Three months ago I read adrienne marie brown's slim volume "We Will Not Cancel Us" in one sitting on a Saturday afternoon.
I highlighted passages on almost every one of its 86 pages. I keep it at my desk and refer to it often for inspiration and motivation to keep doing the work when things feel heavy.
And as a reminder that just because someone tries to cancel me does not mean that I need to cancel them.
The subtitle of the book is "And Other Dreams of Transformative Justice."
On page one, she says: "I have felt us losing our capacity to distinguish between comrade and opponent, losing our capacity to generate belonging."
Lately I've been reading and sensing and witnessing and receiving a lot of cancel culture within social justice and equity communities.
A lot of you're doing it wrong. A lot of right/wrong, good/bad thinking. A lot of intimidation, shaming, attacking.
A lot of canceling.
I want to see more relationship building, collaboration, connecting.
That's what will lead to the transformative justice we claim we want.
On page 15, she says: "Can we hold each other, as the systems that weaken and distort our humanity crumble? Can we release our binary ways of thinking of good and bad in order to collectively grow from mistakes?"
I think we can. I think we must.