Reverence For Remembrance
Our existence is in our persistence to remember who we are.
Note: There are community resources, support and gatherings listed at the end.
Opening
Oh, the audacity of the constructs of whiteness.
The kind of audacity that has created this patriarchal fuckery of politics and policies. Where the top hoarders of wealth manifest their insecurities through corrupt morals vying for control via loopholes and briberies. Offering illusions of choice, safety, and security to the people who are the majority. Convincing many to view themselves as separate from those within their own communities.
The constructs of whiteness is so audacious it has immigrants deporting other immigrants.
The person considered to be the president is an immigrant.
The person who bought X is an immigrant.
The many who perpetuate and assimilate to whiteness are immigrants.
The very foundation of the colonial project that is the United States of America was founded by generations of immigrants. Immigrants who originally fled their homeland to escape religious persecution only to enact violence towards the people already living here. Deliberately erasing and rewriting history to rationalize their crimes against the Indigenous people and original stewards of this land.
These immigrants became known as pilgrims and anglo-protestants in our history books. Books that disguised massacres as holidays (Thanksgiving) and romanticized imperial quests for world dominance as necessary for our safety (US Police and Militarization). All in a concerted effort to desensitize us thus keeping us in-line obeying arbitrary rules of law and order.
May we never forget that.
Remembrance
When we have reverence for remembrance, we are reminded that many of us on Turtle Island are also settlers and immigrants.
We remember the stories of sacrifice, hardship, and triumph that runs through our blood. We remember the tales of dedication and commitment that strengthens our resiliency. We remember our revolutionary ancestors who dreamt, fought, and built pathways towards sovereignty, freedom, and self-determination.
Whether it was written in books or written in the stars, it’s in the stillness of remembrance that we reconnect to the generations of memories that live within our bones.
We are who we are because of those who came before us.
We are made possible because of them.
May we never forget that.
Erasure
Our histories made us who we are today and serve as a compass to where we can go tomorrow.
Which is why those who uphold the constructs of whiteness prioritize the erasure and dilution of our memories. They prioritize distractions that are strategically planted to keep our bodies exhausted and our internal systems dysregulated.
The erasure comes in many forms. Some of which takes shape as the banning of our books and bodily autonomy. The censoring of our voices on platforms and publications. The disrupting of our spaces where we build and organize community.
They dilute our focus and deplete our energies by bombarding us with a constant parade of rollbacks and executive orders. Threatening our livelihoods and rocking our semblances of stability. Deliberately cutting funding and enacting freezes to programs that impact so many of us.
This administration is so vile and nonsensical that they target the most marginalized and vulnerable — many of which include the very folks who voted them in.
Our co-dependency to the exploitative and oppressive systems that plague our reality are by design. We’ve been groomed to intertwine our worthiness and identities with money and productivity.
It’s in the years of human behavior and psychology research used by marketing agencies to manipulate us with ads and products that drive us to over consume. Having us want what we don’t need and need what we don’t want. It’s in the terms and conditions that have us signing away our data to access apps that promise to make our lives more convenient and secure. It’s in the ways we’ve been taught to rely on corporations for our basic necessities. The same corporations who evade responsibility and accountability for their crimes against humanity. Where they prop up programs that put the onus on the people (recycling) while they continue to pollute the earth and our bodies for profits.
May we never forget that.
Shed Sharpen Subvert
The time has come to once again emerge from the shadows cast by the sun. Where we depart the worldly wisdom of the Dragon and ground into the instinctual intelligence of the Snake.
Extending much gratitude for the truth revealing and voice activating experiences of last year. Thank you Dragon for supporting me as you shattered rigid expectations I’ve subconsciously held. Through our confrontations, you taught me how to welcome in more ease and care. You reminded me of the importance of self-compassion as a way to honor the hurt and pain that arose from my transformations. Thank you for taking me to heights that expanded and shifted my view of my inner and outer worlds.
With the Yin Wood Snake, may we shed, sharpen, and subvert our energies towards a different reality. A reality that many of us see in our minds eye. These visions may be new to our awareness but they’ve existed in various forms across time, space, and dimensions. We have access to these shared visions and feelings because it was shown and given to those who came before us.
This year we are being asked to ground into hope, faith, and trust.
To shed the layers of ideologies that keep us asleep to our magic.
To sharpen the tools and skills that allow us to continue to soften.
To subvert the constructs and behaviors that devalue and divide us.
Blessed New Moon and Lunar New Year.
Every moon phase and new beginning is a chance to untether and shed our layers tied to empire.
May we never forget that.
Prayer
May we continue to connect the dots.
The dots that have consistently shown us where peoples allegiance currently lies. The dots that have revealed the weaving of cause and effect from the impacts of the ism’s that have plagued our reality since their inception into our modern ways of being.
May we continue to build our reverence for remembrance. Remembering that our existence is not dependent nor needs to be reliant on the systems that have governed our lives.
To my QTNB community, may we remember that Transness has existed long before these arbitrary rules of law and order, and long before colonial regimes disguised as holy religions even became a thing. Trans beings were honored and revered for their multi-dimensional attunement, healing, and ways of being that benefited all living things.
May we never forget that.
Closing
I share these words because my heart, like many of ours, has been in cycles of breaking, mending, and becoming enraged by the constructs of our society.
I share these words because I see a different society emerging from the networks of care around the world that are building it.
I share these words because I myself am feeling the pressure to figure out how to create a sustainable living outside of the systems that govern my legal identity.
Logic is telling me to go down familiar paths to obtain resources and currency yet my energy says to keep trusting and flowing into the unknown. The unknown that is scary yet filled with magical possibilities. Where I’m presented with opportunities to do things differently. Resisting isolation and despair and instead building trust and care with community.
Although in this moment I’m met with much uncertainty, I’m being asked to have patience. To know that the fog will soon lift and reveal I’ve been walking the path I’ve been seeking all along.
Sending much warmth and support to all of us on this precarious yet necessary path of new beginnings.
As always, receive what resonates and let go of what doesn’t.
Till next time,
Willa
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Resources
Know Your Rights
Visit the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights website for resources and support. CHIRLA was founded in 1986 to advance the human and civil rights of immigrants and refugees.
🔗 Learn MoreRapid Response Networks in California
Rapid response networks in California respond to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detentions and raids in our communities. Many counties have a local rapid response hotline available 24/7.
🔗 Learn More
Support
Support for Rohan
Rohan has lost four gigs back to back. Some canceled, others they terminated for their safety. Their goal is $1,000. Any amount would mean the world to them, and they’ll reimburse ASAP.
🔗 Learn MoreHow to Support a Trans Friend in Crisis
A supportive guide by Trans Law Center with resources from Trans Lifeline and the Mental Health Coalition.
🔗 Learn More
Gatherings
Sat 02.01.25 | LNY with BabasHouse
Slither into an immersive celebration where tradition meets Asian-futurism, produced by Baba’s House, The Laughing Gems, and Yăng Shēng.
🔗 Learn More (Limited tix available at the door only)Sat 02.08.25 | Pinay Voltron EP Debut
“Everyone’s Busy” EP is Pinay Voltron’s debut of original sound recordings. A live performance where renditions of the songs from the EP will be performed in-person for the first time ever!
🔗 Learn More + RSVP
Grateful for your words boo. Yes transness is ancient and eternal. Our flames can never be put out!!!