What Are You Doing On This God-Awful Day?
My good friend Rod posed the following question to a group of our friends a few hours ago: “How are you boycotting this holiday?” Here was my response to the group:
How best to boycott this god-awful day? Here's how I'm doing it.
For the most part, it's a regular day for us. I'm working for a few hours today.
I'm planning the future of LGAD (Let's Give A Damn) and GTSC (Good Trouble Supper Club).
I'm putting together the framework for an event in LA (stay tuned!) with my friends JP Saxe and other artists/leaders that will raise money for Palestine refugees.
We're watching The Teacher as a family this evening. By the way, if you haven’t subscribed to Watermelon+ yet, why not?
Today, we reminded our children that America has never been great and if it has a chance in hell of ever becoming great, that empire must crumble, capitalism must collapse, mutual aid must flourish, and we must fight like hell for collective liberation.
Today, we reminded our children that America is a violence-obsessed terrorism factory that has been at war for over 222 years of its 249 years of existence.
Today, we reminded our children that peace isn't the goal, liberation is the goal. We must do whatever we can and however we can until everyone is free. We can’t rest until Palestine is truly free. Until queer people are truly free. Until immigrants and refugees are truly free. Until Black and brown bodies are truly free. Every fucking human, animal, and tree. Truly free.
Today, we reminded our children that resistance requires rest. That if we are going to be in this fight for the long haul, we must treat our bodies, our minds, and our souls like the temples they are.
I'm fucking despondent. I'm fucking irate. I'm fucking heartbroken. AND I'm more resolved than ever to keep building a world made of love, liberation, and abundance alongside many of you.
This, my damn-giving friends, is how I am boycotting this god-awful day.
I'll leave you with this. Anglican Priest and brilliant human, Malcolm Guite, said the following in one of his videos: “It’s not a question of whether you’re on the winning side, it’s only a question of whether you’re on the right side. And if the right side is the losing side, then fight the long defeat.”
When all is said and done, I truly believe we'll win. But whether we win in our lifetime or our children's lifetimes or their children's lifetimes, we can know that we are on the right side. Love's side. Justice’s side. Liberation’s side.
Sending hugs and love to each and every one of you.
That’s it for this week, Thank you for reading. I'm truly grateful. Consider forward this email to a friend? Or send them this link so they can sign up. And you can always email me about anything. I’ll be back soon with good news and steps we can take together to build intentional community and to make our world a much better place. We have a lot of work to do, y’all. Sending love.
Keep giving a damn,
NICK LAPARRA
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