Showing up for folks other than your "own"
Is ... well ... it's kind of really really really important. Really.
Beloveds,
First - thank you so much for the money you gave to support my friend who is in jail on those wafer-thin (b.s.) charges.
Within two days, y’all gave $400. Wow!
His family and I express our deep gratitude for your support — your support in cash and in continuing to hold them in your thoughts and hearts. (He’s still in jail as I write this.)
This is such a lovely example of folks coming together to support someone. Someone who might not necessarily be “your own” — someone who might not be friend or family; someone who might not share the same identity, class, race, religion, ethnicity, or neighborhood as you or your kids.
Thank you.
In turn, when they have the emotional reserves, this family can and will show up for someone else going through something.
Mutual support.
That’s how we build wider circles of deeper love.
That’s how we build support and solidarity and community.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: we need to link arms and speak up for each other — whether it affects you personally or not.
And especially if Project 2025 comes to fruition and the U.S. slides deeply — and this is not hyperbole — into an authoritarian state:

I want to share another example of gratitude I have for community.
In Durham have a lovely local Rainbow Storytime. I’m grateful for it.
It is hosted by Durham County Library and run by Rainbow Collective for Change. I’m grateful for our awesome public library and the Rainbow Collective for Change.
Last month, Rainbow Storytime was cancelled due to a bomb threat.
Oof. A bomb threat.
The threat was called in specifically against Rainbow Story Time, and specifically because it is LGBTQIA+ inclusive.
How awful.
I know there has been a lot going on in the news lately. It’s … a lot.
But we can’t let that can’t stop our hearts from breaking every time something awful happens.
Instead of despairing, we can ask ourselves: in what ways does this invite us into solidarity?
Invite us into expanding our circles of care?
OR — do you say to yourself, “Eh. This isn’t personal for me. This isn’t my kids.”
Dude.
What if all harm was personal for all of us?
Are we not all beloved beings, with that of the Divine within us — each and every one of us?
Yes. I think so. I think we are.
We can’t do everything every time, but we can do SOMETHING, big or small.
In our house, we wanted to make sure Rainbow Collective for Change felt supported and loved after such a horrible threat.
So we set up a “Make a Bunting of Support” station at our Little Free Library.
Neighborhood folks stopped by to decorate a flag.
We strung them together into a bunting of love and support.
Is it a big thing? Earth-shattering? No. Obviously, no. It’s not a huge thing, but it’s something.
What are ways that you do, or could, show up in a diverse solidarity?
Marches and demonstrations? (Did you show up for Black Lives Matter? If not, how could you do so now?)
Movements? (Did you support the taking down of confederate statues after the 2017 Charlottesville white supremacist rally? Did you check on your Jewish friends?)
Showing up to, or calling in to support peoples targeted in white-supremacist violence? Like Black churches (Mother Emanuel in Charleston in 2015), or synagogues (like after the Tree of Life massacre in Pittsburgh in 2018), or mosques (like after the 2019 massacre in Christchurch, New Zealand).
How else?
So many ways!
Coming to court to support grieving families.
Yard signs.
Postcards to voters.
Donations.
Phone calls to your elected officials.
Letters to prisoners.
Simply saying hello and introducing yourself to your neighbors.
Any or all of the above and more.
Why?
Because building a diverse community working against oppression together is the basis of resistance and liberation.
Because solidarity makes all the difference.
Because no one is free until everyone is free.
Because we are all in this together.
XOXO
So well said!
Such an important and heartfelt reminder. ❤️ I was woefully ignorant of all the “others” masked with colors and shapes. Hey, is your friend still in need of funding? Maybe email on that with process and links. Your mom has my contact info. Text or email work.