By LaVonna Varnado-Brown
I have read articles, books, essays, viewed documentaries and engaged in conversation with like-minded comrades after clocking out from a job that does not engage your spirit, yet fuels your fight after remembering the words and work past organizers have left. The groundwork set, contemporary nonconformist thinkers have the task of answering the question. Am I revolutionary? Can I call myself a revolutionary? How would one know? Who sets the bar? What tangible fruit must be borne unto us to be deemed as such? Revolutionary.
Fred Hampton says, “That the priority of this struggle is class. That Marx and Lenin and Che Guevara and Mao Tse-Tung, and anybody else who ever said or knew or practiced anything about revolution, always said that a revolution is a class struggle.” Fighting against classism requires trusting relationships with a foundation in integrity among the working class. Revolutions are given torque by focusing on labor and the impact stopping, or removing, said labor for any period of time can cause. Do you have worker allies?
I am aware of what capitalism truly means in this country and understand the implications of the American economic system and the impact it has globally on millions of people’s quality of life. Then I get frustrated enough to talk to someone else about it and realize they are frustrated too. Angela Davis states, “We must understand that we must completely revolutionize the entire fabric of society… Overturn the current economic structure… Destroy the political apparatus.” The paradigm shift can be put into play when visualizations of what a different working system can look and feel like become a working plan. Plans become actions, and the organized actions of many working-class individuals conceive revolution. A very small percentage of the population should not be dictating to the majority working class what the wages are and how much paid time off they get. Do you understand capitalism?
Style of language and display of action must change. Not telling you what to do. Not condescending others who are in different stages of their journey. But Audre Lorde speaks to us saying, “The true focus of revolutionary change is never merely the oppressive situations which we seek to escape, but that piece of the oppressor which is planted deep within each of us, and which knows only the oppressors’ tactics, the oppressors’ relationships.” There is a focus to call the mind’s eye to be still. To recognize in oneself, first, the remnants of patriarchy, capitalism, and fascism that stick behind and attempt to fester. Psychological, emotional, spiritual development is happening constantly. Introspection, constructive analysis of behaviors can allow us to form trusting relationships with ourselves. To know that personal intentions are pure and grounded. Have you had a talk with self today?
After all the work must go on. The revolution will not be stopped. Cannot stop. Are you willing to fight? Fighting not your thing? Know there is a space for every revolutionary in the revolution. Make no mistake in consuming this point. Whatever you do, whichever passion drives you the hardest, makes your heart race; be driven by it. Decide once and for all if you will allow silence to suffocate you. Or choose life. The life you can create with alliances. I have decided there is no choice. I have decided there is NO alternative option. Once you’ve decided the task now is to go. Do. Take action. Educate yourself. Align with individuals. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesdays at 1418 North Claiborne, New Orleans LA you can find organizers at the table taking action in the city of New Orleans. Come join us, your voice is valid, and we welcome all revolutionaries. Are you ready to work?