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<title>blog – adrienne maree brown</title>
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<link>https://adriennemareebrown.net</link>
<description>awe. liberation. pleasure.</description>
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<title>blog – adrienne maree brown</title>
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<item>
<title>choosing earth</title>
<link>https://adriennemareebrown.net/2026/04/08/choosing-earth/</link>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[ambsassistant]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Wed, 08 Apr 2026 03:28:15 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Default]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://adriennemareebrown.net/?p=7746</guid>
<description><![CDATA[if anything horrific horrific happens i’m here i used to say if you need me call me and i meant if the darkness makes you feel lost i’ll be your [...]<p><a class="btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link" href="https://adriennemareebrown.net/2026/04/08/choosing-earth/">Read More...<span class="screen-reader-text"> from choosing earth</span></a></p>]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><em>if anything horrific horrific happens<br />
i’m here</em></p>
<p>
i used to say <em>if you need me<br />
call me</em><br />
and i meant<br />
if the darkness makes you feel lost<br />
i’ll be your gallows humor<br />
i’ll find you by your laughter</p>
<p>
i used to say <em>if something bad happens<br />
let me know</em><br />
and i meant<br />
i will close any distance<br />
to catch you before you fall<br />
i only need a white flag</p>
<p>
then <em>if anything unprecedented happens<br />
text me</em><br />
i love you but my ringer’s off<br />
so many phone calls have ruined my life<br />
and i am trying to build one of the arks<br />
to carry us through this</p>
<p>
one <em>horrific</em> isn’t enough<br />
we have witnessed humanity<br />
dragged by the hair to hell<br />
we have seen the charred earth<br />
as each day brings unholy tantrums<br />
from men who hate the word no</p>
<p>
today the president of the united states<br />
threatened the annihilation of a people<br />
the dictator of reality tv<br />
is jealous of the moon<br />
in an age of celestial mechanics<br />
he fetishizes a nuclear option</p>
<p>
today we know the names<br />
of every coward who claims power<br />
but cannot seem to shift a tide<br />
to save a life<br />
i’d rather worship a rock in the vastness<br />
i’d rather cry with astronauts</p>
<p>
so if anything horrific horrific happens<br />
i’m here<br />
screaming <em>NO</em> with you<br />
grieving home with you<br />
raging ourselves free<br />
with all the people of earth<br />
at odds with our governments</p>
<p>
and if i can’t hold you close<br />
or again<br />
i will name the brightness for you<br />
i will be steadfast – an earthling<br />
choosing earth<br />
choosing earth</p>
]]></content:encoded>
</item>
<item>
<title>all this loss is making me wilder</title>
<link>https://adriennemareebrown.net/2026/03/08/all-this-loss-is-making-me-wilder/</link>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[ambsassistant]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Sun, 08 Mar 2026 14:12:10 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Default]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[poem]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[prayer]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[prayer poem]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[women]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://adriennemareebrown.net/?p=7739</guid>
<description><![CDATA[for international women’s day if no means nothing if your word means nothing if laws mean nothing if prayers mean nothing if children mean nothing if life means nothing if [...]<p><a class="btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link" href="https://adriennemareebrown.net/2026/03/08/all-this-loss-is-making-me-wilder/">Read More...<span class="screen-reader-text"> from all this loss is making me wilder</span></a></p>]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>for international women’s day</p>
<div draggable="false">if no means nothing</div>
<div draggable="false">if your word means nothing</div>
<div draggable="false">if laws mean nothing</div>
<div draggable="false">if prayers mean nothing</div>
<div draggable="false">if children mean nothing</div>
<div draggable="false">if life means nothing</div>
<div draggable="false">if tomorrow means nothing</div>
<div draggable="false">then how can we bargain</div>
<p><div draggable="false"></div>
<div draggable="false">you never look back</div>
<div draggable="false">we carry you</div>
<div draggable="false"></div>
<p><div draggable="false">you never look down</div>
<div draggable="false">we lift your head above water</div>
<p><div draggable="false"></div>
<div draggable="false">you never apologize</div>
<div draggable="false">with both actions and words</div>
<div draggable="false">and we cannot forgive</div>
<div draggable="false">an unsheathed sword</div>
<div draggable="false"></div>
<p><div draggable="false">you are a burden</div>
<div draggable="false">on this soil</div>
<div draggable="false">on our soul</div>
<div draggable="false">you must be stopped</div>
<div draggable="false">we must be whole</div>
<div draggable="false"></div>
<p><div draggable="false">it’s time for a general strike</div>
<div draggable="false">a generational strike</div>
<div draggable="false"></div>
<p><div draggable="false">it’s time for the women</div>
<div draggable="false">who carry the world in our hearts</div>
<div draggable="false">to say</div>
<div draggable="false">no more</div>
<div draggable="false">no more</div>
<div draggable="false">until there is</div>
<div draggable="false">no war</div>
<div draggable="false"></div>
<p><div draggable="false">no</div>
<div draggable="false">war</div>
<div draggable="false"></div>
<p><div draggable="false">everyone else</div>
<div draggable="false">come with us</div>
<div draggable="false">come flank this feral act</div>
<div draggable="false">all of us</div>
<div draggable="false">must mother the world</div>
<div draggable="false">must craft with our boundaries</div>
<div draggable="false">fact</div>
<p><div draggable="false"></div>
<div draggable="false">our new labor</div>
<div draggable="false">is a faith filled no</div>
<div draggable="false">no more civility with monstrous lore</div>
<div draggable="false">no more non essential work</div>
<div draggable="false">no more sex with hateful sheep</div>
<div draggable="false">no more money to those who reap</div>
<div draggable="false">no obedience to the pedophile class</div>
<div draggable="false">no more artificial intelligence</div>
<div draggable="false">no more budget for endless war</div>
<div draggable="false">no more collateral damage</div>
<div draggable="false">of the brown and the poor</div>
<p><div draggable="false"></div>
<div draggable="false">we are at the precipice</div>
<div draggable="false">we must take to the streets</div>
<div draggable="false">and the chambers of power</div>
<div draggable="false">we will meet your force</div>
<div draggable="false">with a holy no</div>
<div draggable="false">we say yes</div>
<div draggable="false">to the work of this late hour</div>
<p><div draggable="false"></div>
<div draggable="false">chaos is your weapon</div>
<div draggable="false">care is ours</div>
<div draggable="false">you’ve fooled so many</div>
<div draggable="false">but enough of us know</div>
<div draggable="false">we pass through the portal</div>
<div draggable="false">holding onto each other</div>
<div draggable="false">and you will not survive</div>
<div draggable="false">if we let you go</div>
<div draggable="false"></div>
<p><div draggable="false">if you won’t stop</div>
<div draggable="false">then we</div>
<div draggable="false">must</div>
<div draggable="false">as you read this</div>
<div draggable="false">we sing at the pyre</div>
<div draggable="false">we are birthing</div>
<div draggable="false">the next world</div>
<div draggable="false">and you are merely a ring</div>
<div draggable="false">of fire</div>
]]></content:encoded>
</item>
<item>
<title>a comrade spell for trees</title>
