What Now?

Well, that didn't go as expected. I'm a very different person than I was on Tuesday morning. As many of you know I've been a long-time advocate and deeply enmeshed in political wonkiness (sure, it's a word) for a long time.

As mentioned in previous editions, I was an election judge, an elected precinct committee person in my party - and a longtime advocate of GOTV work. (Thanks to Jon Pratt Marcia Avner and George Pillsbury .)

First, let me start off by saying, I was wrong. very wrong. It was a stark reminder that even as much as I believe I'm hearing diverse opinions and getting good 'vibe checks' from the world, I was, in fact, not at all. Not even close. That is my privileged position of how I walk in the world, and as much as I try to get beyond it, I didn't.

It's a stark reminder that while I have a lot at stake to lose, I have many more safety nets than some in my community and network, and therefore need to continue to do the work to create that support for everyone. Everyone deserves to feel safe.

I truly believed that even though we have a ton of work in progressive spaces to be more inclusive, be better at bringing folks to our coalitions, not belittling them, getting down off our soap box. To end the funding of violence and war. I believed that we had built a large enough coalition to move forward, into positions of power and influence, so we could then address the huge challenges within our progressive spaces. We did not, and it's certainly understandable that so many have not bought into the case that Kamala was making. I do understand.

I'm not going to enter the fray of blaming, guessing what happened and drawing conclusions. Anyone who claims to know exactly what went wrong is likely just processing out loud. While I am empathetic to this, I don't believe we have one moment, one issue we can point to. There has been deep fracturing in many advocacy vs progressive spaces over the past 8-10 years. A deep reliance on marginalized folks to just suck it up and hang on "while we get organized to fix stuff." Many can only cling to an empty promise for so long. I know this, and yet I still believed we could get it done. That is my work to reconcile.

In a few months time Pew Research will release a whole host of voter data that may allow us to understand the numbers better, who voted where and how much. But for the purposes of this article, the outcome is the same. The reasons are in a word. - complicated.

The second thing I really want you to know is the trauma is real. Many of us don't feel safe, haven't felt safe in a while, but it's been heightened this week.

I see you.

I am there too. It's completely understandable. I also want you to know that you don't need to 'get over it' to make it smaller, to attempt to minimize it. You can feel how you feel. You can take the time and space you need. Trauma, and attempting to heal from it is not a linear process. There is no timeline, and we are all experiencing it differently.

I'm starting a Women/non-binary folx circle for processing. (More information forthcoming shortly - you can email hello(@)daniamiwa.com - if you want to be on the shortlist. I will be limiting the participants to 10 at this time per cohort.) While this is within the boundaries of my coaching practice, I offer this space free. The purpose is to create loving support for one another, building safety and processing the grief and trauma for those who can benefit from that.

I am still a firm believer in community, and creating the world we wish to live in whenever that is possible. I'm not going to say it's going to be ok, I don't know that, and I, like you have a lot of uncertainty. What I can say is I'm here, I'm a resource and I want to be in community with those of you who wish that too.

With love,

Dania

If you'd like to check in - please do so. hello(@)daniamiwa.com or text 503-484-0140.