Grounded Hope: onward to the (r)Evolution
This poem was created by a group of present and future leaders, graduate students of international affairs at Columbia University, who met in the hot sun of an unseasonably warm fall day in New York, two days after the US election. They brought their states of being- grief, despair, frustration, resolve. We parted not before sharing visions of a future, now woven into a collective poem, a tincture of grounded hope.
Grounded Hope
We exist because of our connections to each other.
No separation between our bodies, nature, home.
From margins to center.
We return to the lands of our ancestors,
with endless faith that we will create positive change.
We got here by community organizing.
We are ready to take responsibility,
for tending the land and each other.
We choose to create community and safety, to meet all of our needs with unburdened joy.
Organizations that reflect our diversity.
Racial equity in governance, run by us, the people.
We see freedom from patriarchal, exploitative U.S. imperialism.
Queer people of color creating spaces of safety and happiness across borders.
Sometimes the fight takes a little longer than expected to win.
But we have not lost.
We are fulfilled by more than our careers.
We feel safe and content among the community.
We thrive in community, everyone’s needs met.
Hope? Fuck hope.
Give us sovereignty.
Our imaginations are limitless.
And we have all the tools we need
to support each other during difficult times.
Systems transforming.
Revolution already underway.
