What to Do When Authoritarianism Comes for You
As the dawn of a new year emerged - a time of hope, optimism, and excitement for what's to come - Keith Porter, 43, was fatally shot by an off duty U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer in Los Angeles, CA. Not long after, on January 7 in Minneapolis, MN, 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good was shot in her car and killed by an ICE officer. These acts of domestic terrorism not only took two parents from their families, but are a threat to everyone's safety. No community in America should be subjected to violence as a result of federal enforcement actions.
Authoritarianism is on the Rise
As we reach the 1 year mark of the second Trump Administration, I see the rise in our collective anxiety, fear, and frustration with the state of our increasingly authoritarian nation. The Trump Administration's tenure has prioritized public fear under the guise of public safety by protecting these officers' crimes against the public. As we see the highest office in the nation forgo the rule of law, I ask the question of myself and of us: what are we to do when authoritarianism comes for you?
Last year, Donald Trump started his new tenure with an attack on immigrants through ICE raids across the country. These raids created a divisive narrative among communities of color, posing questions of whose problem this was, who was at fault for putting Trump back into office, and who is responsible for addressing the issue. This narrative that the ICE raids were not a Black issue was very difficult for me to digest. As someone whose identity is constantly bound between two worlds that often seem at war with one another, I know that the answers are not that simple. Throughout history we've seen that when they come for one of us they are planning to come for all of us. It's never a matter of if but when. That reality is playing out in real time as the Administration has cracked down on crime in cities across America led by Black elected leaders. I feel the ever present police state grows as our democratic institutions falter. In these dire times, how do communities resist and survive?
Lessons from the Black Panther Party
I often consider myself a third generation Black Panther Party (BPP) member, a part of what I would consider the legacy and revival movement. I attended University of California Santa Cruz during my undergraduate years, the same place where BPP co-founder Huey P. Newton got his PhD in the History of Consciousness. I participated in a state wide coalition called the Afrikan Black Coalition (ABC), which was inspired by and a part of the continuum of Black radical tradition of BPP survival programs pending revolution. Last summer forBlack August I reread the autobiographies of Panther leaders and realized the Party did present a framework for the fighting authoritarianism in our communities. The BPP's framework shows that when authoritarianism comes for you, we must analyze power, build survival infrastructures, and shape liberatory narratives.
Power is the ability to define phenomena and make it act in a desired manner. - Huey P. Newton
What we are experiencing in America - and frankly across the globe - is not by accident, it is rooted in capitalism, state sanctioned violence, and the abuse of power. The leaders of the BPP knew how important it was to analyze and name authoritarianism as structural and not just personal. More and more often I feel a sense of racial paranoia, asking myself if these things I am experiencing are really happening or if it's just my life. It is easy to disregard and disengage seeing the violence happening in our world. The normalization of overwhelming the public with bad public policy, increased state violence, and a lack of hope through these very difficult times is all purposefully to keep our minds in submission. But these are not just individual instances happening to random groups of people. IThey are deliberate and calculated attacks on those most marginalized in our communities. The Panthers knew that freedom began when communities defined a future for themselves outside of authoritarian control. We cannot just fight the symptoms, we have to identify and challenge the structure that continues to fuel this monster that seeks to destroy all of us.
We have survival programs to survive today, to survive tomorrows, until we get full control of our destiny. - Elaine Brown
Last Black August I took the practice of study, fast, train, fight quite literally. When the Trump Administration took back the executive office, my mind was not ready. The bombardment of an aggressive roll back of our rights and attack on our communities crippled my mind and damn near my body. It got to the point where I struggled breathing and could barely pick things off the ground. The Panthers knew how important it was to prepare their mind, body, soul, and spirit for what was to come pending revolution. They knew that it would not come lightly or just given to them, they had to prepare themselves and the community through survival and resistance programs. If the government was not going to feed our children, they did it themselves. In this time, I have been thinking a lot about how mutual aid will have to fill in the gap for many who the state has abandoned to meet their day to day needs. But this is what authoritarianism does, it isolates and eliminates. We have to counter through community care systems, food banks, community defense networks, mental health supports, political education, and safe spaces to provide resources.
Revolution is about the need to re-evolve political, economic, and social justice, and people are not going to be free until they have some sense of power. - Bobby Seale
Lately, I have been in many discussions about messaging and language. Much of the language used in politics is intentionally chosen to keep many from understanding what is truly going on. How can you fight back when you don't even understand what's going on, who the real enemy is, and what tools are available to support your community to fight back? Many of the things that we once had are being eliminated in the blink of an eye or preemptively being rolled back out of fear for loss and I can't even understand the words that are coming out of the mouth of my chosen advocate or elected president, especially one who spews misinformation as absolute truth. The Panthers understood that language is power and by keeping things direct, accessible, and unfiltered, people could connect to a sense of power. They recognized the use of art, writing, and speeches can make you want to get up on your feet and reach for the heavens because you felt something that touched the core of who you are - and married it to the core of who we ever desired to be. We must shape our narrative and our lived reality. Authoritarianism thrives on fear and disinformation, we have to counter it with truth, clarity, and hope.
Community, Courage, and Vision
When I was in college, a good friend of mine asked me if I was around in the 60s, did I think I would have been a part of the Black Panther Party. I said no. I don't think I had the knowledge of self, the experience to fight, and wherewithal to endure all I knew the Panthers went through. That friend shared a quote with me from Huey P. Newton: "The revolution has always been in the hands of the young…the young always inherit the revolution." I have held that quote dear to my heart for the last decade of my organizing career. As we are being pushed back into a 1960s reality I am reminded that even in the face of oppression, communities can survive, resist, and reimagine freedom. Authoritarianism is not inevitable. But we must act collectively, courageously, and with vision to survive.