<link>https://adriennemareebrown.net/2026/02/22/a-comrade-spell-for-trees/</link>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[ambsassistant]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Sun, 22 Feb 2026 20:45:21 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Default]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://adriennemareebrown.net/?p=7729</guid>
<description><![CDATA[(shared at february 2026 multifaith prayer circle for palestine) dedicated to all who would live in peace but were born into a time of war, who turn and face the [...]<p><a class="btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link" href="https://adriennemareebrown.net/2026/02/22/a-comrade-spell-for-trees/">Read More...<span class="screen-reader-text"> from a comrade spell for trees</span></a></p>]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div>(shared at february 2026 multifaith prayer circle for palestine)</div>
<p><div></div>
<div></div>
<div>dedicated to all who would live in peace but were born into a time of war, who turn and face the moment with open hearts, <strong>a comrade spell for trees</strong></div>
<p><div></div>
<div></div>
<div><em>find one other love warrior to root towards</em></div>
<p><div></div>
<div></div>
<div>comrade</div>
<div>we must be trees now</div>
<div>we must weave together at the root now</div>
<div>hold each other in ways</div>
<div>only the dirt can see</div>
<div>soft bark bend to kiss her face</div>
<div>without breaking</div>
<p><div></div>
<div></div>
<div>comrade</div>
<div>we must be trees now</div>
<div>whoever has been safe enough</div>
<div>to grow tall</div>
<div>must be mindful canopy</div>
<div>drinking the sky river</div>
<div>pouring the abundant sunlight</div>
<div>down to each other</div>
<div>waterfalls through our pitch black veins</div>
<div>we must cover the smallest of us in green</div>
<div>feed the sprouts and the saplings</div>
<p><div></div>
<div></div>
<div>comrade</div>
<div>our lives are in danger</div>
<div>and our lives are precious</div>
<div>the forest of the world</div>
<div>feels the loss of each pine needle</div>
<div>each leaf</div>
<div>each battered bark</div>
<div>we know every life kindled matters</div>
<div>we know every forest swallowed matters</div>
<div>there is no tree more sacred</div>
<div>no tree less</div>
<p><div></div>
<div></div>
<div>comrade</div>
<div>if i could save you i would</div>
<div>i know it isn’t up to me</div>
<div>i can only meet the moment</div>
<div>with my dignity</div>
<div>i will live as long as i can</div>
<div>to be with you</div>
<div>in every possible way</div>
<div>feel me with you</div>
<p><div></div>
<div></div>
<div>comrade</div>
<div>a year of fire is upon us</div>
<div>and we are winter wood</div>
<div>dry from a season of weeping</div>
<div>some years we can only witness</div>
<div>as they come at us with axes</div>
<div>this year we burn</div>
<div>we taste each other’s ashes</div>
<div>but miraculously, meekly, we live on</div>
<div>without abandoning each other</div>
<div>or the land that holds us home</div>
<div>we let ourselves be known</div>
<div>in this lifetime –</div>
<div>that may be our victory</div>
<p><div></div>
<div></div>
<div>comrade</div>
<div>they have turned us into tables, walls, ladders and chairs</div>
<div>but we held up no lie</div>
<div>we pulse at night</div>
<div>haunting colonial dreams</div>
<div>with our memories</div>
<div>with our beauties</div>
<div>with our truths</div>
<p><div></div>
<div></div>
<div>comrade if i am needed by the fire</div>
<div>i will burn bright enough to scream</div>
<div>let this be for good</div>
<div>let this be for sovereignty</div>
<div>let this be for freedom</div>
<div>let this be for love</div>
<div>let this sacrifice</div>
<div>be worthy of the day to come</div>
<p><div></div>
<div></div>
<div>comrade</div>
<div>we must be trees now</div>
<div>if nothing else</div>
<div>whisper your heart into an acorn</div>
<div>and release it</div>
<div>trust the earth to remind us</div>
<div>how to live</div>
<div>in this way comrade</div>
<div>we have always survived</div>
<div>in this way beloved</div>
<div>we will always survive</div>
]]></content:encoded>
</item>
<item>
<title>tangents</title>
<link>https://adriennemareebrown.net/2026/02/14/tangents/</link>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[ambsassistant]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Sat, 14 Feb 2026 20:46:37 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Default]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://adriennemareebrown.net/?p=7731</guid>
<description><![CDATA[i would love it if the president never mentioned children again i would love for the weapons to crawl out of our hands and burrow down into the magma core [...]<p><a class="btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link" href="https://adriennemareebrown.net/2026/02/14/tangents/">Read More...<span class="screen-reader-text"> from tangents</span></a></p>]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div></div>
<div>i would love it if the president never mentioned children again</div>
<div>i would love for the weapons to crawl out of our hands and burrow down into the magma core of earth</div>
<div>i would love a thread that could stitch a spirit wound</div>
<div>i would love it if harm could be sucked up like venom, spat out</div>
<div>if the poison of violation could be stamped return to sender</div>
<div>i mean i would love it if the harm others did to us showed up as confessions on their faces which only faded as we healed</div>
<div></div>
<div></div>
<div>i would love a decade without men in leadership roles before they are allowed to be considered to be invited to try</div>
<div>sharing power</div>
<div>i would love a world without patriarchy, pedophilia or prisons</div>
<div>i would love an era of rituals to recover, rituals of release and remembering</div>
<div>i would love to feel tethered to the earth in the forever/free way she wants me</div>
<div>i would love a chance to get everyone fed</div>
<div>i would love each of you to feel how loved you are by your ancestors</div>
<div>i would love time to set things so right that we say peace or justice and mean the same thing</div>
<div></div>
<div></div>
<div>i would love a hundred years without borders</div>
<div>to feel us turn to the earth as one body</div>
<div>or at least majority rule of people who think in generations</div>
<div>not skewed by made up nations</div>
<div>i would love to redistribute the wealth of the world as a song of reparation</div>
<div>i would love an economic system that ensured universal enoughness</div>
<div>harnessing abundance for the collective</div>
<div>i would love it if we lost all sense of binary</div>
<div>i would love benevolent help and</div>
<div>oh i would love to feel fearless in my home</div>
<div>debt free, as a person and a people</div>
<div></div>
<div></div>
<div>i would love total control over every inch of my self, skin and power and thought</div>
<div>i would love to make of myself my grandest creation, free of shame, comparison or fear</div>
<div>overflowing with my deepest rooted stardust</div>
<div>for the whole brief flash of this human life</div>
<div>because that’s the whole point</div>
<div>i would love it if we could just enjoy ourselves</div>
<div>i would love to remember how to play</div>
<div>and you give me such moments</div>
<div>and that’s why i love you</div>
]]></content:encoded>
</item>
<item>
<title>Murmurations: The Haitian Revolution Continues – Lessons for Today</title>
<link>https://adriennemareebrown.net/2025/08/19/murmurations-the-haitian-revolution-continues-lessons-for-today/</link>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[adrienne maree brown]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Tue, 19 Aug 2025 17:25:48 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Default]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://adriennemareebrown.net/?p=7671</guid>
<description><![CDATA[hello beloveds! the Murmurations column continues even though YES! Magazine had to sunset. Movement Generation is still curating for this year, and we will both house the column and share [...]<p><a class="btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link" href="https://adriennemareebrown.net/2025/08/19/murmurations-the-haitian-revolution-continues-lessons-for-today/">Read More...<span class="screen-reader-text"> from Murmurations: The Haitian Revolution Continues – Lessons for Today</span></a></p>]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><em>hello beloveds! the Murmurations column continues even though YES! Magazine had to sunset. Movement Generation is still curating for this year, and we will both house the column and share all over social to help people access these exciting pieces. today’s offering is from beloved Leah Penniman:</em></p>
