So What's Next?

              Each day I find myself more astounded than the next; confused and feeling betrayed by both the world around us, and the people who inhabit it, each of us. So vastly different has the world turned out to be than the one that my grandparents, parents, politicians, teachers, and our communities told us would be waiting for us. Hard work, degrees, grit, resolve, good talent led most of us not to rewarding and well-paid careers but toil, angst, and economic realities vastly different from those of the generations before us. “Be kind to your neighbor” “Love the stranger as yourself.” “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” is not the hyper-individualistic, hyper-capitalist, hyper-nationalist, Batman-esque billionaire villain world that we now reside in. To put it plainly, somebody lied or so much has changed.

              There is a slow-moving dread that has been created by these hyper-fixations, which has creeped into every facet of our world, creating ruinous disaster in its wake. Both American and world politics has sustained blow after blow after blow, each cutting a thread on the fabric that binds the entire tapestry together. From Brexit to the rift in relations between Haiti and the Dominican Republic, to the treatment of men, women, and children in places like Congo and Gaza, to conversations about immigration and immigrants across the world, one language has repeatedly found itself dominantly spoken: the language of racism and fascism. The fear of the other, the abandonment of basic principles of human rights in the treatment of the maligned and dehumanized, the increased language and use of violence has torn a gigantic rift in our inter-relatedness and our continued ability to not only come together simply because it is good, but also because it is pragmatic and the responsible thing to do as we face increasing odds that survival as a species is not guaranteed. Have we reached such a state of disconnectedness and hate that we would see ourselves perish? I hope this will not be our fate.

              In some ways, we are living out the warnings, fears, and trepidations of many of our elders and forebearers. Even during their unsteady times, they envisioned ahead and saw the possibilities of what could be. Not all that they saw was good and moral, yet they persisted in their struggles for liberation, for love, for change, for us. And so too must we in these times, if we are to envision a future that is free from the blight of racism and fascism, and ultimately, it’s foundation stone: capitalism. We must envision more, better, greater because truly our lives, the futures of our shared world, and of those we love and cherish depend on it.

              Before we begin to envision the future, let us first look back for guidance and counsel from our elders of the past, as history is but a communal house, laid brick by brick. We know that our communal problem lies within racism, fascism, and capitalism but what of freeing ourselves from the grip of these perilous systems. In “The Source of Self-Regard” Toni Morrison counsels on specifically these three dangers in her essay ‘Racism & Fascism’, providing a framework for understanding the issues which we face. She starts with these words, “Let us be reminded that before there is a final solution, there must be a first solution, a second one, even a third. The move toward a final solution is not a jump. It takes one step, then another, then another…” We have not come to this moment in time, by chance or circumstance, but by the slow eradication of societal norms of togetherness and curiosity of the unknown; by the building of more walls, both real and figurative, by the slow creep of the hate into so much of our communal spaces. All to often people are not voting for the betterment of their own lives, rather they are voting against some other “foreign” evil, real or perceived. Toni Morrison speaks directly on this phenomenon in her essay ‘Racism & Fascism’ saying “It changes citizens into taxpayers – so individuals become angry at even the notion of the public good. It changes neighbors into consumers – so the measure of our value as humans is not our humanity or our compassion or our generosity but what we own. It changes parenting into panicking – so that we vote against the interests of our children; against their healthcare, their education, their safety from weapons. Producing the perfect capitalist, one who is willing to kill a human being for a product (a pair of sneakers, a jacket, a car) or kill generations for control of products (oil, drugs, fruit, gold).” Because of this slow eradication of societal norms, no way forward will be easy or quickly provide a resolution. We must not resign ourselves to this fact but let this be fuel for us as an opportunity and time to make the necessary changes that will be required.

              As Toni Morrison says in her essay ‘Racism & Fascism’, there is a gradual march towards fascism and final solutions. When asked about his bankruptcy in Ernest Hemingway’s 1926 novel “The Sun Also Rises”, the character Mike Campbell replies, “Gradually. And then suddenly.” (It’s apt and all too on the nose that this phrase comes in response to a question about bankruptcy considering that the main person helping to deliver this final blow to our democratic republic is himself a 6 times-bankrupt schemer.) Without overstating or causing a sense of panicking fear, I must be honest in saying that I believe we are in the “Suddenly” stage of this creep towards fascism and outright nativist racism. I do not want to cause you panic or stress, but in order for anything else to move forward we must face the facts of the reality in which we live. To not do so, would mean that we would not learn the necessary lessons from our own experiences or those who came before us. We may be many things but let us not be ignorant fools. Let us listen to our elders, be mindful of the lessons these forebearers taught us and apply them in radical, life altering ways. Where there is despair, there can be hope. Where there is darkness, light can shine. Where pain exists, so too does joy rise up.

              So, what’s next? What can we do? What must we do to survive, to rebound, to create something better? The answer is that there are many ways in which we individually and collectively, via community & communal sharing can create safe space for us to do the work. This essay will not answer every question today, additional time, thought, and writing will come. As I have said throughout, we will look both backwards for wisdom and guidance from our elders, and forward into the future for what we shall envision anew for ourselves. Here at Thoughts at the Abyss, we will particularly find counsel in the writings of Toni Morrison and Octavia Butler and other Black writers, who I reverently believe saw true visions of past, present, and future. We shall listen and discuss and plan.

The first and most important thing is that we must not give into our fears and let our fears turn into apathy. Already there is too much apathy in the world; people disconnected from their very own realities, unable to realize what is right there in front of them. Because of this apathy, just as a cancer spreads causing more damage to the body, apathy also eventually spreads turning itself into outright hate for others, for blissful ignorance, for illogical and harmful ideologies to take root. We must resist this at every turn. Apathy is the enemy of empathy, coalition building, and logical thought. More than ever, we must both feel AND think in ways which are practical, solution oriented, and communal. Apathy will not help us here. Already recriminations and finger pointing has begun about the results of the election (let me state clearly here that as with fascism, it will lie, steal, and cheat its way into power. I do believe this has happened in this 2024 election result.) and rather than taking time to breath, think, and reflect so many have begun to blame, find grievance, and do more harm than good. There will be time for many difficult conversations ahead. Do not fall prey to your apathy, the public sense of apathy that pervades, or disinformation which feeds the feeling of hopelessness which apathy feeds on.

*I will return with additional follow up writing/essays on what’s next beyond not falling prey to our apathy in the coming days. We have a long road ahead of us. We will need community to get to the end of that road.