To Take Root Amongst the Stars: Earthseed
If I could follow Mary J. Blige featuring Ludacris and runaway love, I would be running away from the symbolic violence against Black women and police brutality / sanctioned violence against Black people. I would be seeking shelter from these two things as I see the havoc and harm they produce against Black people. I a thorough distaste for our education system and I a firm believer that it commits violent acts against Black people. From Black girls having their hair cut by teachers because “it was a distraction” to Black children being discouraged in their aspirations by college counselors to the lack of relevant curriculum to equip students for life. Education is so important, knowledge is something that no one can take from you. Its power is clear because why else would masters go to great lengths of preventing enslaved Africans from learning to read. I am also seeking shelter from police brutality. I recall being in high school when Trayvon Martin was killed and not knowing how to process the information. It felt as if this is not something that is supposed to happen today because we are supposed to have come so far and this was not the 60s. And with the height of social media, the images of control and white fragility being used against Black people anger and weigh heavy on my heart. From sanctioned violence by police to white women calling cops on children selling water or Black men having a barbeque. Why are people so threatened by us trying to live our best lives?
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“The destiny of Earthseed is to take root amongst the stars”
“All successful life is adaptable, opportunistic, tenacious, interconnected, and fecund. Understand this. Use it. Shape God.”
“Civilization is to groups what intelligence is to individuals. It is a means of combining the intelligence of many to achieve ongoing group adaptation. Civilization, like intelligence, may serve well, serve adequately, or fail to serve its adaptive function. When civilization fails to serve, it must disintegrate unless it is acted upon by unifying internal or external forces” - Octavia Butler, Parable of the Sower.
I have chosen these quotes because they emphasize the aspect of community and resilience. To be communal is to understand that you cannot serve yourself with the result of a thriving world. Because we are interdependent, we use our gifts, talents, knowledge, experiences, etc. to help one another. Ultimately, this is how we can achieve success and take root amongst the stars. I think tenacity and being opportunistic and interconnected is what Black people have shown throughout history. It is what immigrants show today. Community and solidarity are what allows us to be fecund. Implementing this as a value within our Earthseed, we can create a place that is beautiful and contrary to the world we live in today. We can take place amongst the stars where light is shed and what people reach for.
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Where will we reside? I imagine a somewhat rural space away from the city until we have the means and to go and “gentrify” / renaissance our communities black up. Places like Sylmar or Moreno Valley have lots of land.
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I would like to think of my community as inclusive, but I understand the dangers of people who are “all-lies” in their allyship and who are sunken. Black, white, brown, yellow, red, blue alike. For those who fall under those categories, sorry not sorry but you are not in the running in joining America’s next top parable.
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The leadership I would like for my community would resemble a church. I believe the notion of departments and boards allows people to have a niche and place to be put to work as well as train up others. No department can stand on its own, they are all imperative to the successful function of the community as a whole. We will survive by maintaining community. We survive by planting our seed (values, ideas, etc.) in those that come after us. We survive by protecting one another from degradation or dehumanization. When I look at systems we operate in today and the injustices that constantly arise, I have an understanding that for anyone outside of the white-cis-hetero-rich male, it is functioning exactly as planned. Values that are not dehumanizing or meant to only support others are crucial. Humans were created to be interdependent, and that is something essential to survival.
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Sustainability is very important because, without an Earth that is in good condition and habitable, there is no purpose to Earthseed. I think Black people are instrumental in innovating opportunities and things creatively to overcome. So, as a means of creating a thriving community and improving life in our community, a sustainable way of accessing water as well as food is important. This is a nod to the water crisis still present in Flint, Michigan as well as the health concerns due to a shady FDA and diet. I would want a machine that can cleanse any digestible liquid or press it out of something and make drinkable water. Also, something that is reusable and multifunctioning, so that when you are done with it it can be replanted or used to create something else.
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In order to build a better future, the current indoctrination education system will be fully disrupted. There will not be a white hegemonic, eurocentric, faux meritocracy value. Education is mutual and collaborative and should be inclusive and relevant to the needs of people. In dismantling the police force which is founded on the dehumanization of enslaved Africans, I think there can be space for creating something more effective and true to its goals of protecting and serving (just look at the Dora Milaje). By breaking down the values that the U.S. of America holds that are rooted in racism, greedy capitalism, sexism, etc. we can walk to a better future.
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Aysia-Marie Perkins
Blog 2: EARTHSEED