<p><a href="https://adriennemareebrown.net/2025/08/19/murmurations-the-haitian-revolution-continues-lessons-for-today/img_3557/" rel="attachment wp-att-7673"><img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-7673" src="https://adriennemareebrown.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/IMG_3557-300x293.jpeg" alt="" width="300" height="293" srcset="https://adriennemareebrown.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/IMG_3557-300x293.jpeg 300w, https://adriennemareebrown.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/IMG_3557-1024x1002.jpeg 1024w, https://adriennemareebrown.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/IMG_3557-768x751.jpeg 768w, https://adriennemareebrown.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/IMG_3557.jpeg 1320w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></a></p>
<p><strong>The Haitian Revolution Continues – Lessons for Today</strong></p>
<p><em><strong>A Black August Murmurations Reflection by Leah Penniman of Soul Fire Farm</strong></em></p>
<p><em>Leah Penniman is a Haitian-heritage farmer,, and founding Co-ED of Farm Operations at Soul Fire Farm in Grafton, New York, an Afro-Indigenous farm that works toward food and land justice. She serves as a member of clergy in the African tradition religions of Vodun and Ifa. Her books, <a href="https://www.chelseagreen.com/product/farming-while-black/">Farming While Black</a> and Black Earth Wisdom, are love songs for the land and her people. More at <a href="http://www.soulfirefarm.org/">www.soulfirefarm.org</a>. </em></p>
<p>Black rumbling clouds provided cover for the insurgents as they converged in the forested grove at Bwa Kayiman on August 14, 1791. Heavy rain drops and lightning were welcomed as good omens by the two-hundred enslaved people who entrusted their officiants, Hougan Dutty Boukman and Mambo Cecile Fatiman, to call the African and Taino spirits to their aid. The time for revolution was imminent.</p>
<p>The Africans in Saint-Domingue had suffered at the hands of the most <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/jan/14/haiti-history-earthquake-disaster">brutal enslavers</a> in the hemisphere, forced to toil in scorching disease-ridden cane fields, and when they did not meet quotas – buried alive, crushed in mortars, crucified on planks, castrated, forced to eat excrement, boiled in cane syrup, and sent down the mountainside in barrels studded with spikes. As the rain washed the sweat in rivulets down their bodies, Boukman intoned, “God who has made the sun that shines upon us, that rises from the sea, that makes the storm to roar, and governs the thunders . . . you have seen what the whites have done . . . give strength to our arms and courage to our hearts. Sustain us . . . Harken until Liberty!” Fatima sacrificed a black pig to the deity Ezili Danto, spiritual mother of Haiti and protector of the rebels. Together, the congregation swore a blood oath to free the land and free themselves, at any cost.</p>
<p>Within the next ten days, the maroon army of Dahomey took hold of the Northern Province. By 1792, the rebels controlled nearly a third of Saint-Domingue (Haiti). By 1804, after 12 years of uprising, they declared complete victory as the only rebellion of the enslaved to result in the founding of a nation both free from slavery and free from rule by their former captors.</p>
<p>The Haitian revolution inspired insurgencies across the colonized world for which Western nations <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2021/10/05/1042518732/-the-greatest-heist-in-history-how-haiti-was-forced-to-pay-reparations-for-freed#:~:text=%2C%22%20Foote%20wrote.-,Haiti%20is%20one%20of%20the%20poorest%20nations%20in%20the%20world,pariah%20state%20by%20world%20powers.">have punished Haiti to this day</a>.</p>
<p>This Black August we commemorate Bwa Kayiman and reflect on the lessons that this catalytic Vodou ceremony has for changemakers today. Professor <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7VIzSV42w4">Pierre Michel Chery</a> proposed the “Prensip Bwa Kayiman,” a set of proverbs, written in Haitian Kreyól, elucidating the values of Bwa Kayiman, which will be explored in this essay.</p>
<p><strong>Sa nou pa konnen pi gran pase nou. What we do not know is greater than us.</strong> For a small band of hungry, sparsely-resourced rebels to take on the military might of France, Spain, and England in a bid for their freedom required a deep faith in the Divine mystère. They called on God, Ezili Danto, all of the sacred loa, their ancestors, and the power of the forest that hid them to “direct our hands and give us help.”</p>
<p>What if we, in this moment of acute repression, acknowledged that we can’t win freedom on our own – that we need the strength of our ancestors and the Divine to make a way out of no way?</p>
<p><strong>Dèyè mòn gen mòn; There are more mountains behind mountains.</strong> The steep, forested slopes provided refuge for maroon communities who escaped the plantation, forming autonomous societies and rebel armies. Vodou priest François Mackandal, born in Guinea and enslaved in Limbé, unified the maroon bands and established a network of secret organizations among the plantation enslaved, uniting over 6000 rebels and leading to the rebellion of 1751-1758. The Mackandal insurgency was a precursor and training ground for the revolution.</p>
<p>In what ways are we investing in land-based autonomous zones, beyond the gaze and control of Empire, where we can train, organize, strategize, and heal? How are we engaging the cradled protection of mountains and forests to incubate our movements?</p>
<p><strong>Chak moun gen fason pa li pou li lapriyè. Respekte fason chak moun lapriyè… Everyone has their own way to pray. Respect how everyone prays.</strong> In Haitian Vodou, there is always enough room on the shrine for your deity and enough room in the ceremony for your praise songs. The freedom-fighters were Kongo, Yoruba, Fon, Angola, Dahomey, Nago, Igbo, Bizango, and Taino and they combined the strength of all of their deities to unite in one syncretized religion. Vodou implicitly rejected the Africans’ status as “slaves” and asserted the basic humanity and dignity of each person.</p>
<p>In what ways are we celebrating the beliefs, cultures, and faiths of those in our community, even when we differ? How are we building a wide tent that embraces diversity in our coalitions? Do we see every one of us as fully human and worthy of dignity?</p>
<p><strong>Tank n ap aprann, se tank n ap konnen kòman pou nou respekte ekilib lavi a. The more we learn, the more we will understand how to respect life’s balance.</strong> The Haitian revolutionaries understood that their dehumanization and enslavement was contrary to the natural order of the universe and an upset to the metaphysical balance of life. They expected the deities, manifested in nature, to come to their aid. And they did, in the form of mosquitos carrying yellow fever. Over 12,000 British troops that invaded Haiti in 1794 succumbed to the dreaded “black vomit” according to Sir John Fortescue, with more dying from disease than combat. British soldiers began to riot when they found out they were being sent to the West Indies, well knowing it was effectively a death sentence. The French attempt to retake the island in 1802 ended in defeat after General Charles Leclerc and 50,000 of his troops perished to “Yellow Jack.” By 1804, one account estimates that the disease had killed <a href="https://academic.oup.com/milmed/article/188/7-8/171/7165307">80 to 85% of French forces</a>.</p>
<p>To face the most powerful army in the world at the time, Toussaint L’Ouverture established bases in the mountains with fewer mosquitos and used herbal medicines to protect fighters from the disease. Some believed that their fallen heroes, like Mackandal, reincarnated as mosquitos to aid their resistance. Of course, the resistance lost many lives to yellow fever as well, only partially mitigated by their deft use of the highlands. Nature out of balance brings trouble to all beings.</p>
