Rejecting perfectionism is a worldview.
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America is on fire after watching yet more unarmed black people get killed on screen, and I spent a good chunk of the weekend self-centeredly wringing my hands. Should I post? What's the right tone? Should I donate? To what organizations? Was I already too late?
I eventually got so fed up with my inaction that I just started signing up for things, including an informational session about SURJ's #EndWhiteSilence initiative. On that Zoom call I relearned something that is an essential part of my creative work, to the point that I teach classes based on it: the rejection of perfectionism.
I used to think perfectionism was a mindset that helps us achieve actual perfection. I pictured a Reese Witherspoon character functioning at peak performance forever. After years of DOING NOTHING in the midst of my perfectionism, my image of it is different now. It's a person curled up in bed, under covers, catatonic. Perfection isn't real, so perfectionism makes nothing.
I didn't realize this applied to activism. I was hung up on making a comprehensive statement, finding the perfect organization, and joining the movement in the exact right way. But it turns out you start by doing anything. Did your first tweet make you sound like a white savior? Okay! Make your second one better. Did the first organization you donated to turn out to be a front for a white supremacist organization? Wow. I mean, yikes, for sure. But you know, pick yourself back up, and find a better place to put your money!
Rejecting perfectionism has helped me so much in my creative life, and it's a joy to discover just how large the implications are of prioritizing progress over perfection. Today, I organized my first protest. 9 people showed up. But I planned for 3!
Well-Read for Filth
I've been reading about police abolition the past few days. It's something I'd heard about but never investigated. If you're unfamiliar, the idea might seem dangerous. It is radical, but the biggest danger it poses is to the status quo. I'm starting to see it as a love-filled, deeply just idea that involves a lot of patience and long-term thinking. Now is the time for considering big, uncomfortable, and unfamiliar ideas. Join me in learning more about the police abolition movement with the resources I've used to start learning!
This Chicago Reader article from 2016 about alternatives to policing, including an idea as simple as daily barbecues on a particularly violent street corner.
The glimpses I'm getting of the work Assata's Daughters is doing. They're clearly more active in the community than online if you poke around their web presence, which is all the more interesting and inspiring to me.
This compendium of Reader articles.
I've also found a few other antiracist and protest resources I'm looking forward to diving into more.
This aesthetically pleasing list of actions you can take to protest if you can't be out on the street (helpful for my fellow immunofucked folks!).
This antiracism resource guide that lists some of the same books and movies as the last link but adds a lot more articles, if you're a article guy.
Finally, Seth Simons' Humorism is a newsletter I've been reading for a few months. He's a journalist who writes about labor in the comedy industry. He had been doing some really interesting writing on standup during coronavirus, but his latest was about how late night hosts need to do better than asking softball questions of their politician guests this week and why they won't. It's a beat I don't see covered anywhere else, and he covers it in depth and with finesse. I highly recommend it!
What It Do
These are places I've donated, if you want somewhere to start your own donations.
Chicago Community Bond Fund to help get protestors out of jail as quickly as possible. You can find a bunch more bail funds, perhaps more local to you, right here.
Assata's Daughters, mentioned above. You can read more about their amazing work in this Twitter thread.
Black Visions Collective for direct-to-Minnesota activism.
I'm also finding this semi-comprehensive list helpful, as it breaks donation locations down by category (victims, protestors, black-owned businesses, etc.). Speaking of black-owned businesses, I'll probably order a few of these slick 30-day planners from Alter Planning Co. I love a good notebook, and they have some great free downloads too.
I Want to Make a Mix for You
This is the first all-new mix I've made specifically for the newsletter, with a big assist from my best friend Drennen Quinn (his America's Greatest Rock Band podcast is very stupid and good). Warning: this playlist might be upsetting! Music is a good receptacle for violent feelings, and much of this is violent music. It's called Burn It Down. Enjoy it, use social media however it works best for you, and do anything antiracist this week. Stay safe!