Divided Publishing

The academic profile is higher than the activist profile, but the activist profile is what I adore. It’s not a profile per se, it’s a practice of humility, and also courage. The practice evolves in a loveless state. The state’s animus against you keeps you disciplined, and that discipline enables your capacity to love the most vulnerable. And the way you are positioned in struggle radiates beyond any kind of linear, unitary animus. If violence is arrayed against me because I’m Black, or if I’m female, queer, or undocumented, add more. You can do an additive approach like a vulnerability index, but that still could not deal with the multi-dimensional reality of people who literally kept communities alive, and are keeping them alive. What if the most hopeful people are those without hope in the system?

Joy James, "The Womb of Western Theory: Trauma, Time Theft, and the Captive Maternal", Carceral Notebooks, vol. 12, 2016