Thriving Under Authoritarianism
18 Practices to Ground Us
“...its overarching spirit is one of belief in the power of words to help us realize the human need to resist oppression of any and all kinds without apology.”
–Alice Walker, 2023
In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens
“Blackbird, fly. Into the light of a dark, black night…”
–”Black Bird,” Beyoncé
Since November 6, I’ve felt just like a blackbird…flying into a dark, black night, but knowing that darkness is not without light…hope, growth, and opportunity.
I’ve been slow to speak publicly about the 2024 election results. I wanted to ensure that when I did speak I wasn’t just reacting. I’ve wanted my words (and actions) to come from a grounded place, so I’ve spent the last two months grounding and preparing myself. Because I don’t just intend to survive in 2025, but I am determined to thrive. I’ve long believed that we will survive because our ancestors survived and because we honestly don’t have another choice. But my list of practices and strategies to ensure I could thrive felt chaotic and all over the place…until I reread Alice Walker’s definition of womanism.
Womanism has long been the framework that informed my values, ethics, and politics, so it’s only natural that it would ground my strategy for thriving under a chaotic, traumatizing, and dehumanizing authoritarian rule. Alice Walker coined and defined womanism in her book, In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens, a collection of her essays published in 1983. What I love about Walker’s definition of womanism is that it addresses our wholeness, not just our relationship with oppressive structures. It doesn’t simply seek to give us power within systems of elitism, capitalism, and imperialism, but it seeks to upend those systems. It acknowledges the importance of our relationships with sexuality, culture, joy, the Divine, and other people. Walker’s definition captures Black womanhood with the nuance and humanity that is often erased from us. It creates a vision for true liberation. And that is exactly what we should lean into in the face of authoritarianism.
Walker offered a four-part definition of womanism, which you will find italicized below. Under the definitions are strategies and practices that I’ve outlined to ensure my ability to survive, thrive, and bring community along with me. I invite you to adopt and/or adapt these for your own roadmap. What is to come won’t be pretty or easy, but we can navigate it with power and authority. Let’s do that.
The Practices
“From womanish. (Opp. of “girlish,” i.e. frivolous, irresponsible, not serious.) A black feminist or feminist of color. From the black folk expression of mothers to female children, “you acting womanish,” i.e., like a woman. Usually referring to outrageous, audacious, courageous or willful behavior. Wanting to know more and in greater depth than is considered “good” for one. Interested in grown up doings. Acting grown up. Being grown up. Interchangeable with another black folk expression: “You trying to be grown.” Responsible. In charge. Serious.”
1. Embrace your power unapologetically. Do not shrink yourself. Be audacious, courageous, willful, and prophetic*. The erasure and dehumanization that is to come is designed to make you feel small. Refuse to give them that.
*Being prophetic isn’t about seeing the future (even though some contemporary churches use it that way). Being prophetic, in the biblical sense, is about speaking truth to power even in the face of danger, advocating for the vulnerable to the powerful, being a messenger from God to the people, and advocating on behalf of the people to God.
2. Stay informed. Make sure you’re educated about what is happening politically, culturally, and socially. Do not disengage to the point that you are ignorant of what is impacting your community.
3. Prioritize independent and nonprofit media sources. Corporate media outlets like CNN, The Washington Post, and The New York Times have not only failed to play their critical role in upholding and protecting democracy, but they have also proven their allegiance to the ruling class. It’s time for us to divest from outlets that are causing harm and profiting from the chaos that ensues.
4. Take strategic action where you can. It will be very easy to become overwhelmed because everything will be under attack. Make peace with the fact that you can’t do everything, but you can do YOUR thing. Find your lane, the space where you can have the most impact, and stay laser focused on that. Yes, action is voting, protesting, and advocating to legislators and elected officials. But there are so many other things you can do. I came across this list of actions that are not protesting and voting that I’ve saved as a reference. Find your lane and own it!
5. Make strategic decisions about where you’re spending your money. Are you shopping at a company that has rolled back its pledged diversity, equity, and inclusion work when there are other alternatives available to you? Are you choosing Amazon over an independent retailer in your area? Are you supporting the businesses of people you’re in community with?
