Though the subject matter may be considered morbid from the Anglo Saxon perspective, Mexicans celebrate the Day of the Dead joyfully, and though it occurs at the same time as Halloween, All Saints’ Day and All Souls Day, the traditional mood is much brighter with emphasis on celebrating and honoring the lives of the deceased, and celebrating the continuation of life; the belief is not that death is the end, but rather the beginning of a new stage in life. – Wikipedia entry
These are dark days, with worshippers of death and fear ascendant. It’s easy to believe their cries of hatred, their warnings of disaster. After all, everywhere you look they highlight signs of decay, of destruction, of division and hatred. Perhaps no mask is more frightful that the rictus distorting the face of our Commander in Chief, head Evangelical of the so-called free world. If you want, you can easily believe that this America we live in now is all we’ll be, the historical cancers of slavery, racism, genocide and warlordism have metastisized and overwhelmed the healthy civic body, leaving only an undead creature in search of new victims to devour.
Today, in the spirit of Dia De Los Muertos, let us look away from all of that. Today, lets celebrate instead those who’ve fought dark times before, survived dark times before, PREVAILED in times that were much like what we face now.
I don’t mean just the leaders, not just Elizabeth Cady Stanton, more than Joe Hill, not just Chief Joseph, not merely Martin Luther King Jr. or William Lloyd Garrison or Cesar Chavez. The authoritarians are the ones who have no choice but to elevate “great men” for them to FOLLOW. These are only examples who’ve impacted on my memory, but your spiritual ancestors may be completely different. Our luminaries are only representatives of vast numbers of people most of us might never know by name, unless they were the grandfather who told you stories of old strikes, of meals of crusty toast with chipped beef gravy on top while sitting at his knee. Perhaps another who sat at an old formica kitchen table with tales of the struggle against the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the mission schools, or stories related at family get-togethers of sitting at the back of the bus, grandmothers who remembered having no opportunity to pursue their own dreams because of their gender. Maybe your forebearers told stories of shame and having to hide who they loved, or the pressure to hide the fruits of having loved, of being spirited away to give birth in shame.
THIS Dia De Los Muertos, remember their struggles, but remember their COMMUNITY. Remember that unlike the right, unlike the worshippers of division and death, we can look back with joy and fondness at people who sang and danced and loved and communed DESPITE their struggles, despite the exploitation, the hatred, the discrimination and fear. They formed communities, they formed unions, they formed sewing circles and barn raisings and volunteer organizations. They rallied with their neighbors, mended fences, found common ground with NEW neighbors different from themselves. It’s easy to remember the nativists, the klansmen, the misogynists and gay bashers and jingoists and bundists … but also remember that there were ALWAYS good people opposing them, forging bonds, talking and working together to build a brighter, broader, more inclusive future. While there were slavers, there were abolitionists. When other men jeered and sniped, remember there were women who reminded others that a woman was every bit the equal of a man and should have a voice, and there were sons who listened to them.
Celebrate the artists, the writers, the musicians and performers who forged bonds between different groups of people, who showed us all that it’s okay to be different, that different can be wonderful and exciting. Remember that every time that culture tried to expand our ties, broaden our conversations, help us see the world anew, the authoritarian minded tried to silence them, ban them, attack them, but over time the artists prevailed. From the churches and the juke joints, the beer halls and the smokey bars, from the salons to the corner table at the Algonquin, from coffee houses to underground clubs … we can remember fondly those who found beauty and strength in the everyday and in the sublime and IN EACH OTHER. THIS Dia De Los Muertos, read their words, sing their songs, dance to their tunes, enjoy their paintings and sculptures and their videos. Remember that no matter how loudly, how violently, how insistently those afraid of openness and sharing and difference and change tried to stop it, the songs got sung, the rugs got cut, the words got read.
Politics is merely the way change is eventually ratified and made the new status quo, and we’re sadly in a period where the easily frightened and the weak of spirit have waged a vociferous campaign to try to beat back those of us who want to love and live and grow. They’re winning right now, but that is temporary. Remember on this Dia De Los Muertos that they’ve tried this before, that they’ve even prevailed before, but only for a time. Now it’s time to honor the eventual victors, the activists and workers and creators and mothers and fathers and daughters and sons who slowly fought back, who’ve moved us closer together. The tide of history was on their side, and if only we would remember them, treasure them, take heart from their memories and stories, if only we would hear the whispers of their spirits in these next few days, we’ll remember that we can and will prevail. Turn away from lying fearmongers and fake saviors promising salvation in a broken political party, a party that is actively helping the authoritarians. They too truck in fear, and those of us who love life have no real desire to wallow in fear. Stop giving in. Remember those who fought before, and fight now for what you believe. Stop making compromises with the lesser of two very terrible evils.
We can and will prevail, we will find a way to become a font for peace again. It doesn’t matter how you add to the struggle, it not necessary for all of us to become politicians or full-time activists. You can help those who do that vital work by volunteering for them, or donating to them, or by merely talking to your neighbors, chatting with the frightened and cowed who you encounter in your daily life. Smile and quietly talk back to those who spread hate and fear. We are where we are because those with no faith in humanity TALKED TO EACH OTHER, and refused to compromise. We can do the same, because we believe in community, not division, and in community there comes strength. The fight, the struggle, the great human show continues, and throughout history given time and perserverance it has been the cultivators, not the extractors, who have brought beauty, peace and prosperity to the world. Over the next couple of days, remember them fondly, and let those memories inform your choices as we face the struggles ahead.
