Your passionate, powerful & uncompromising writing is the very definition of what 'showing up' looks like on this platform, and I personally know how authentically that manifests in your offline activism too. May Juneteenth continue to inspire all of us to show up where we can and whenever we can. The lessons of history have never been more relevant and the consequences of ignoring them never so stark.
Ms Ava...so poignantly spoken ..these truths that SHOULDbe self evident... that all are created equal..as a teenager Freedom Rider in the 1960s and as a lifelong SNCC member now an elder..my heart but not my spirit is broken..so your words of encouragement and grit and beauty to fight on..for the "we" of us must prevail...we cannot grow weary..come to far to turn back now. ASHAY!
Ice cream truck innocence, replaced by surveillance. Our joy criminalized. The act of stepping outside becomes resistance. Thank you Ava, for naming what too many try to ignore.
Thank you for sharing. I’m a first generation Mexican-American filmmaker who currently has many side jobs including uber driving. I recently had a passenger who was upset to experience so much hate and discrimination as a black woman in the USA who had just been presumed at a convenience store to be paying with EBT when she is not on EBT herself. I supported her, advocated for her, but then the conversation shifted. She began to say very inaccurate, insensitive remarks about Mexicans deserving the current treatment from ICE. I pulled over, I, holding back tears, apologized as I explained I wouldn’t be able to complete the ride. She opened her door and looked at me with tears streaming down her face, her words asking me if I was doing this because of her skin color cut deep into my heart. I explained I was 100% Mexican and couldn’t hold space for her statements... Together we then crossed the river of divide. We connected, through tears, and remembered the call to action in leading with our own compassion and desire to create healing through respectful conversation. She apologized and asked me to educate her on the misinformation and complexities… In the remaining five minutes we bonded in shared history, discrimination, and by the time we got to her home she and I were thanking one another for our reciprocal patience and humanity and kindness.
Your post today resonated with me so deeply. At the heart of your message I hear the call that if we want our society to care, lead with kindness, and freedom, then it begins with us, with how we choose to show up for one another daily.
Dear Ava, Thank you, Thank you for your wonderful words.
Poignant, truthful, visionary - and so very important and critical at this time. It is hard to know where to start, how to assist, where to put energy and time so I could be useful. As some of the greatest teachers always say; nothing beats the "sending of unconditional love", in thoughts, in prayers, in actions. And as Lord Buddha would say: be quiet, go within, and the BEST plan of action will be revealed.
Thank you Ava. You are a shining light, a force of intelligence and goodness. Bless you.
Beautifully written, Ava. Thank you for continuing to be a voice for the oppressed and for encouraging us to truly know our history and to show up for others.
@Ava, this moved me so deeply I had to sit with it for a moment before I could even respond. I don’t always have the poetic language, but I felt every word. Thank you for naming what so many of us sense but don’t know how to say. Thank you for reminding us that freedom isn’t a solo pursuit, and that our silence, especially in seasons like this, is not neutral.
I feel things shift in my body when summer comes. But this year, it’s different. There’s a heaviness in the air, and your words gave shape to that feeling.
The image of ICE vans replacing ice cream trucks, of public space becoming a danger zone, that will stay with me. That should stay with all of us.
Thank you for being brave enough to hold beauty and truth in the same breath. Thank you for calling us to remember, to reckon, and to rise.
“The slavecatchers wear different uniforms now…” This affects ALL of us and we must all stand against it together in solidarity!! Thank you for this message! ❤️
I live in Australia, yet your voice reaches me. You write powerfully and I appreciate it. It helps keep me in touch with what is happening in your world. And yes it is all connected. We are living through the make it or break it time.
Thank you so much for that wake-up post. Yes, we should remember that we are al in this together. Although Black people have carried most of the load fighting for equal rights and then benefiting the least, we still have to join forces with all who are suffering. Perhaps this needed to happen for all the non-blacks who FAFO to understand what we've been saying all along. Spectators become participants only when they are forced into the ring. Hopefully those who voted against their own interests and families have learned their lessons, and the the next time we Black have to fight for our lives, they will join us. Like you said, this is just a rehearsal to see what they can get away with. And if we don't fight, they will come at us much harder than they already do.
As Dr. Stacey Patton opined, “to claim our right to simply be”…. May that be our clarion call to move ourselves out of complacency, fear, and doubt to embrace the journey to lead lives of purpose and being. Thank you Ava and Dr. Patton for your beautiful words.
Your passionate, powerful & uncompromising writing is the very definition of what 'showing up' looks like on this platform, and I personally know how authentically that manifests in your offline activism too. May Juneteenth continue to inspire all of us to show up where we can and whenever we can. The lessons of history have never been more relevant and the consequences of ignoring them never so stark.
