this nation, in all of its painful truths, as well as its soaring examples of human triumph and collectivism, we are far less susceptible to discriminatory paradigms.
Outside of those paradigms is where true justice takes root. As bell hooks said, “Justice is different from violence and retribution; it requires complex accounting.” We have an opportunity to engage in complex accounting, not overly simple categorizations, to create truly safe, equitable communities.
Withstanding Requires Collectivism
I’m reminded of Alice Walker’s quote: “The most common way people give up their power is thinking they don’t have any.”
Isolation is a tool of oppression. It renders us scattered and disparate, unknown to one another and powerless against systems we desperately need to reimagine. We see ourselves as insignificant and sink into apathy or worse, nihilism.
Our nation’s greatest and most abiding civil rights accomplishments have been the result of fierce collectivism that called upon everyone to act – no role was too small. Movements are the complex weaving of people, organizations, and systems actors collaborating to catalyze change. But collectivism and coalition building are muscles that have atrophied in our society over the years.
Now, in the midst of a storm, we are reminded that sturdiness means many hands. While the storm feels mighty and unending, we cannot scatter. We cannot leave one another to fend for ourselves. We must exercise that muscle again, pushing our collective weight against the storm’s impact.
Over the course of this year, we will continue to explore what it means to withstand and come out stronger on the other side, and we hope you’ll join us.
Because together is the only way we consolidate and sustain power.
