Resistance is . . .
June's blogging prompt comes courtesy of CiKeithia.
It’s Juneteenth, an important time to reflect and celebrate. Lately, I’ve felt unsettled. I keep coming back to this question: “Am I really free?”
I know there is a wealth of examples that show the resilience and beauty of my community, but the struggle remains intertwined. The active erasure of history, the rollback of civil protections, and the myth of meritocracy feel like deep and repeated wounds.
I need to center healing, and it’s in this spirit that I call on all of us who are committed to equity and justice to speak louder than ever before.
How are you practicing resistance?
CiKeithia: For me, resistance is the following:
Honoring and acknowledging the foundation my ancestors laid for the ongoing work of liberation, equity, and justice.
Using my lived experience and cultural work not only to understand how structural power remains intact, but also to confront it. I’m learning that meaningful change isn’t always big and bold—it can also live in the small, subtle things we do every day. I’m focused on building power in community.
Resistance means never stopping the belief that we deserve better.
LaToya:
Resistance is sacred. It’s not only the marches, the protests, or the petitions; it’s also the quiet, intentional acts of care we offer to ourselves and each other. As a Black woman who believes in the power of holistic healing, I see resistance in every breath I take that’s not consumed by urgency. In every moment I choose rest over grind. In every circle where we gather to share stories, hold space, and remind each other that we’re not alone.
Our healing is political. Our rest is revolutionary. In a world that benefits from our exhaustion and disconnection, choosing to be well, choosing to slow down, choosing to build community, that is resistance.
My cousins and I are carrying this forward in the ways that matter most: by holding each other through life’s turns, keeping constant connection alive with calls, texts, laughter, and grace. We take trips together, share our grandmothers’ stories like gospel, and love each other deeply-even from afar. We pray for one another. We celebrate each other’s wins, big and small. This is how we honor our lineage. This is how we resist; by refusing to let love slip through the cracks of our busy lives.
And when it all feels too heavy, I return to the sound that has carried generations: “Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound.” That song is my resistance. It reminds me that I am never lost, that I come from people who endured, who healed, who sang even in sorrow. That melody lives in my bones, calling me back to myself, back to faith, back to freedom.
Our ancestors didn’t just survive, they sang, danced, prayed, and held each other close. That’s the legacy we continue. A legacy of softness in the face of hardness, of connection in the face of isolation.
So, when I say resistance is, I say: it’s being. It’s being well. It’s being whole. It’s being together. And sometimes, it’s a song that saves us.
Heidi: Resistance is . . .
I wanted to sit with this prompt for a few days and take time to notice all the ways resistance is happening in our community. Here are a few things I connected to resistance: the article The Battle for Our Memory Is the Battle for Our Country by Kimberlé W. Crenshaw; the work of Kahlil Greene, the Gen Z Historian, giving historical context to today’s events; a “Black Love Matters” sticker I spotted on a bicycle while out riding; artists using public art to protest ‘state violence;’ the many students who used their graduation platforms to speak out about the genocide in Gaza; Representative Pramila Jayapal’s Resistance Lab; the recent news about the Uncle Sam billboard off I-5 near Chehalis, now owned by a local tribe; and community protests and actions against the inhumane ICE raids, from Los Angeles to our local neighborhoods-including Nezza singing the national anthem in Spanish at the LA Dodgers game. And of course, as Tricia Hersey reminds us, Rest is Resistance.
There are so many ways to resist.
Keeping history alive and connecting it to today’s context is resistance.
Creating art is resistance.
Challenging oppressive power is resistance.
Building power is resistance.
Acting in solidarity with Land Back is resistance.
Protesting is resistance.
Organizing is resistance.
Singing in our languages is resistance.
Resting is resistance.
Tell us about how resistance is showing up in your life?