<p>Whether we see the world through an empirical scientific lens or a spiritual lens (or both) can we admit that the wildfires, floods, hurricanes, droughts, pest outbreaks, and heat waves are messengers of a world out of balance? Can we imagine that restoring balance in our human communities will have ripple effects in the natural world? Can we see the echoes and parallels in the way we treat our human kin and our beyond human-kin?</p>
<p><strong>Tout moun gen plas yo anba syèl ble a. Everyone has their place under the blue sky.</strong> Rooted in the force of Bwa Kayiman, the Haitian revolution embraced the leadership of women and trans people. Cécile Fatiman performed the inaugural Vodou ceremony of the Haitian revolution, one among many mambos (female priestess) who used their spiritual leadership to radicalize the enslaved and facilitate the liberation movement. Romaine-la-Prophétesse, a trans woman and prophetess, led an uprising of thousands of captives and came to govern two main cities in southern Haiti, Léogâne and Jacmel. Dédée Bazile was a maternal mystic of the revolution, ensuring the dignified burial of soldiers, and representing the “madness” of love for the land Ayiti. Women participated at all levels of the rebel army, consistent with West African traditions training women for combat. Notably, Marie-Jeanne Lamartinière led the famous Battle of Crête-à-Pierrot. Women and trans rebels also served as nurses, spies, and intelligence agents.</p>
<p>In what ways do we make space for the leadership of trans people in our movements? Women? Disabled folks? Queer comrades? Do we recognize that everyone has a place in the long march to freedom and find aligned and important roles for them?</p>
<p><strong>Si gen pou youn gen pou de. If there is enough for one, there is enough for two.</strong> Haitians did not stop at freeing themselves. They offered citizenship to any enslaved or oppressed person that arrived at Haiti’s shores as mandated by Dessaline’s constitution. Haiti’s early presidents, Dessalines, Christophe, Petion, and Boyer all had programs encouraging Black captives from the USA, Martinique, and Guadelupe to resettle, guaranteeing their freedom. Notably, President Alexandre Petion protected escaped Jamaicans from re-enslavement after they fled their plantation and landed in the southern city of Jérémie.</p>
<p>On multiple occasions, Haiti’s leaders offered asylum to revolutionaries globally. One of the more notable examples of this included Haiti’s involvement with Gran Colombia, where Dessalines and Petion both offered aid, ammunition, and asylum to Francisco de Miranda and Simón Bolívar, who later credited Haiti for the liberation of his country. Mexican nationalists, Francisco Javier Mina and José Joaquín de Herrera took asylum in Les Cayes and were welcomed by Petion during Mexico’s War of Independence. The Greeks later received support from President Boyer during their fight against the Ottomans.</p>
<p>What would it look like to actualize the adage that “no one is free until all of us are free”? How can we build global and intersectional solidarity into our liberation strategies from the inception?</p>
<p><strong>Nan pwen anyen nan lavi a ki pa gen règleman. Se règleman ki bay lavi a ekilib. There is nothing in life without a law. Law gives life balance.</strong> Haiti’s first constitution abolished slavery for all time across its lands. It also established public schools and honored agriculture as “the first, most noble, and most useful of all the arts.” The constitution eliminated distinctions based on the color gradient, declaring all Haitians to be Black, including Indigenous people, mixed race people, and naturalized Germans and Polanders. It forbade the former enslavers from owning property or gaining citizenship. Saint-Domingue was renamed Haiti/Ayiti after the Indigenous Taino name for the island.</p>
<p>Translating community values into policy and self-governance demands a level of clarity and rigor that can be tedious and intimidating. Are there ways that our movements lean into ambiguity as avoidance? In what areas of our work could codified rules and norms bring greater balance and alignment? What policies are we willing to take a stand for at the societal level?</p>
<p><strong>Tout moun se moun. Pa gen moun pase moun. All people are human. No person is better than another.</strong> In 1802, Napoleon dispatched around 5,200 Polish soldiers to fight alongside the French in Haiti. There were 500 or so Poles who so admired their opponents that they switched sides and joined the Haitians. The Poles saw kinship in the Haitians, believing they were fighting for the same ideals of freedom and independence. Haiti’s first head of state Jean-Jacques Dessalines called Polish people “the White Negroes of Europe”, which was then regarded a great honor, as it meant brotherhood between Poles and Haitians. After Haiti gained its independence, the Poles acquired Haitian citizenship for their loyalty and support in overthrowing the French colonialists, and were called “black” by the Haitian constitution.</p>
<p>Are we open to allies and supporters joining us from overlooked corners of our community? Can we honor the commonalities we have in our values with others, even when geography and circumstance are distinct? How do we honor and share gratitude with those who help us get free?</p>
<p><strong>Pa fè san inosan koule; do not shed the blood of innocents.</strong> This is possibly the most difficult Baw Kayiman proverb to address, because the Haitian revolution was notoriously brutal and the blood of civilians – including children – was shed throughout. Our role is neither to condemn nor glorify their tactics, but to recognize this values-based aspiration of restraint, and ask, “What were the causes and conditions that made this bloodshed nearly inevitable?” I dream of a world where bloodless civil resistance offers the only suite of tactics necessary for liberation and justice. We are on our way. <a href="https://ls.wisc.edu/news/the-enduring-power-of-nonviolent-protest">Studies</a> comparing nonviolent and violent resistance campaigns from 1900 to 2006 show that nonviolent campaigns succeeded about 53% of the time, while violent campaigns succeeded only 26% of the time, and further that nonviolent campaigns led to more stable democracies. The interconnectedness and visibility of global struggles, coupled with emergence of global definitions and shared values around basic human rights, are key ingredients in making civil resistance a viable liberatory tool. We can simultaneously glean inspiration from the noble aspects of the Haitian revolution, acknowledge its limitations, and aspire to the foundational principle of protecting the innocent.</p>
<p>How does abolitionary praxis challenge us to imagine a world where all beings are “innocent?” What examples can we point to of fierce accountability that does not rely on violence?</p>
<p><strong>Malè yon eritye ki bliye esklav fè Bwa Kayiman pou moun k ap sèvi Bondye pa lote moun nan mitan bèt. Shame on the heir who forgets that slaves made Bwa Kayiman so that people who are serving God may never again be put in packs among animals.</strong> Due to the abysmal mortality rate for those toiling in the plantations of Saint-Domingue, two-thirds of the enslaved were not born into slavery but rather imported from Africa. This meant they could still taste their recent freedom and speak the tongues of their motherlands. They knew they were not meant to be slaves and were ready to engage in unprecedented mass non-cooperation to free themselves. These courageous ancestors ask that we never forget their feat, and that we honor them by preventing anyone from ever being enslaved again.</p>
<p>Today, approximately <a href="https://www.antislavery.org/slavery-today/modern-slavery/">50 million</a> people are enslaved worldwide, including <a href="https://apnews.com/article/prison-to-plate-inmate-labor-investigation-c6f0eb4747963283316e494eadf08c4e">incarcerated laborers</a> in the USA. How are we taking a stand to end slavery? We are beseeched to never forget. How are we teaching the legacy of Bwa Kayiman to our children so its lessons do not perish?</p>
