Care Beyond a Crisis
pictured: Veronica Agard (Ifáṣadùn Fásanmi) sitting at the base of a tree draped in Spanish moss.
I seem to have this same stream of consciousness during Hurricane season. As someone with both Caribbean and Southern US roots, I always know that the same time of year that the veil gets thin is the same time of year when the sky seems to crack open. The cycle of trauma appears once again on my newsfeeds, calls to donate intensify, and Black Indigenous POC still suffer the most. I have conversations with friends on where I’d like to raise children one day, and I struggle to name an ancestral land that will not be underwater, experience drought, or have polluted soil left over from the historic environmental racism. It’s enough for me to pray to my ancestors for answers. Perhaps my mind seeking solutions by asking brave questions is my way of coping.
How can we be invested in each other’s wholeness without violence or trauma being prerequisite? Is that even possible?
It’s important to be tending to our individual healing and wholeness, but there’s a power when we do not isolate ourselves while undergoing this process. To bring this up to scale, we have to consider how we are building communities across cultures, backgrounds, and space to ensure that we have the foundation of a relationship. Without the relationship, we might not truly know what it is that our comrades need and may end up giving what we think they want. There is a difference there that can also look like donating to organizations who claim to be doing the work but aren’t actually making an impact on those who need the most support. An example that comes to mind is Puerto Rico’s ongoing energy and infrastructure crisis - where folks of privilege and wealth are buying up the land and the electric grid has been privatized, thus deepening wounds left from Hurricane Maria. I personally waited for my friends in Puerto Rico and the Diaspora to share credible links and later got to know the folks at Taller Salud at a conference. We had a conversation on seasons of crisis, ongoing trauma from colonialism, and how to be in right relationship. This brief chat gave me hope, as it felt nice to know that I wasn’t alone in my string of thoughts.
Unfortunately, our conversation also reminded me that there is a deep connection between the way capitalism treats the land and the people who retained their relationship with the land. Capitalism extracts from the land, the people, and our spirits - and we too can inadvertently play right into that dynamic - even if we share the same complexion or even heritage of the land stewards. We cannot afford to call ourselves healers, wellness practitioners, herbalists, spiritualists, etc., without extending that same care and respect to the original stewards of our traditions and the lands that they come from. Consider what’s at stake in the Brazilian elections, where the Trump-like President has been giving way to the interests of mining and logging corporations who are depleting the Amazon. This has led to the deaths of Indigenous land defenders and activists - and if that’s not enough to concern you - do remember that the Amazon rainforest is considered to be the lungs of the world. The election of a President who will bring back protections for the land and the people is directly vital to all of us who call Earth home.
And the impact of what is done on one corner of the world is no longer an isolated event. How we care and show up for one another should not be an isolated event either. We are all trying to find ways to nourish ourselves while living under capitalism. If trauma and pain can be passed down, so can love and joy. We have to find pathways through ongoing mutual aid, building relationships with leaders on the ground, or even create them as we try to embody solidarity as a verb. Depending on where these words find you, you don’t have to look too far to start. Find your community fridge, local pantries, make a recurring donation to the community organization of your choice, seek out pockets of joy, ask your mentors and communities (especially the spiritual ones) how they’re in relationship with the land. If you find any gaps, or realize you have to be the luminary you’re seeking, keep going.
Ecosystems of care require that we remind ourselves that we’re not separate from nature.
Folks of the Global Majority are interconnected beyond trauma and pain. This work of being an Ancestor in Training includes our physical and emotional environments, as we recognize that we are not separate from nature - we are a part of it. If we want to create and sustain a world for those that will come after us, this has to include our interpersonal and physical environments. We’re already seeing climate change amplify the mistreatment of climate refugees and migrants - even more so if they are of the Global Majority seeking refuge in a Western dominant culture. Some of us who are recognizing this are experiencing a new type of grief - climate grief.
Looking to the future can seem overwhelming - in mind, body and spirit - when thinking about what world our descendants will inherit. But when our descendants look back on this moment, how do we want to be remembered? As someone who ignored the challenges of their time? Or as someone who strived to embed liberation in their legacy? Weaving networks of care that know how to respond proactively and not solely in a reactionary manner requires work and an understanding that our generation may not see the fruits of that labor in our lifetimes. But that should not stop us from planting and sowing these seeds now. Perhaps this is what a diaspora of care can aspire to be.
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Author Profile
Veronica Agard
Veronica Agard (Ifáṣadùn Fásanmí) is a writer, aborisha, community educator, and connector at the intersections of Black identity, wellness, representation, and culture.
She curated the Who Heals the Healer series and the conference of the same name and facilitates the Ancestors in Training educational project.
Her words have homes at The Grio, Let Your Voice Be Heard, Mic, For Harriet, Black Girl Magik, Life as Ceremony, Black + Well, Redefining Our, and Your Magic.
Described as living in the future - Veronica is guided by the past and carries out her dreams in the present.
Where to Find Veronica:
veronicaagard.com/links