Somatic coach and organizer, Aaron Jamal, provides a timely reminder to fight for emancipation in ongoing times of extreme oppression.
Apocalyptic hurricanes in my home state of North Carolina and cataclysmic firestorms on the other side of the country have my throat in a vice grip.
I’ve been an organizer for 10 years, and I have contributed mightily to the freedom of Black people and those who love us. I have spent the last decade of my life moving along the path of accepting my holy calling. Today I am a dad to the precious joy of my life, a staff member of BOLD and am living more fully into my commitments to Raise an Army of Love & Tend to the God in Me. My earliest memories of mine are of red Church pews and large hats, of long family prayers over meals and of dignified Black people singing, swaying and praising to make meaning out of life. And even with my organizing experience, even in my grounding in this rich prophetic tradition, I often look at the state of the world and feel terrified.
How could I look at the world and not feel a sense of terror? When I look unflinchingly at the catastrophic situation I find myself in, my stomach tightens. My tongue dries out, and I feel a tremble down my lower back. My breath almost feels restricted. My extremities began to cool. It isn’t hard to understand why: humanity’s sprint towards natural collapse and social oblivion seems completely inevitable given the sheer monstrosity of the present. Take for instance the staggering degree to which the capitalist classes have concentrated wealth at the expense of the rest of the Earth. The imperialists have monopolized capital to such an extent that as of January 2022, “the top 1% have captured nearly 20 times more global wealth than the bottom 50% of humanity.” To further illustrate the point: “if the 10 richest men lost 99.999% of their combined wealth, each of them would still be richer than 99% of the world.” Of course, unbelievable concentrations of capital, wealth and power are at the expense of their two primary sources, the people and the planet. Neo-colonial domination continues to wreak havoc on 85% of humanity, as evidenced by the ongoing social misery in almost every nation in the Global South, not to mention in my own backyard. The result of capital’s concentration and colonial domination of the world for over half a millenia has led to a potential climate and planetary collapse. Like the prophet Jonah, I am at risk of being swallowed whole.
The choice before me is emancipation or extinction. The temptation to resign myself to simply denouncing what’s wrong rather than lead on what’s right? It’s there. The temptation to hide and conceal my feelings of anguish and horror rather than to grieve together? It’s there. The temptation to surrender to self-righteousness or give in to self-disregard? It’s there. But every time I feel I can no longer go on, something comes along to accompany me. I have realized that by being a doer of the word, by embodying a life of ferocious love, I have decided that “if it is necessary, it is possible.” In every apocalyptic moment in history, there have been people who have decided to become the agents and authors of their own fate. Shaken by the harrowing catastrophes of their day, they opted to view their suffering as a potentially creative force that could be transformed into the kind of power needed to overcome the dire moment they found themselves in. Not only that- but these people, these revolutionaries, knew that to win what our people deserved, it was necessary to unite not just on the basis of what we deserve or what we are up against, but to go about living a life of emancipation rather than cowering in the shadow of extinction. This was true for exemplary ancestors like Marsha P. Johnson & Cecile Fatiman. Our time calls on those of us for whom a liberatory future is not just a desire but a calling to rise together and muster the courage to say no to extinction and yes to emancipation.
These words need not be an abstract calling. We can take action, right now, to further the fight for emancipation. You can support the call to Free Joy Powell and Mahmoud Khalil, two freedom fighters unjustly abducted by the criminal incarceration system. You can attend safety training like the ones offered by Siembra NC in defense of immigrant communities. You can support the historic labor upsurge of unions like the North Carolina Association of Educators who are fighting for union recognition in the old confederate south in counties like Durham. You can become active members of organizations like the Carolina Federation, an organization in North Carolina building a new political majority powerful enough to win elections and govern society.
Being a great organizer requires that I love the way I lead and live my life. It means I accept that in every moment I maintain my dignity, connection, belonging and purpose. It means that under all circumstances I am responsive to and responsible for the world. As an organizer I am convinced that my decision for emancipation, for greater and more life in all circumstances, must go beyond simple ideology or self- proclaimed belief. It must live in my body and saturate my bones. My knees unlock, my jaw loosens, my shoulders drop, my stomach unclenches. I take solace in knowing our powerful predecessors look proudly at me.
They can’t wait for us to win.