<p>This Black August we ask that you retell and remember Bwa Kayiman. Imagine its stormy summer raindrops kissing your face and the intonations of Mambo Fatima stirring you as you swear your own oath of liberation. These ancestors are not gone – they are with us when we protect our neighbors from ICE, when we flood the streets for Palestinian freedom, when we tend the soil to feed communities under food apartheid, when we stand up for Black lives in the face of mass incarceration and police violence, and when we practice our beautiful African ancestral rituals. May the ASE these ancestors passed down to us fortify us with wisdom, courage, and victory.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><em>read more of the Murmurations column <a href="https://www.yesmagazine.org/topic/health-happiness/murmurations-with-adrienne-maree-brown">here</a>.</em></p>
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<title>love song at the lion’s gate</title>
<link>https://adriennemareebrown.net/2025/08/08/love-song-at-the-lions-gate/</link>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[adrienne maree brown]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Fri, 08 Aug 2025 14:24:29 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Default]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://adriennemareebrown.net/?p=7668</guid>
<description><![CDATA[in case we lose touch in case the next flood swallows my city or yours in case the next bomb hits my tent in case the next wildfire breaches the [...]<p><a class="btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link" href="https://adriennemareebrown.net/2025/08/08/love-song-at-the-lions-gate/">Read More...<span class="screen-reader-text"> from love song at the lion’s gate</span></a></p>]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p style="text-align: left;">
<p>in case we lose touch</p>
<p>in case the next flood swallows my city</p>
<p>or yours</p>
<p>in case the next bomb hits my tent</p>
<p>in case the next wildfire breaches the barrier held by imprisoned volunteer firefighters</p>
<p>in case the next virus comes while the anti-scientists are at the helm</p>
<p>in case the satellites become casualties</p>
<p>of a war greedy men chose to incite</p>
<p>in case i’ve already said too much</p>
<p>or you have</p>
<p>and they come to erase us into history</p>
<p>in case we lose touch</p>
<p> </p>
<p>(which we would never do</p>
<p>we chose to love each other in a world where we would always be able to hear each other’s voices</p>
<p>always fly to each other’s doorstep</p>
<p>always meet in the middle</p>
<p>always follow each other’s news</p>
<p>gush on each other’s self-portraits</p>
<p>always be somehow together</p>
<p>at any distance</p>
<p>but…in case we lose touch)</p>
<p> </p>
<p>in case i don’t know if you are alive</p>
<p>in case you don’t know my fate</p>
<p>i want you to know</p>
<p>you have been a neighbor to my life</p>
<p>a sibling to my becoming</p>
<p>a relative i have held onto</p>
<p>a lover who seduced my fascination</p>
<p>and i am so grateful</p>
<p>i got to be an earthling with you</p>
<p> </p>
<p>whatever comes next</p>
<p>however terrifying it was</p>
<p>(and it was, is, so much of the time)</p>
<p>however brief the moments of safety</p>
<p>however steep the regrets</p>
<p>however disappointing it was (is)</p>
<p>to watch people reject the miracle of life</p>
<p>all around me, around us</p>
<p>you you you</p>
<p>in case we lose touch</p>
<p>i want you to know</p>
<p>i love you</p>
<p> </p>
<p>our togetherness</p>
<p>our laughter, our shared dissociation</p>
<p>our dancing to silent music in the kitchen</p>
<p>our eternal conversation</p>
<p>our one holy night</p>
<p>our perfect freeform weekends</p>
<p>our transcendent rituals</p>
<p>our couch confessions</p>
<p>our whispered plans to survive</p>
<p>our declarations of who we intend to be</p>
<p>our hours heavy with joy</p>
<p>even our busy parallel hours</p>
<p> </p>
<p>our eyes meeting at our last goodbye</p>
<p>knowing it was always possible</p>
<p>more every time we parted</p>
<p>it was possible that this was it</p>
<p>that without the drama of a death scene</p>
<p>we could each fall into our own crisis</p>
<p>our own portal</p>
<p>from despair to lives worth living</p>
<p>which may be humble, local, walking distance, hands in some dirt, following the fresh water, with who is there</p>
<p>post oil, post flight, post colony</p>
<p>post democracy, post superpower</p>
<p>post limited imaginations</p>
<p>post capital, post border</p>
<p>post fighting to simply</p>
<p>be</p>
<p> </p>
<p>and when, and if</p>
<p>we find each other again</p>
<p>beyond these bodies</p>
<p>beyond this short burst of consciousness</p>
<p>i pray i will remember the preciousness</p>
<p>of your skin folding into your smile</p>
<p>your hands finding mine</p>
<p>your surprised laughter</p>
<p>your index fingers pointing to the light</p>
<p>when you had a story to tell</p>
<p>your self-regard, your wonder</p>
<p>your tenderness</p>
<p>do you understand</p>
<p>to me</p>
<p>you were worth this whole life</p>
<p> </p>
<p>i need you to know</p>
<p>in case we lose touch</p>
<p>in case we are ever pulled apart</p>
<p>by circumstances beyond our desire</p>
<p>in case this is earth</p>
<p>and god is change</p>
<p>and our <em>forever time to meander through each other’s days </em></p>
<p>is somehow spilled by human hands</p>
<p>one truth is continuous</p>
<p>knowing you</p>
<p>knowing you was my miracle</p>
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<title>Compelling Speculations on Human Survival</title>
<link>https://adriennemareebrown.net/2025/07/19/compelling-speculations-on-human-survival/</link>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[adrienne maree brown]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Sat, 19 Jul 2025 04:41:24 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Default]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://adriennemareebrown.net/?p=7642</guid>
<description><![CDATA[the walker art center invited me to curate a film series this summer, and i decided to focus on Compelling Speculations on Human Survival. (photo by zia brown)   since [...]<p><a class="btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link" href="https://adriennemareebrown.net/2025/07/19/compelling-speculations-on-human-survival/">Read More...<span class="screen-reader-text"> from Compelling Speculations on Human Survival</span></a></p>]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>the walker art center invited me to curate a film series this summer, and i decided to focus on <em>Compelling Speculations on Human Survival</em>.</p>
<p><a href="https://adriennemareebrown.net/2025/07/19/compelling-speculations-on-human-survival/img_2855/" rel="attachment wp-att-7652"><img decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-7652" src="https://adriennemareebrown.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_2855-225x300.jpeg" alt="" width="225" height="300" srcset="https://adriennemareebrown.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_2855-225x300.jpeg 225w, https://adriennemareebrown.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_2855-768x1024.jpeg 768w, https://adriennemareebrown.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_2855-1152x1536.jpeg 1152w, https://adriennemareebrown.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_2855-1536x2048.jpeg 1536w, https://adriennemareebrown.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_2855-scaled.jpeg 1920w" sizes="(max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px" /></a></p>
<p><a href="https://adriennemareebrown.net/2025/07/19/compelling-speculations-on-human-survival/img_2857-2/" rel="attachment wp-att-7655"><img decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-7655" src="https://adriennemareebrown.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_2857-1-225x300.jpeg" alt="" width="225" height="300" srcset="https://adriennemareebrown.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_2857-1-225x300.jpeg 225w, https://adriennemareebrown.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_2857-1-768x1024.jpeg 768w, https://adriennemareebrown.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_2857-1-1152x1536.jpeg 1152w, https://adriennemareebrown.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_2857-1-1536x2048.jpeg 1536w, https://adriennemareebrown.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_2857-1-scaled.jpeg 1920w" sizes="(max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px" /></a></p>
