Reposted with permission from @sammaybabay bc my sisters say it better than I ever could MAKIBAKA! HUWAG MATAKOT! ~ Salamat to my sis and our collective ate @rubyibarra for comin’ through with the truthspeak at last night’s VIGIL FOR DEMOCRACY in LA. Like most, I didn’t have the words yesterday. I felt tunnel vision overcome me with just once glance at the presidential election numbers in the morning. I had gone to sleep with so much hope in my heart and woke up to a reality I could not believe was actually happening in real time, across oceans. I felt such a depth of grief — the kind that comes when you least expect it. I felt varying levels of paralysis — the kind that overwhelms you when you’ve entered a trauma response, except I knew this one was a response to historical trauma, ancestral trauma. I knew I was tapped into the shared umbilical cord with our beloved motherland, and that honestly nothing could matter more in that moment. I am grateful to be in community in times when we need to come together in solidarity. I am grateful for our community leaders who remind us we have not lost and never will. I am grateful for our community organizers who remind us the THE POWER WILL ALWAYS BE WITH THE PEOPLE. I am grateful for our artists, healers, educators, storytellers, and cultural workers who are here to help us RE-MEMBER our true histories, so that we may deepen in our sociopolitical analysis and re-align with our collective consciousness. We need you now more than ever. ISULONG! ✊🏽🤎 #NEVERAGAIN