avoiding distraction and doing the hard work
This post is inspired by the words and actions of a colleague at MSU. I deeply appreciate their leadership and care. Surround yourself with folks that inspire you.
It’s quite easy to get distracted by the chaos and cruelty that we are seeing recently. I have been going through a series of emotions and responses to the flood of news.
I tend to be a reactive and passionate responder. In part, that comes from my experience with racism, with being treated as different or less than throughout my life, and with the frustration of getting those in power to understand that. My reaction and passion also stem from the support of my family who always encouraged me to occupy any space that I wanted to and that no matter where I was, I belonged there. My family is loud, opinionated, and loving.
I have also been working to process the impact of the chaotic and cruel orders. I tend to process my understanding by writing out my ideas. I’m doing so now publicly.
Why?
Because I know I am not alone in my feelings. I know that my position is one of great privilege, and that I have a responsibility to use that privilege. I am also seeing the impact of these actions on my friends, my family, and my communities.
That shit hurts, y’all.
some recent news
Many of these actions cut me to my core; they refute the very essence of the American experiment.
I don’t know how to explain to my family why we have stopped delivering foreign aid to the most vulnerable people in the world. Doing so makes us all less safe; this work ensures that folks have access to the food and medical care that they desperately need. This aid acts as a first line of defense for a future epidemic in the region or a potential global pandemic.
I’m not sure how we decided to pause benefits to families and children in need. Programs like WIC, SNAP, and Medicaid have been lifelines for myself, family, and friends at different times in our lives. There is no shame in needing help, and there should be no delay in providing this aid to families and children.
I don’t have the words to explain to my kids why they are seen as less than whole people. I can’t explain why programs that remove barriers and level the playing field for children and workers are inherently bad. I have no words to explain to them that the people who are having their communities torn apart are not the enemy. It’s truly disgusting that we are raiding workplaces, schools, places of worship, and hospitals to arrest and deport people. And I’m not sure I’m able to convey how it feels to see people that look like you, that share your language and culture, and that share your family history of colonization and oppression, being treated as less than human.
I don’t understand how we can be so cruel to each other.
Then you wake up to a post like this:
🚨BREAKING. From a program officer at the National Science Foundation, a list of keywords that can cause a grant to be pulled. I will be sharing screenshots of these keywords along with a decision tree. Please share widely. This is a crisis for academic freedom & science.
— Darby Saxbe (@darbysaxbe.bsky.social) 2025-02-04T01:26:32.536Z
I have no idea how accurate this report is, but it doesn’t matter. It represents that fragility of the people in this administration. It demonstrates that they are not interested in the work of governance. It shows their understanding of the American experiment is at best skin deep. It simply demonstrates their cruelty. Their ham fisted and broad stroke approach to rewriting our history and deconstructing our institutions have been swift.
But, these folks don’t have any idea what they are doing. They are just trying to move fast and break things. They have no idea what to do when these things break, when judges shut down their actions, or when we demand accountability.
It’s not their fault, it’s not their problem, and it’s not their responsibility. That is their approach. They are fucking clowns whose problem solving skills are complete shit.
They have also never experienced the feelings of hunger; they have never worried about paying their bills; they have never received the repeated direct and indirect messages of “otherness” that so many feel. They see the world only through the lens that winning means that others lose.
Theirs is a myopic, childish, and petty view of the world.
We must treat it as such.
avoiding the distraction
I started this post with a list of things that I have been reading. These reports are not meant to terrify you, but to remind you that we are in a fight. We didn’t pick it, but we must fight it.
Their approach is to overwhelm us with chaos and cruelty. They are trying to distract us. But we cannot be. They are trying to make us feel powerless, alone, and afraid. But we are not. We have power in our communities. We have power in our collective action. We have power in holding our leaders accountable. It is important to remind ourselves that we still have the power to make change.
Critically, we must avoid the distraction and focus on the work that needs to be done.
I’m not telling you how to digest the news. I’m not telling you how to feel about it. And I’m certainly not telling you to ignore it. I’m telling you that we should (as my colleague taught us) take a moment to process our feelings, to understand the impact of these actions, and to focus on the work that needs to be done to blunt their impact.
I’m telling you this is temporary if we make it so.
You can start by writing your congressperson; believe me, they are listening. While they might not publicly refute the actions of the current administration, they are terrified of losing their jobs - and bro is making it easy for them to do so.
The scuttlebutt is that our representatives were happy when their phones stopped ringing after the freeze on federal grants and loans. We must make our elected uncomfortable. We must make them feel the pressure of our collective action. At every turn, we must pressure them to respond to actions that are cruel and chaotic.
You can also donate to organizations that are working to protect the most vulnerable among us. The list that I’ve created is not exhaustive, and it is not perfect. It also certainly represents my own biases. But it is a start.
Most importantly, focus on the communities around you. Check in on your friends and family. Make sure they are okay. Make sure they know that they are not alone. Make sure they know that they are loved.
You might be the only person that does that for them today.
doing the hard work
Although it seems like this chaos and cruelty arrived overnight, America has been a long project in the making. We’ve experienced this kind of cruelty before, and we’ve fought it before.
I’ve been thinking about what doing the hard work looks like. It certainly means showing up; it means using my privilege to protect those that are more vulnerable. It means using my platform to amplify the voices of those that are not heard or those who cannot speak up. It means holding our leaders accountable.
It means doing all that and still doing our jobs.
At work, this means I will continue my research and teaching unabated and unafraid. I will continue research that works to ensure all students have access to what they need to learn. I will continue to improve my teaching so that everyone in my class feels welcome and included. I will continue to advocate for the most vulnerable at my institution. I will not stop my work unless I receive a direct order to do so. And even then, I will resist because no one is going to tell me to stop working for the people who need those programs and experiences the most.
Doing the hard work means reminding ourselves of the value of diversity, equity, and inclusion – not as words, but as core values and principles that guide our actions. It means developing and exercising practices that continue to remove barriers, level the field, and include all voices.
It means working towards what I called, radical inclusion. Each of us experiences the world differently and, yet, all of us experience barriers to our success and belonging. Without addressing those real barriers, we don’t acknowledge the individual humanity of each of us. We continue to “otherize” folks and our division continues.
For me, this work is not optional. It is not something that I can choose to do; it is work that must be done.
But, I’m also reminded that I’m not alone in this work. I’m surrounded by people who inspire me to speak up, to be better, and to work harder. They remind me about the importance of fighting for fairness and belonging. And I’m catalyzed to action by their example.
We need that community so much right now, and it is our job to build it.
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last 10 posts
> it is not about saving money (2/27/25)> a townhall with our undergrads (2/25/25)
> a letter to barrett about doge (2/22/25)
> doing big public shit (2/21/25)
> why we still need a faculty union (2/19/25)
> we need an organizer mentality (2/12/25)
> avoiding distraction and doing the hard work (2/4/25)
> where to donate (2/3/25)
> our division has been engineered; what do we do about it? (1/31/25)
> i was invited to facul-tea (1/31/25)