Growing Our Movements: Reflections from “Our Future is Joyful”

A fractal is a never-ending pattern—a complex structure that repeats and where each individual part is a replicate of the entire structure itself. Fractals exist in mathematics and in nature, and they exist in the structures and institutions around us.

“In a fractal conception, I am a cell-sized unit of the human organism, and I have to use my life to leverage a shift in the system by how I am, as much as with the things I do. This means actually being in my life, and it means bringing my values into my daily decision making. Each day should be lived on purpose.”

adrienne maree brown, 
Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds

To create strong, resilient, lasting structures, the values embodied in our smaller systems (e.g., as individuals, families, and communities), should be replicated within our larger structures (e.g.,organizations, legal systems, and government).

That was the guiding principle for the Women of Color Table’s “Our Future is Joyful” room at the People’s Celebration. TakeAction Minnesota member Bahieh Hartshorn drew inspiration from Emergent Strategy, and the women of color leaders asked themselves—what values do we want to see replicated in every structure of our society? How do we weave together our memories, moments, confessions,observations, and wisdom to cultivate joyful movements?

Nearly 200 people took part in the experiential activity, visioning together and creating fractal ferns with messages of joy for the communities, systems, and movements we want to grow together.

“NO ONE QUESTIONS THE WORTH OR DIGNITY OF SOMEONE ELSE”

As people wrote down their visions on paper ferns, a theme emerged of valuing the lives and dignity of each person in our community. But as with a fractal fern, the same theme also emerged on a policy level. In order to build a joyful Minnesota—we need to advance policies that embody that same value.

• “Equitable funding for our schools”
• “Retroactive policies to advance the needs of those incarcerated”
• “Quality childcare”
• “Living wage”
• “Free public transit statewide”
• “Clean air and clean water”
• “Access to affordable, dignified health care”
• “Access for all to parks and lakes”

As one participant wrote, a joyful Minnesota is one where “Minnesotans are able to thrive, not just survive, because they have their deepest needs met and they feel they make meaningful contribution.”

“SEEING PEOPLE WHO REPRESENT MY VALUES WIN”

Our political environment affects how people live in their bodies and navigate the world around them. Politics can have a deeply intimate relationship to our day-to-day lives, and just as it can cause harm, it can be a public form of healing, celebration and joy.

That’s what 2018 meant to a lot of our members.

Participants celebrated the wins of recent election—including Rep.-elect Ilhan Omar, Lt. Governor-elect Peggy Flanagan, and Attorney General-elect Keith Ellison. People celebrated the women, people of color, and faith diversity elected into office. But they were also hungry for more.

They were hungry for a “female, POC president.”

For “an elected majority that looks like Minnesota.”

For “Black, trans women being centered in all our organizing work.”

And for “More power of women of color in 2020.”

“WOMEN OF COLOR HEALING AND LOVING EACH OTHER.”

Just like a fractal fern, transforming large systems requires that we also work to transform ourselves. If we want to create systems founded on acceptance, joy, and sustenance, then we have to embody those qualities in our daily lives.

A joyful Minnesota is one that includes “dancing,” “art making,” “spending time with family and friends,” and “time to rest and play.”

It includes, “hugs, good food, smiling people.” And “bringing together heart and mind, and immersion in unapologetic words.”

When we live and breathe with radical self-love, our very existence becomes a challenge to oppressive systems that tell us to shrink smaller and ask for less. That’s why the Women of Color Table invited each participate to practice joy—as a radical act of bridging the “world as it is”and the “world as it should be.”

***

We are not in opposition with the environment, we are a part of it—and we can learn and grow by reconnecting with the world around us, as our ancestors did. We are cultivating a different kind of politics—one centered on joy, community, and the values that bind us together.

Build power and joy with us. We’re kicking off the new year and the legislative session by dreaming of the Minnesota we want to build. Join us on Jan. 12 and start taking action with us.