i often get lost in hopelessness + a sense of defeat after witnessing the unrelenting inhumanity of our criminal “justice” system + immigration system.
however, there are times when a tenderness wells up in my belly—a call to imagine a more habitable and soft future—one where we, as a society, prioritize humanity, dignity, and community.
the reality is that we won’t survive without it. we are on the cusp of an era marked by mass human and non-human species movement.
forced displacement will be unparalleled in the face of climate change. experts have estimated that upwards of 25 million to 1 billion environmental migrants will be displaced by 2050. simultaneously, our world’s borders are more becoming more militarized, surveilled, and fortified than ever before. documents from the Pentagon released in the early 2000s identify climate change as one of the biggest threats of our generation. subsequent draconian immigration policies were drafted to keep people out of our country, with knowledge that the global south would be the canary in the coal mine during these massive environmental shifts.
as I write this, we are witnessing widespread internal displacement throughout the united states. countless families and individuals have lost homes and roots to fire, to water. millions are on the move to find refuge and safety within our own country. imagine if there were walls between each of our states to bar human movement—to hold people in a state of suffering and terror or criminalize attempts to reach safety.
massive changes are due to ensure the possibility of a habitable and humane future. i believe that begins with ridding of systems that perpetuate the promise of harm, that breed racism, that inflict great suffering on migrant communities and communities of color.
what if, in these scary times, we held each other in our fear + vulnerability? what would our world look like if we met each other with a spirit of abundance & generosity—if we extended understanding to those in need, those seeking relief from our reality?
that’s a world I’d like to live in.
