Safety is an Illusion: White Supremacy, Sober Discernment, and Cultivating New Ways of Being

Election season is here in the so-called United States. Maybe you’re feeling depressed, anxious, numb, irritable. Maybe you’re feeling fine. I encourage you to feel all of your feelings. Whatever you’re feeling is completely valid.

We know that this is nothing new, but on top of police brutality being at an all-time high, white supremacy bringing us a global pandemic, massive, sweeping, untamed wildfires leaving thousands of lives lost and upended, November is the culmination of an intensity that’s been building.

Once again, my fellow white women are leading in votes for Trump next only to white men. EbonyJanice Moore, a womanist, scholar, author, and activist says in a video on Instagram, “I don’t want to see no marching. You have organized your last march, your last protest. The only place you need to be marching is to your momma’s house to ask her, ‘girl, what are you doing?’”

From 2013–2019 I lived in Portland, Oregon. I grew up in a suburb of St. Louis, Missouri, and last September I moved back. Towards the end of my time in Portland, I had been getting the message that I needed to do my work at home. I’ve reflected on what made me move to Portland, and realized through listening to Black and Brown activists and educators discussing…