Welcome to Practicing the Future
A community of folks curious about and committed to practicing the future we long for in the here and now.
I just got home from Atlanta, GA where Acts of Reparation, a documentary feature film I’ve been involved with since 2020 screened at the Atlanta Film Festival. It was whirlwind of a weekend and the highlight was a lunch I co-hosted on Sunday with about 50 people interested in building community around the film and the impact work it is seeding across the country.
I’ve been thinking of my grandmother a lot lately— maybe it’s the dogwood trees that were in full bloom across Atlanta this weekend. Lela Nelson Rhodes, or “Bonny” as I called her, was from the south and embodied radical hospitality. Indeed she taught me nearly everything I know about it. Hospitality is a way of conveying to someone that they belong with you and with others. In a world where true belonging is rarified, to set a table and cook a meal and create a space where someone not only feels welcome but a part of something bigger, makes me think about this kind of hospitality, as a radical act. I’d like to think about this space as one for radical hospitality and belonging that stems from taking up the work that is ours to do towards healing and repairing the world.
What’s this substack about and what are you’re signing up for?
I started writing newsletters sporadically a few years ago as a way to explore ideas that might end up in a longer form essay or book some day. These days, a long form publication feels years away but the urgency I feel about the state of the world is daily and immediate and my belief ever more steadfast that community is the only path forward that gets us to a world in which all people have what they need to thrive and flourish and where we live in true interdependent freedom. Many people are doing essential and beautiful work towards this world— from organizing to legal advocacy, grassroots mutual aid, education, and so much more. My work in this effort is to support white folks into our work to understand who and where we come from and what is our work to do to heal and repair the historic harms committed against Native Americans and African Americans that still shape so much of our lives here in America today.
I expect to post twice monthly and will include reflections on the themes of repair, reparations, racial justice, power, and what it means to practice the future we long for in the here and now. I will also include links to opportunities to support and get involved with crucial Black- and Native- led work and other offerings to support learning and exploration.
For the time being thanks for being here and I look forward to being in community with you, practicing the future we long for in the here and now.