Great election closing video (shot pre-Covid) from Sunrise Movement.
(Or, as I like to call them, the people building our future.)
Don’t be scared.
Each of us has moments of courage like this.
Moments where we’ve moved out of our comfort zone.
Where we’ve taken a stand.
Those moments make up who we are.
They become our stories.
For me, it could be when I was arrested doing civil disobedience protesting apartheid.
Or when I first wore a pink triangle out in public as AIDS ravaged our community.
Or when I doorknocked in an impoverished Fresno neighborhood on a union organizing drive.
Or when I set up the lights for a photographer documenting the stories of women with HIV at UCSF...and I just listened and worked and did my best to help tell those powerful stories so that others could experience them, too.
And like AOC says, it’s about the WHY of it.
It’s about what brought us to that moment, to that choice.
Our decision to move forward.
With others.
Or by ourself.
What propelled us to get out of our comfort zone.
Moments where we ask ourselves, what do I have to give?
How do I find a way?
And, because AOC is such an amazing leader, she just unpacks that all for us.
She spells it out.
She doesn’t feel brave.
She does not know she’s being brave.
She’s just doing what she has to do.
And I recognize that bravery because, while it’s exemplary, it’s not unique to AOC.
::
I saw it in Dolores Huerta when I got the chance to work with her.
We were getting kicked out of a company cafeteria.
Security was rushing us.
Loud, booming voices.
People were harassing us and shouting at us.
And she was just the calmest person in the room.
She knew what had to be done.
And she did it.
And once you see that power in someone else.
Once you see how calm and powerful that focus can be.
You realize that you have that power in you, too.
And others see it in themselves, in turn.
::
That’s what AOC is telling Sunrise.
That’s what she’s telling all of us.
We’re not her.
But we’re all capable of standing up and fighting for what we believe.
We’re all capable of turning our fear into fuel.
And that, on some level, at the dawn of this new decade, is the election message we all need right now.
