15 Questions About Revolution
By Mack
Sometimes I get tired of pretending I have all the answers. Asking questions can be really freeing. These are 15 questions I’ve been asking myself a lot lately.
Can I sideline my individual dreams and goals in pursuit of a more community focused way of being in the world?
How do I kill the internal narratives that tell me I will be the one to bring about revolution? Can I understand that any real change that will happen in the world will be the result of working with other people?
Am I ready to commit to organizing myself with others for life? Even if it’s not the same group of people, will I always remember that the only way to truly be held accountable is to be in community with others?
Am I ready to open my home to someone who needs a roof? Am I willing to share clothes, money, food and resources with those who need them? And not out of charity, but out of a genuine practice of mutual aid?
How do I accept and understand that everything I’ve been taught about gender and sexuality has been a lie? Am I ready to take accountability for the ways in which I’ve been taught to weaponize gender via heteronormativity?
Why am I so much more passionate about engaging conversations centering celebrity than I am conversations about everyday people?
Will I unplug from mindless television and gossip blogs for a few hours a week to flex my creative muscles? Revolution is nothing without imagination, and most of us have had ours beat out of us years ago.
How much time will I invest in reading revolutionary history and theory? Because the blueprints for revolution exist. Do I avoid reading because I want to have an excuse for not acting?
Will I allow myself to get so wrapped up in theory that I forget to practice? How will I hold myself accountable for finding balance?
Do I understand that a huge part of struggle is interacting with, and sharing knowledge with people who may not know everything that I know? Will I be patient with other Black people along this journey or will I allow myself to fall into traps of anti blackness?
Am I ready to walk in a world I am no longer invested in because I know that I must destroy it to build a better one?
Do I understand that we have nothing to lose? Or do I just say it because it sounds true?
Do I understand that no one is coming to save us?
Do I understand that we are running out of time?
Do I?