6. Do not become numb to the dehumanization and suffering happening around you. We are going to see a lot of horrific things over the next few years. People around us…people we love…our neighbors are going to be treated horribly. It will be painful to watch, but we can’t turn our heads. We can’t become numb to the dehumanization of those around us, particularly those who look, live, love, and experience the world differently from us. Not feeling that pain, discomfort, and disgust not only enables it to continue, but it is a sign that we have been dehumanized and become numb to the suffering of others.
“Also: A woman who loves other women, sexually and/or nonsexually. Appreciates and prefers women’s culture, women’s emotional flexibility (values tears as natural counterbalance of laughter), and women’s strength. Sometimes loves individual men, sexually and/or nonsexually. Committed to survival and wholeness of entire people, male and female. Not a separatist, except periodically, for health. Traditionally a universalist, as in: ‘Mama, why are we brown, pink, and yellow, and our cousins are white, beige and black?’ Ans. ‘Well, you know the colored race is just like a flower garden, with every color flower represented.’ Traditionally capable, as in: ‘Mama, I’m walking to Canada and I’m taking you and a bunch of other slaves with me.’ Reply: ‘It wouldn’t be the first time.’”
7. Have sex…a lot of it. Make yourself feel good. Pleasure is essential to the human experience, so embrace it. Do it. FUCK! Whether it is partnered or solo, have the sex your body and soul need and deserve.
8. Root yourself in community. History has shown that deeply rooted community is how we survive and thrive…in good times and bad. Studies have also shown that people in community are more likely to resist authoritarianism. The shared resources, emotional support, and protection of community is essential to our wellbeing in this season of our lives.
9. But step away for health and self-care. Don’t be afraid to periodically step away to recalibrate yourself. Nothing that will be required of us in the coming days, weeks, months, and years will be sustained without us prioritizing our own physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual wellbeing. Take care of you. Turn off the news. Rest. Go on vacation. Take a nap. Refresh yourself. The fight will still be here when you return (unfortunately).
10. Remember our collective liberation is the goal. If your idea of freedom comes at the expense of someone else, you don’t want freedom, you want power over others. Central to all injustices is domination – one group exerting and maintaining power over another. We have to make the domination of others abnormal in society. Our liberation can be obtained without harming others and that must always be the goal.
11. Maintain hope in the face of hell. What I love about Afrofuturism is that it is a simple reminder that Black people are in the future. We survive. We have to be so committed to a future vision that nothing we encounter in the now shakes our faith in a liberated future.
12. Make a plan to survive whatever is to come. This could look like making sure your vaccinations are up to date, having an emergency preparedness kit (i.e. flashlights, canned goods, bottled water), or taking a firearms safety class. Do what you need to do to survive.
“Loves music. Loves dance. Loves the moon. Loves the Spirit. Loves love and food and roundness. Loves struggle. Loves the Folk. Loves herself. Regardless.”
13. Reclaim your joy and have fun. Do what you enjoy. Travel. Plan a dinner party. Go to a concert. Have fun. Don’t let what is happening around you stop you from doing the things that make you human and make life worth living.
14. Ground yourself spiritually. Whatever your spiritual practices are, hold them close. Allow them to guide you, strengthen you, and sustain you.
15. Pull from the strength, wisdom, prayers, and grounding of our ancestors. Our people have been here before, and your life is proof that they survived. Pull from their experiences and adopt and adapt as necessary for our current condition. Our ancestors are here to guide us. Let them.
16. Take care of yourself. Know what feeds our soul and do it…A LOT OF IT!
17. Rest. In the words of Tricia Hersey, the author of Rest Is Resistance, “I wish you a deep knowing that exhaustion is not a normal way of living. You are enough. You can rest. You must resist anything that doesn’t center your divinity as a human being. You are worthy of care.”
“Womanist is to feminist as purple is to lavender.”
18. Think deeper, richer, more intersectionally than others. Surface level is not good enough. We must always dive deeper, see further, and expand our understanding. It’s the only way we can truly build communities and cultures that work for all of us.