<p><a href="https://adriennemareebrown.net/2025/07/19/compelling-speculations-on-human-survival/img_1023-2/" rel="attachment wp-att-7657"><img decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-7657" src="https://adriennemareebrown.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_1023-1-284x300.jpeg" alt="" width="284" height="300" srcset="https://adriennemareebrown.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_1023-1-284x300.jpeg 284w, https://adriennemareebrown.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_1023-1-970x1024.jpeg 970w, https://adriennemareebrown.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_1023-1-768x811.jpeg 768w, https://adriennemareebrown.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_1023-1-1455x1536.jpeg 1455w, https://adriennemareebrown.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_1023-1-1940x2048.jpeg 1940w" sizes="(max-width: 284px) 100vw, 284px" /></a></p>
<p><em>(photo by zia brown)</em></p>
<p> </p>
<p>since i was a kid i’ve been obsessed with three things:</p>
<p>– images of the future from the past, including but not limited to sci fi. as you’ll see in this series, these works are generally otherworldly;</p>
<p>– people on the precipice of apocalypse who choose to keep trying in spite of the despair, grief and overwhelming odds;</p>
<p>– the idea that we are the sacred thing we are reaching for, or that what we need is already around us, perhaps unseen or unacknowledged. we meet ourselves across time and space.</p>
<p><a href="https://adriennemareebrown.net/2025/07/19/compelling-speculations-on-human-survival/img_1014-2/" rel="attachment wp-att-7656"><img decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-7656" src="https://adriennemareebrown.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_1014-1-225x300.jpeg" alt="" width="225" height="300" srcset="https://adriennemareebrown.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_1014-1-225x300.jpeg 225w, https://adriennemareebrown.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_1014-1-768x1024.jpeg 768w, https://adriennemareebrown.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_1014-1-1152x1536.jpeg 1152w, https://adriennemareebrown.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_1014-1-1536x2048.jpeg 1536w, https://adriennemareebrown.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_1014-1-scaled.jpeg 1920w" sizes="(max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px" /></a></p>
<p><em>(photo by Zia Brown)</em></p>
<p>lately i’m also particularly interested in how radical, collective, spiritual and magical ways of creating change slip beyond our revolutionary fractals and into the mainstream. we don’t just need niche pockets of people engaging these ideas in shrinking containers of genre or tendency, we need blockbuster films and other viral, irresistible art that shows us imagining ourselves in the future, persisting, adapting, innovating and surviving.</p>
<p>i was especially geeked tonight because it was my first time seeing <em>The NeverEnding Story</em> on a big screen – it made me cry and laugh and feel hope and recommit to outdreaming the nothing.</p>
<p><a href="https://adriennemareebrown.net/2025/07/19/compelling-speculations-on-human-survival/screenshot-2/" rel="attachment wp-att-7658"><img decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-7658" src="https://adriennemareebrown.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_2863-300x272.jpeg" alt="" width="300" height="272" srcset="https://adriennemareebrown.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_2863-300x272.jpeg 300w, https://adriennemareebrown.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_2863-1024x927.jpeg 1024w, https://adriennemareebrown.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_2863-768x695.jpeg 768w, https://adriennemareebrown.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_2863.jpeg 1320w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></a></p>
<p><strong>the whole series:</strong></p>
<p>Black Panther (last weekend)</p>
<p><a href="https://adriennemareebrown.net/2025/07/19/compelling-speculations-on-human-survival/img_2865/" rel="attachment wp-att-7663"><img decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-7663" src="https://adriennemareebrown.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_2865-253x300.jpeg" alt="" width="253" height="300" srcset="https://adriennemareebrown.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_2865-253x300.jpeg 253w, https://adriennemareebrown.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_2865-865x1024.jpeg 865w, https://adriennemareebrown.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_2865-768x909.jpeg 768w, https://adriennemareebrown.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_2865-1297x1536.jpeg 1297w, https://adriennemareebrown.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_2865.jpeg 1320w" sizes="(max-width: 253px) 100vw, 253px" /></a></p>
<p>The NeverEnding Story (this weekend)</p>
<p><a href="https://adriennemareebrown.net/2025/07/19/compelling-speculations-on-human-survival/screenshot-3/" rel="attachment wp-att-7659"><img decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-7659" src="https://adriennemareebrown.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_2859-253x300.jpeg" alt="" width="253" height="300" srcset="https://adriennemareebrown.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_2859-253x300.jpeg 253w, https://adriennemareebrown.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_2859-864x1024.jpeg 864w, https://adriennemareebrown.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_2859-768x911.jpeg 768w, https://adriennemareebrown.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_2859-1296x1536.jpeg 1296w, https://adriennemareebrown.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_2859.jpeg 1320w" sizes="(max-width: 253px) 100vw, 253px" /></a></p>
<p>Interstellar (next weekend)</p>
<p><a href="https://adriennemareebrown.net/2025/07/19/compelling-speculations-on-human-survival/screenshot-4/" rel="attachment wp-att-7660"><img decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-7660" src="https://adriennemareebrown.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_2860-255x300.jpeg" alt="" width="255" height="300" srcset="https://adriennemareebrown.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_2860-255x300.jpeg 255w, https://adriennemareebrown.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_2860-870x1024.jpeg 870w, https://adriennemareebrown.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_2860-768x904.jpeg 768w, https://adriennemareebrown.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_2860-1305x1536.jpeg 1305w, https://adriennemareebrown.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_2860.jpeg 1320w" sizes="(max-width: 255px) 100vw, 255px" /></a></p>
<p>Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (Aug 1-2)</p>
<p><a href="https://adriennemareebrown.net/2025/07/19/compelling-speculations-on-human-survival/screenshot-5/" rel="attachment wp-att-7661"><img decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-7661" src="https://adriennemareebrown.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_2861-257x300.jpeg" alt="" width="257" height="300" srcset="https://adriennemareebrown.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_2861-257x300.jpeg 257w, https://adriennemareebrown.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_2861-876x1024.jpeg 876w, https://adriennemareebrown.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_2861-768x898.jpeg 768w, https://adriennemareebrown.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_2861-1314x1536.jpeg 1314w, https://adriennemareebrown.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_2861.jpeg 1320w" sizes="(max-width: 257px) 100vw, 257px" /></a></p>
<p>Contact (Aug 8-9)</p>
