Hello friends and damn-givers,
Iām writing this at 11:30pm on March 2. A few hours ago, I was marching through the streets of Manhattan alongside 50,000 incredible folks in the pouring rain. At the top of our lungs, we chanted:
āFrom the river to the sea, Palestine will be free. From the sea to the river, Palestine will live forever!ā
āGaza Gaza you will rise, Palestine will never die!ā
āNot another nickel! Not another dime! No more money for israelās crimes!ā
āIsrael Israel you canāt hide! Youāre committing genocide!ā
As I marched alongside all kinds of peopleāmen, women, children, queer folks, Black folks, brown folks, white folks, Jews, Muslims, Christians, and people with no faith adherence at allāI was reminded, once again, that when we march for Palestine, we arenāt just march for Palestine, we are marching for all people everywhere to experience liberation. Collective liberation is the goal.
My friend and colleague Jacqui Lewis talks quite a bit about Ubuntu, the African philosophy: āI am because we areā or āI am because you are.ā You and I are deeply connected to every being on the planetāno matter where we are or who we are. When trans folks hurt, I hurt. When Black folks hurt, I hurt. When Palestinians hurt, I hurt.
āNo one of us is free until everybody is free.ā ā Maya Angelou
You wanna get free? Weāve got loads of work ahead of us. Letās fucking go.
Oh, and do you want to hear what we were chanting in the image at the top of this email? Tune in.
Before we move on, damn-giver Susan Sarandon was one of the incredible folks that gave speeches before we began marching on Saturday. I loved her words, her wisdom, and her heart and I wanted you to hear what she had to say.
Here are a few things I think you should read, watch, listen to, and consider as we approach this new week in which loads of damn-giving will be required of us:
šļø ARTICLE TO READ
Every person that cares about the future of our one and only home should care about the undeniable fact that meat is fucking up the planet and you should consider eating less of it. As you probably know, I am vegan. (What gave it away?) I do wish more people who give a damn would become vegan but I also understand itās difficult to stop eating things youāve been eating all your lives. At the very least, consider sweeping out beef?
A few highlights from this brilliant article:
āYou donāt have to become a vegan to have a big impact on your carbon footprint, you just have to swap out beef.ā
āAll animal foods have a higher footprint than plant foods because you have to produce plant foods first and then feed it to the animals.ā
Read the piece and let me know what you think.
šŗ VIDEO TO WATCH
My friend Josh Radnorāyou may him as Ted Mosby from How I Met Your Mother or as Lonny Flash from Huntersāreleased a new song the other day that I love love love! So many of the lyrics spoke to me but these lyrics impacted me deeply:
šµ Won't you please allow this sun
To light up whatās asking to be done
Please donāt set the sun
Before my work is said and done šµ
š§ QUOTE TO PONDER
āThe moment we choose to love we begin to move against domination, against oppression. The moment we choose to love we begin to move towards freedom, to act in ways that liberate ourselves and others. That action is the testimony of love as the practice of freedom.ā āĀ bell hooks
š§” COMMUNITY TO JOIN
Iām launching something in a few weeks that Iām so thrilled to tell you about! The Letās Give A Damn Cadre will launch in just a couple of weeks on 3/20. Iāll take a group of folks (no more than 50) through 12-weeks of coaching, community, and support. No matter who you are, where youāve come from, or what you do for a living, weāllā¦
ā saturate your hearts and minds with the belief that we can change the world together while fostering an environment that encourages free thinking about what this change can and should look like.
ā help you work toward collective liberation for all people through your work, your play, and through all that you do.
ā And so much more!
If you want to learn more and sign up, click here. Or if you have any questions about the cadre, just reply to this email and Iāll get right back to you.
šš½ SEE YA
Thatās it for this week! Thank youĀ for reading. I'm truly grateful. Consider forward this email to a friend?Ā Or send them this linkĀ so they can sign up. And you can always email me about anything. Iāll be back next week with good news and steps we can take together to make our world a much better place. We have a lot of work to do. Love y'all.
Peace and love,
Nick Laparra