Hopeful letters from friends

I received this email from my friend Adele Carpenter that I thought Enough readers would appreciate. It’s so important to remember how much grassroots movements could really use a little economic stimulus right about now.

Dear loves,

Some of you may have been privy to the international gross-ness known as last week. We are officially turning the beat around, as of Monday, starting with the full moon, okay? If you were somehow spared the pervasive bummerness of last week, be glad.

Part of this upturn for me is I randomly received a cash-out check from the public employee retirement system of Oregon from when I was a bridge operator, a job that ended in 2004. Needless to say, this came as a welcome surprise. I’m grateful my job seems momentarily stable, but working half-time with school has it’s challenges. Anyway, resisting initial impulses to shoe shop online, I went on a mini funding rampage and am wanting to share with people I care about some of the pleasing results, as well as who I am placing my chips on while it all hits the fan.

• Much like zappos.com, I experienced a sense of wellbeing and abundance upon clicking order confirmation buttons.
• My room won’t soon be full of tissue paper or other packaging crap.
• I won’t have to get rid of anything else I own to fit my funding of left organizations.
• If shit really hits the fan, I’ll have to pick my sturdiest and ugliest pair of shoes and run anyway, whereas in this case, more people will have had a chance to develop and invest in left movement building and analysis.
• Despite my and everybody’s persistent fears about money, now is the most needed time to invest in economic and racial justice organizing. The economic crisis increases the urgency of this work, but cuts directly into communities’ ability to fund it.
• As CR put it, we can’t let capitalism’s crisis determine our ability to vision for our future.

I offer these findings as things to bear in mind during tax return season and the possible stimulus situation that may come our way, as well as if anyone randomly gets some benefit check from a bygone job like I did. I encourage you to think about funding the work you’de like to see right now. To give you an idea who that includes for me:

• I’m an ongoing donor and volunteer with the Catalyst Project, which does anti-racist political education with mostly white sectors of the left. I believe deeply in their work and it’s urgency at this time: www.collectiveliberation.org
• I am a monthly sustainer of People Organized to Win Employment Rights in San Francisco. POWER
• I am a monthly sustainer of Critical Resistance, and believe now is a critical time to fight prison expansion.
• Yesterday I donated to INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence, CHAMP (Community HIV/AIDS Mobilization Project), FIERCE! New York, and Safe Streets, Strong Communities in New Orleans.

I’d love to chat with you about any of this. Hit me up. Also, I want to state my continued commitment to good footwear and my strong belief in its role in our collective liberation,

xo,
adele.