This Movement Will Take You So High and So Low

Authors

  • Mia Karisa Dawson University of California, Los Angeles

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14288/acme.v23i2.2388

Keywords:

Black Lives Matter, abolition, community organizing, empowerment, youth, queer identities

Abstract

I address this letter to myself on November 25, 2014, the day after the non-indictment of Michael Brown’s murderer, when a resounding silence in my college physics class sparked a fire in me and a journey of awakening and action. Somewhere between a love letter and a condolence, a reassurance and a forewarning, these words serve to soften my stumble towards empowerment and insight as I grow as a young organizer in the Black Lives Matter movement.

References

Decolonial Feminist Collective. 2021. Radicalizing + Decolonizing Feminism: Dr. Joy James, Jalessah T. Jackson, and Salome Ayuak. Charis Circle. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5Zwr25UXJc&t=4002s>. (Accessed: 5-March-2024).

Ewing, Eve L (2019) Mariame Kaba: Everything Worthwhile is Done with Other People. Adi Magazine.

Hilliard, David and Donald Weise. 2002. Speech Delivered at Boston College, 18 November 1970. The Huey P. Newton Reader. New York: Seven Stories Press. pp 60-180.

Payne, Charles. 1989. Ella Baker and Models of Social Change. Signs 14(4): 885–899.

A collage of photos and materials provided by issue authors. These include: a photo of a landscape with stars shining above a curved snowy road disappearing into a wooded horizon along the coast of Gichigami/Lake Superior; a cutout of cursive text written by Caitilin McMillan’s mother that reads “to the world's best heart”; a photo of Neelofer Qadir’s hand holding colorful postcards in front of the blue water of Gris Gris, Mauritius; a handwritten letter in Spanish dated August 1983 from Alana de Hinojosa’s grandmother to her mother, Evelina “Bebe”, asking for her to come back home to Calexico, California; a black-and-white troll block print and a Valentine's Day card with porcupine quills piercing a red-and-black heart and the handwritten message “Happy Valentines Day! Contains two genuine porcupine quills, picked clean by ravens. Love, Elspeth”; a black-and-white photograph of Dr. Donald Deskins Jr. in a three-point stance wearing a football uniform; a colourful poster with doves and peace flowers and text that reads “Viva! Viva! Palestina!”; an orange envelope reading “don't you dare write back!” with a hand-drawn scowling figure; a screenshot of a Zoom grid of smiling attendees at the American Association of Geographers 2021 Desirable Futures sessions; and background text and images from valentines written by Elspeth Iralu.

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Published

2024-04-15

How to Cite

Dawson, M. (2024). This Movement Will Take You So High and So Low. ACME: An International Journal for Critical Geographies, 23(2), 128–132. https://doi.org/10.14288/acme.v23i2.2388

Issue

Vol. 23 No. 2 (2024): Desirable Futures

Section

Special Issue: Desirable Futures

License

Copyright (c) 2024 Mia Karisa Dawson

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