Ms Ava...so poignantly spoken ..these truths that SHOULDbe self evident... that all are created equal..as a teenager Freedom Rider in the 1960s and as a lifelong SNCC member now an elder..my heart but not my spirit is broken..so your words of encouragement and grit and beauty to fight on..for the "we" of us must prevail...we cannot grow weary..come to far to turn back now. ASHAY!
Yes we must prevail, step by step. Ava's words area beautiful.
Ice cream truck innocence, replaced by surveillance. Our joy criminalized. The act of stepping outside becomes resistance. Thank you Ava, for naming what too many try to ignore.
Thank you for sharing. I’m a first generation Mexican-American filmmaker who currently has many side jobs including uber driving. I recently had a passenger who was upset to experience so much hate and discrimination as a black woman in the USA who had just been presumed at a convenience store to be paying with EBT when she is not on EBT herself. I supported her, advocated for her, but then the conversation shifted. She began to say very inaccurate, insensitive remarks about Mexicans deserving the current treatment from ICE. I pulled over, I, holding back tears, apologized as I explained I wouldn’t be able to complete the ride. She opened her door and looked at me with tears streaming down her face, her words asking me if I was doing this because of her skin color cut deep into my heart. I explained I was 100% Mexican and couldn’t hold space for her statements... Together we then crossed the river of divide. We connected, through tears, and remembered the call to action in leading with our own compassion and desire to create healing through respectful conversation. She apologized and asked me to educate her on the misinformation and complexities… In the remaining five minutes we bonded in shared history, discrimination, and by the time we got to her home she and I were thanking one another for our reciprocal patience and humanity and kindness.
Your post today resonated with me so deeply. At the heart of your message I hear the call that if we want our society to care, lead with kindness, and freedom, then it begins with us, with how we choose to show up for one another daily.
Thank you most infinitely 🙏🏽
Dear Ava, Thank you, Thank you for your wonderful words.
Poignant, truthful, visionary - and so very important and critical at this time. It is hard to know where to start, how to assist, where to put energy and time so I could be useful. As some of the greatest teachers always say; nothing beats the "sending of unconditional love", in thoughts, in prayers, in actions. And as Lord Buddha would say: be quiet, go within, and the BEST plan of action will be revealed.
Thank you Ava. You are a shining light, a force of intelligence and goodness. Bless you.
I like your comment, I agree Ava is visionary.
Powerful, soaring writing. You want to hear it or annunciate it out loud.
Always beautiful …… in all things! You do all things with such style and grace. 💕
Beautifully written, Ava. Thank you for continuing to be a voice for the oppressed and for encouraging us to truly know our history and to show up for others.
@Ava, this moved me so deeply I had to sit with it for a moment before I could even respond. I don’t always have the poetic language, but I felt every word. Thank you for naming what so many of us sense but don’t know how to say. Thank you for reminding us that freedom isn’t a solo pursuit, and that our silence, especially in seasons like this, is not neutral.
I feel things shift in my body when summer comes. But this year, it’s different. There’s a heaviness in the air, and your words gave shape to that feeling.
The image of ICE vans replacing ice cream trucks, of public space becoming a danger zone, that will stay with me. That should stay with all of us.
Thank you for being brave enough to hold beauty and truth in the same breath. Thank you for calling us to remember, to reckon, and to rise.
In solidarity and with so much gratitude,
Monique 💜
“The slavecatchers wear different uniforms now…” This affects ALL of us and we must all stand against it together in solidarity!! Thank you for this message! ❤️
Hi Ava,
I live in Australia, yet your voice reaches me. You write powerfully and I appreciate it. It helps keep me in touch with what is happening in your world. And yes it is all connected. We are living through the make it or break it time.
“Let us draw the parallels and link arms.” - ALWAYS!
Thank you so much for that wake-up post. Yes, we should remember that we are al in this together. Although Black people have carried most of the load fighting for equal rights and then benefiting the least, we still have to join forces with all who are suffering. Perhaps this needed to happen for all the non-blacks who FAFO to understand what we've been saying all along. Spectators become participants only when they are forced into the ring. Hopefully those who voted against their own interests and families have learned their lessons, and the the next time we Black have to fight for our lives, they will join us. Like you said, this is just a rehearsal to see what they can get away with. And if we don't fight, they will come at us much harder than they already do.
What a powerfully beautiful expression for this occasion, today, a day that must not be forgotten. We are all human. We are all one.
As Dr. Stacey Patton opined, “to claim our right to simply be”…. May that be our clarion call to move ourselves out of complacency, fear, and doubt to embrace the journey to lead lives of purpose and being. Thank you Ava and Dr. Patton for your beautiful words.
Thanks a million times over for this email.