<p><a href="https://adriennemareebrown.net/2025/07/19/compelling-speculations-on-human-survival/screenshot-6/" rel="attachment wp-att-7662"><img decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-7662" src="https://adriennemareebrown.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_2862-254x300.jpeg" alt="" width="254" height="300" srcset="https://adriennemareebrown.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_2862-254x300.jpeg 254w, https://adriennemareebrown.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_2862-868x1024.jpeg 868w, https://adriennemareebrown.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_2862-768x906.jpeg 768w, https://adriennemareebrown.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_2862-1301x1536.jpeg 1301w, https://adriennemareebrown.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_2862.jpeg 1320w" sizes="(max-width: 254px) 100vw, 254px" /></a></p>
<p>thank you to pablo, mackenzie and patricia (and deb!) at The Walker for organizing all of this, and hosting us so well, and thank you justin for the series trailer! and thank you Zania for interviewing me and writing about this series. <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/17.0.2/72x72/1f64f-1f3fd.png" alt="🙏🏽" class="wp-smiley" style="height: 1em; max-height: 1em;" /><img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/17.0.2/72x72/2764.png" alt="❤" class="wp-smiley" style="height: 1em; max-height: 1em;" /></p>
<p><a href="https://adriennemareebrown.net/2025/07/19/compelling-speculations-on-human-survival/img_2856-2/" rel="attachment wp-att-7654"><img decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-7654" src="https://adriennemareebrown.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_2856-1-225x300.jpeg" alt="" width="225" height="300" srcset="https://adriennemareebrown.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_2856-1-225x300.jpeg 225w, https://adriennemareebrown.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_2856-1-768x1024.jpeg 768w, https://adriennemareebrown.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_2856-1-1152x1536.jpeg 1152w, https://adriennemareebrown.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_2856-1-1536x2048.jpeg 1536w, https://adriennemareebrown.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_2856-1-scaled.jpeg 1920w" sizes="(max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px" /></a></p>
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<item>
<title>i trust the trees</title>
<link>https://adriennemareebrown.net/2025/05/18/i-trust-the-trees/</link>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[adrienne maree brown]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Sun, 18 May 2025 19:55:03 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Default]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://adriennemareebrown.net/?p=7620</guid>
<description><![CDATA[today’s spell song offer to the multifaith prayer circle for palestine. we were joined by ahmed – you can support his family here. parts in italics are sung as simply [...]<p><a class="btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link" href="https://adriennemareebrown.net/2025/05/18/i-trust-the-trees/">Read More...<span class="screen-reader-text"> from i trust the trees</span></a></p>]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>today’s spell song offer to the multifaith prayer circle for palestine. we were joined by ahmed – you can support his family <a href="https://gofund.me/6da713e8">here</a>. parts in italics are sung as simply as possible.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">free free palestine</span></i></p>
<p><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">free free palestine</span></i></p>
<p><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">free free palestine</span></i></p>
<p><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">free free palestine</span></i></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">i keep studying how the trees send their messages underground</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">send nourishment, send warning. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">how the trees pull up rivers from the ground </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">and swallow sunlight into their rough skin straight from the air</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">the trees must show the babies in palestine how to do this </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">i slip out to the red maple in my yard </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">when i think no one will see me – in case it works and becomes insurgent</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">i whisper into the leaves:</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">take this safe bask in sunlight to palestine </span></i></p>
<p><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">and a great lake of fresh water to palestine</span></i></p>
<p><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">take the true rest of peace time to palestine</span></i></p>
<p><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">take the nutrients from my soil to palestine</span></i></p>
<p><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">take the wheat, take every seed that can grow to palestine</span></i></p>
<p><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">bone and gristle, let fat drip to each chin in palestine</span></i></p>
<p><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">green leaves stewed with sumac and oil in palestine</span></i></p>
<p><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">let this za’atar dusted bread fill each mouth in palestine</span></i></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">even here where i have not been bombed one time </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">while my country was bombing yours</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">even here where they fight to call genocide war</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">even here on this corrupt and colonized dirt </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">even here you are loved</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">the trees here whisper on behalf of the ghosts </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">who want to feed you </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">as i want to feed you</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">i imagine the mycelial thread praying its blind way through the dirt </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">coming to the edge of the ocean </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">burrowing down further into a place unimaginably hot and full of life </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">and somehow my heart vibrating drum roots across tectonic plates </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">coming up into that sea i only know from your pictures </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">coming up through and beyond all barricades</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">hands full of freedom and food</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">take this fully formed fruit and vision to palestine</span></i></p>
<p><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">send great plants that can gift good life to palestine</span></i></p>
<p><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">let the flowers bloom into shelters in palestine</span></i></p>
