And Stacey Abrams
Nilofer!
I was thinking about disappointment. How even though we have elected a leader who is a decent human being who wants to work to advance equality and opportunity for all Americans, we also saw that staggering numbers of our fellow citizens feel dramatically differently about things. For many of them, and I truly believe this, it’s not that they are white supremacists, but they are blind to the institutionality of white supremacism. It’s not that they are rapists or misogynists, but they are able to shrug it off because they feel the current leader has other redeeming qualities. It’s not that they are dumb, it’s that they are being propagandized to by cynical media barons with a vested interest in distorting reality for profit.
And so, I got to thinking about Georgia, where so many of the shenanigans of recent electoral politics have come into play, and I got to thinking about Stacey Abrams, and how close she came to being governor — how she likely should have been governor, if no for a voter suppression effort that we have now seen used as a template throughout the rest of the country. And yet, when Abrams lost her election, she didn’t pout, she didn’t play victim, even though she was one, if there ever was, and she didn’t sue. She built. She built a grassroots voter turnout organization in this bright red former state of the Confederacy that gave people a reason to hope.
Little could she have known in 2018 how much hope we would need in 2020. How much darkness there would be. She used hope not to improve, as you say, her own pecking order, but to create new power, shared power, in a way that only she could. Power that could lead to great things far beyond what she might have accomplished even as the governor. And I just got to thinking about that, and wanted to know what you thought.
Paul,
Stacey Abrams shows us the power of owning our own narrative. (aka narrative power).
So many of us accept the perspective others might assign. “Loser” for example. Because that’s the opposite of the “winner” of the election that day. But also, “not leaderly enough,” or “too shrill,” or “troublemaker.” None of which are actually “true” even if they are true for the person speaking it.
Who defines the story?
I loved how when Stacey “lost” the race in Georgia in 2018, she never gave a concession speech. She, instead, acknowledged how many votes had been left uncounted or people “flushed” from the polling rolls by her opponent in the race; Brian Kemp, who was also the secretary of state (i.e., in charge of how the election was run).
She focused her attention and her work (and her message) on those she hoped to serve, and would serve, regardless of any title.
I call this narrative power because this is own how any instance fits into your narrative; you define how x instance plays into your story arc, any particular instance does not define you.
And Paul, what a great lesson that is for all of us lovebugs.
To know you get to define your story, and not have it define you. To know what matters to you is what lets you decide the next step, not what others imagine is possible for you.
I hope that helps you turn your face towards hope. Hope is that not a fledgling fleeting thing; it is like a song that lives in your heart. and you sing that tune (however offkey) because it is the song you were called to sing. Or, as Dickinson said, hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul. Let it fill you.
– Nilofer
And, p.s. Paul, I know you started talking of all those who keep the system oppressive, and I just ignored the amount of airspace they got. It’s not that I don’t understand the instinct; it’s natural to start from where we are. But can I encourage you and others to put attention — turn your face towards the warmth of better suns — how change happens?
Instead of “changing hearts” (by people whose instinct is to oppress), let’s focus on changing systems and cultures that give a disproportionate amount of power to the few. Abrams did that by finding “new” voters in Georgia, we can do that by building “new” ways of working.
