Hope as Memories of the Future, Hope as a Practice

Jordan Pacelli Everett and Anne Rara

SHINE is a California project stewarded by Prevention Institute (PI), co-created with a Learning Community of five collaboratives, and supported by the Blue Shield of California Foundation.

SHINE collaboratives work at the intersection of racial and gender justice, Indigenous sovereignty, immigrant/refugee rights, and housing/economic security to address the root causes of domestic violence and promote safety and healing in their communities. This work requires significant mental, physical, and creative energy from its leaders, demanding they show up as their whole selves. During July’s SHINE learning community meeting, the PI team facilitated a community-building activity called An Exploration of Hope. The conversation served as a way to integrate healing practices in our monthly gatherings while also serving SHINE’s commitment to foster social connections for belonging and healing through non-punitive approaches.

Hope as Memories of the Future

“To vision futures is to conjure something that is outside of your time and circumstance while being firmly rooted in the moment. To listen for the calls of what is not yet here but is waiting just in the wings.” This quote from Prentis Hemphill’s new book, What It Takes to Heal, began our reflection around hope—what it means to work within the context and conditions of the present moment to alchemize a more just future, and what it requires of us to do that work.

Together, the SHINE learning community shared what it means for them to be hopeful, and discussed the various ways they and their communities remain hopeful despite the challenges they encounter in pursuit of the future. Gustavo López, research director at Alliance for Boys and Men of Color, part of the We Take Care of Each Other Partnership, feels our learning community is an example of hope, “... to be in spaces with community—including spaces like these—where folx create brave spaces for this work, its pitfalls and wins.” Aristea Saulsbury, co-executive director of the McKinleyville Family Resource Center, lead agency for The Center at McKinleyville, feels hopeful by “prioritizing relationships over plans.” She shared that when feeling the impacts of the tension between those “ready to abandon empire” and build new systems, and those “clinging to current structures/systems,” that “laughter, joy, and people choosing to have children” pushes her to remain hopeful. Fatma Saleem, program director at United Women of East Africa, lead agency for East African Youth Collaborative, reminded us that “small progress—though not perfect—is still progress,” and small wins make her hopeful.

The reflections that emerged from our discussion remind us about the importance of being in community and principled struggle with one another, embracing conflict and our full humanity, and making space to grieve our losses as much as we make space to celebrate our wins. The learning community’s ways of remaining hopeful serve as a guide for what we need to do in order to keep our collective work moving forward.

Hope as a Practice

Committing to a consistent practice of hope is necessary to resist intersectional oppression and systemic violence. Kelly Hayes and Mariame Kaba write, “Our movements cannot be echo chambers of doom … Cynicism is a creeping enemy. We must actively evade it. From group dialogues to artistic exercises and direct actions, we must create space for renewal and recommitment.” As stewards of the SHINE learning community, we strive to create spaces for co-learning, connection, and practicing hope—spaces where we can orient our collective action towards the outcomes we desire.

Our second exercise explored opportunities to shift towards life-affirming, abolitionist ways of thinking, being, and relating with one another through a discussion on carceral logics. Carla Shalaby, radical educator and author of Troublemakers: Lessons in Freedom from Young Children at School, describes carceral logics as the “normalized and seemingly common sense ideas, practices, and behaviors that have been shaped—often unconsciously or invisibly—by a commitment to punishment, imprisonment, exclusion, and disposability.” We talked through some of the ways SHINE learning community members are grappling with, as well as challenging, carceral logics in their work and lives using Molly Costello’s artwork, Ask Yourself (below).

Three SHINE collaborative members who work directly with young people in their communities shared their experiences. Kanwarpal Dhaliwal, co-founder and associate director at RYSE Center, lead agency for the We Take Care of Each Other Partnership, shared about their deep work to ensure safety for young people: “We do have to ask ourselves and reckon with when keeping young people safe may also exist close to or on the line of control and containment. Those of us doing direct community work who are committed to transformative and restorative justice have to contend with this. It is a tenuous place, but it's a real place for those in and with community.”

Aristea Saulsbury resists the societal expectation to enforce control over young people both in her community work—“respecting youth’s choices despite them differing from my perspective” – and in her role as a parent—“leading by my child’s self-determination by asking myself who she is and what she wants to be.” Fatma Saleem shared a reflection on the punitive mindset in the worksphere and how we can be more understanding and gracious when personal circumstances arise or mistakes occur.

The insights and reflection shared at the July Learning Community meeting are a glimpse into the daily experiences SHINE collaboratives encounter as they address the root causes of domestic violence and build just, equitable communities. As Mariame Kaba writes, “Hope is a discipline.” As a learning community, we will continue to practice hope through our daily acts within our families, workplaces, campaigns, and communities and deepen our capacities for hopeful action in the months and years to come.

We share these experiences in the spirit of co-learning and collective struggle towards a future where safety and healing are prioritized over violence and punishment, and we invite others to share how they and their communities are practicing hope in their personal, interpersonal, organizational, and collective lives and work.

To connect, please reach out to Anne Rara at [email protected].

To learn more about the SHINE project, visit the SHINE webpage.

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