<p><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">let the world see humanity there in palestine</span></i></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">i whisper until i am weeping</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">and i ask the trees to carry everything to you in palestine </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">i weep with shame that i and we have not found a way to stop this massacre </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">we do not yet know ourselves how to survive these bullies</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">to stop this death cult</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">i do not yet know how, i don’t know </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">how</span></i></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">but i remember, we are the majority </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">and our ancestors root around us, in copses of comfort and revolution</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">maple and olive, birch and pine</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">i remember: we who want to live have to live together</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">we who want to live have to live together </span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">i whisper down into the trees to show us a way to hold onto each other </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">through the fire </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">through the logging </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">through the drought </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">through the rapists in highest office</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">who make everything a violation </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">through the hate and cruelty</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">and then through this awakening, </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">this too slow awakening, to the truth</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">through the aftermath of the awakening w</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">hen everyone will say they always knew better</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">through to the future, t</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">he inevitable future</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">where palestine is free…</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">i trust the trees more than any nation. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">i trust our ancestors more than any leader </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">some of these trees are older than us, they have always known us </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">they hold our ancestors like water, like sun</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">when i sing of palestine to the tree in the yard, </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">she touches my face, </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">she takes away my tears, </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">to make for you </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">a medicine of life </span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">free free palestine</span></i></p>
<p><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">free free palestine</span></i></p>
<p><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">free free palestine</span></i></p>
<p><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">free free palestine</span></i></p>
]]></content:encoded>
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<item>
<title>ask questions</title>
<link>https://adriennemareebrown.net/2025/02/22/ask-questions/</link>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[adrienne maree brown]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:45:16 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Default]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://adriennemareebrown.net/?p=7605</guid>
<description><![CDATA[oh beloveds ask questions ask questions   we need a shared (context) a something together together is the point   this vision is not about precision or prophecy [...]<p><a class="btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link" href="https://adriennemareebrown.net/2025/02/22/ask-questions/">Read More...<span class="screen-reader-text"> from ask questions</span></a></p>]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>oh beloveds</p>
<p>ask questions</p>
<p><em>ask questions</em></p>
<p> </p>
<p>we need a shared (context)</p>
<p>a <em>something</em></p>
<p>together</p>
<p>together is the point</p>
<p> </p>
<p>this vision</p>
<p>is not about precision</p>
<p>or prophecy</p>
<p>this is the truth:</p>
<p> </p>
<p><em>we</em> are each answers</p>
<p>each</p>
<p>somebody’s heaven</p>
<p>each precious</p>
<p> </p>
<p>we shouldn’t be so tired</p>
<p>we already belong to the earth</p>
<p>the lush garden, the fresh and salt water</p>
<p>the cave and complexity</p>
<p> </p>
<p>don’t believe</p>
<p>in trash people</p>
<p>collateral damage</p>
<p>buried history</p>
<p>lost souls</p>
<p>all that hatred is the long lie</p>
<p> </p>
<p>no one blooming life</p>
<p>is a threat to you</p>
<p>don’t teach your children to wither</p>
<p>or delight in enemies</p>
<p> </p>
<p>we cannot be better</p>
<p>than the worst of us</p>
<p>or safer than the danger we allow</p>
<p>we cannot leave</p>
<p>poison in the soil</p>
<p>we must pull it, whole</p>
<p>where its rooted</p>
<p> </p>
<p>we are a pattern</p>
<p>life and death intertwined</p>
<p>learning to hold</p>
<p>the love of god</p>
<p>we are a web</p>
<p>vibrating strands of home</p>
<p>learning to catch</p>
<p>our breath</p>
<p> </p>
<p>so listen</p>
<p><em>listen</em></p>
<p>and ask questions</p>
]]></content:encoded>
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<item>
<title>a blessing</title>
<link>https://adriennemareebrown.net/2025/02/12/a-blessing/</link>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[adrienne maree brown]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Wed, 12 Feb 2025 03:49:08 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Default]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://adriennemareebrown.net/?p=7599</guid>
<description><![CDATA[it is not enough to whisper our discontent to write to each other with gaping mouths we are not observers we are no audience at stake is our freedom it [...]<p><a class="btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link" href="https://adriennemareebrown.net/2025/02/12/a-blessing/">Read More...<span class="screen-reader-text"> from a blessing</span></a></p>]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>it is not enough to</p>
<p>whisper our discontent</p>
<p>to write to each other</p>
<p>with gaping mouths</p>
<p>we are not observers</p>
<p>we are no audience</p>
<p>at stake is our freedom</p>
<p>it races the miles</p>
<p>of our sacred bodies</p>
<p>without it we cannot claim</p>
<p>to be holy, to be human</p>
<p>our no makes the only way</p>
<p>for our necessary yes</p>
<p>what do we have to have</p>
<p>right now</p>
<p>in this breath</p>
<p> </p>
<p>a blessing on your slowed work</p>
<p>a blessing on your boundaries</p>
<p>a blessing on your no</p>
<p>a blessing on your filibusters</p>
<p>a blessing on your judgements</p>
<p>a blessing on your lawsuits</p>
<p>a blessing on your marches</p>
<p>a blessing on your platformed risks</p>
<p>a blessing on your passing the wisdom</p>
<p>a blessing on your public stands</p>
<p>a blessing on your private ones</p>
<p>a blessing on your thefts</p>
<p>from fascist corporations</p>
<p>a blessing on your radical art</p>
<p>a blessing on your rebel call</p>
<p>a blessing on your altar work</p>
<p>a blessing on your ancestors</p>
<p>and the songs they pour through you</p>
<p>a blessing on your dignity</p>
<p>a blessing on your duty</p>
<p>a blessing on your children</p>
<p>our children, <em>all</em> of them <em>ours</em></p>
<p>a blessing on your subversive care</p>
<p>a blessing on your masks and meds</p>
<p>a blessing on your passing for safety</p>
<p>a blessing on your safe houses</p>
<p>a blessing on every sanction — defy us!</p>
<p>a blessing on your constitution</p>
<p>a blessing on your state’s rights</p>
<p>a blessing on your strikes</p>
<p>a blessing on your tax resistance</p>
<p>a blessing on your sit-ins and blockades</p>
<p>a blessing on your shutdowns</p>
<p>a blessing on your security systems</p>
<p>a blessing on your stealth communications</p>
<p>a blessing on your sabotage</p>
<p>a blessing on your walkouts</p>
<p>a blessing on heart-based secession</p>
<p>a blessing on your family tables</p>
<p>a blessing in your therapist’s soul</p>
<p>a blessing on your community deepening</p>
<p>a blessing on your pods and mycelium</p>
<p>a blessing on your seed banks</p>
<p>a blessing on the land you love</p>
<p>a blessing on the truths you teach</p>
<p>a blessing on the books you save</p>
<p>a blessing on the truths you tell</p>
<p>a blessing on our dream of democracy</p>
<p>only realized through our everyday bodies</p>
<p>a blessing on the people</p>
<p>who were only given the earth</p>
]]></content:encoded>
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