I’m a part of an employee resource group at work called Interfaith. Today, the leader who is Jewish shared an audio clip prayer request from a friend of his who’s in Israel studying at a Yeshiva. He spoke of being safe, but being woken up by sirens at 3am indicating Israel’s strike on Iran. His sentiment was “we’re fine…you know, considering we’re in a country at war.”
The more I hear and see what’s going on in the US, we’re also a country at war. While not under attack from bombs, plenty of people fear for their lives, their safety, their jobs, and their future.
We’re at war against fascism, dictatorship, and revenge leadership. We’re at war against institutional racism in all our systems and extreme bias and inequity in the healthcare system specifically. We’re at war against unfair, unnecessary, and heartbreaking immigration raids.
So, let’s make love, not war.
Just live your normal life. Have love. Have love. What is love? Love is freedom. Love is respect. Love is equality. Love is justice.
Resources
I’m not all the way finished with these books, but they are too good and too powerful not to share at this moment. Below are a few of my favorite moments in each book, and this is only a sliver of the bookmarks and clips I’ve made for each.
Let Her Fly by Ziauddin Yousafzai. Malala’s father is so vulnerable in this book. He speaks about his experiences growing up and how his own views about equality began to change…yet he could coexist with his new beliefs and his parents’ ways, understanding and loving them still. He talks about being a parent and the lessons his own children taught him. And, his openness to being taught, teased, and loved by his kids. A few of my favorite quotes:
“My ideas started to reform. I began to see that he was flawed. We’re all flawed, but it is a powerful moment when you realize this about your parents.”
“My success was the best answer to the escort’s mockery. I call it positive revenge. It is a principle that underpins my whole life. It is a way of righting wrongs without hatred.”
“I feel that empowering girls must not come at the expense of disempowering boys. Enlightened, confident young boys, loved by their families, taught to value themselves and respects their sisters, their mothers, and their female classmates grow up to be good men and help bring about change.”
21 Lessons for the 21st Century by Yuval Noah Harari. Whoa, this book. Each chapter is a lesson, and each one is heavy. I’ve stopped a few times just to take a breather and read something that weighs less on my heart. It’s a fantastic read about why we’re experiencing certain phenomenons like the rise of Trump (he actually wrote this before his re-election so I’m curious his take on round two) and the twisted focus on nationalism. It’s also given me a different perspective on AI. A few of my favorite excerpts so far:
Disillusionment: “Human were always far better at inventing tools than using them wisely.”
Disillusionment: “The liberal story was the story of ordinary people…now the masses fear irrelevance. They didn’t reject the liberal package entirely…they lost faith mainly in its globalizing part. They believe in democracy, free markets, social responsibility, but they think these ideas can stop at the border.”
Work: The better we get at understanding the human brain, the more we can teach and train AI about it. Ultimately, “AI can outperform humans even in tasks that supposedly demand intuition.”
Work: “AI stands poised to hack humans and outperform them in what were previously uniquely human skills. AI also enjoys non-human abilities.” These include connectivity and updatability — as individual people, we aren’t cognitively connected to others, and it takes years and a lot of effort to “update” our brains. Computers aren’t individuals and are easily connected and updated regularly.
Work: If we replace all human drivers on the road by using self-driving cars, we could reduce deaths and injuries by 90%. That’s ONE MILLION people a year. As the author notes, it just seems like madness to block AI just to protect human jobs…when we could be protecting their lives.
Nationalism: There are two parts to nationalism, one being that we prefer people like us over outsiders. “We’ve been doing that forever. Xenophobia is in our DNA.”
Nationalism: “It’s a dangerous mistake to imagine that without nationalism we’d be living in a liberal paradise. Peaceful, prosperous, liberal countries like Sweden, Germany, and Switzerland all enjoy a strong sense of nationalism. The problem begins when benign patriotism morphs into chauvinistic ultra nationalism. Instead of believing that my nation is unique, I begin feeling that my nation is supreme.”
Ways to Engage
Be a part of something good, something bigger than yourself. Help fight for the lives of Black women and their infants. As the SHINE with Joy Foundation outlines in this article, “Maternal Health Needs Improvement,” we have so much work to do in this area. Krystal Anderson, a brilliant, beautiful, and boisterous Black woman, lost two children and her life during pregnancy and childbirth. She worked for a company and in a department that built technology to make healthcare safer, smarter, and better. Yet, the system she worked tirelessly to improve also failed her. Donate, volunteer, and attend events to “create a brighter, healthier, and more inclusive world, reflecting Krystal’s spirit of joy and empowerment.”
June 14th, 21st, 28th: Buy Big Blue at Made in KC stores, get a signed copy!
Buy these other books all authored by Black men.
June 21st: Rise & Shine to honor Krystal Anderson. Join the SHINE with Joy Foundation for yoga, coffee, kombucha, and connection to celebrate the summer solstice and support the foundation’s mission.
9am - 12pm at the Anita B. Gorman Discover Center (KCMO)
Pass this newsletter along to 3 people, letting them know you’re up for making love, not war!
Quote of the Month
Next time I’m in DC, I’m taking a trip to Foggy Bottom to see this mural. It’s called “A Seat at the Table,” and is a glass mosaic mural honoring the first Black womean to graduate from The George Washington University.
If Black women were free, it would mean that everyone else would have to be free since our freedom would necessitate the destruction of all the systems of oppression.
