On Roe + Human Rights

This morning I’m sitting with grief.
I’ve already cried once already.
I feel angry.
Judgment.
Despair.

I’m thinking about how much I put on the line to try and avoid this.
Then I immediately think about those whose shoulders I stand on.
Folks who have spent their lives putting it on the line.
For abortion.
For liberation.
Harriet Tubman
Ida B. Wells
So so many.

I think about my privilege.
The ways that I’ve been able to feel free throughout my life.
How even now I won’t be terribly impacted.

Then I come back to grief.
Rage.

I feel shame that I tell you to take action, but today I don’t want to.

But then I remember the other things that I also say and believe…

We don’t all have to be in the game at the same time.Those who can protest today will.
Those who can’t or aren’t ready yet, we’ll find another day.

And also– we’re not protesting and fighting for liberation so that we can spend our lives fighting.
We also deserve joy and pleasure and peace.


So this morning I am sitting outside, feeling the sun on my face, tears rolling down my cheeks, letting the warmth of the sun and the love of an ever expanding, big, beautiful, queer family fill me back up. There are giggles and wonderings and an unrelenting desire to play (especially video games!)

But the truth is that I am scared for us.
I’m scared for what comes next.
For how much more I’ll lose and those I love will lose.
For how much more vulnerable so many already vulnerable folks will become.

And in this moment, I remember that love keeps us held.
It keeps us alive.
And it will help us heal and stay motivated to fight for all of us to live free.

It’s going to get worse before it gets better, and as a white person I simply must understand that worse for me is deadly for others.

We must learn to see each other, to love each other, to hold each other in our grief, and to lay it all on the line with the understanding that none of us are free until we’re all free.

For those of us with white cis woman privilege, I know you’re hurting right now. If you’re like me you’re moving through rage and fear and a desire to avoid it all. In many ways this is the first time that the attack has felt so personal. But in this moment, I implore us to step back and look around. This is not about abortion or choice, it is about liberation. It has always been about liberation and now it’s our work to keep it about liberation and not about us.

Let us follow the legacy and leadership of Black and Indigenous women and femmes, of trans folks, of folks with disabilities, and those who occupy all of these identities, because they are best suited to lead us now.

I’m holding this quote from Assata Shakur close today: 

“It is our duty to fight for our freedom. It is our duty to win. We must love each other and support each other. We have nothing to lose but our chains.”

with love + solidarity,
Victoria