This is a call-in to build people power.
May carries a clear history of resistance and collective action. We honor Malcolm X on May 16. We recognize International Workers’ Day. We stand with National Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Awareness Day. We remember that Memorial Day was first organized by newly freed African Americans in Charleston, South Carolina, to honor 257 Union soldiers who died in a Confederate prison camp.
This history is not separate from where we stand now. It shows us what people do when systems fail them. It shows us how power is built.
We saw another attack last week. Voter rights protections continue to be stripped. District lines are being redrawn across the South. These are direct actions to weaken our communities and erase what has been built through generations of struggle. We are not surprised. We are not waiting. We are clear about what this moment demands.
I am writing after three weeks of rest and reflection at my Windcall residency. I stepped away from daily demands and listened closely. SISTA Fire staff and members carried the work forward with focus and care. That grounded me. It sharpened the question before us. How do we deepen our base and build more power now? How do we increase our commitment to fight for justice?
Our members have been clear. Lead with vision.
They named a future rooted in care, shared responsibility, and collective well-being. Housing, food, and health care are treated as shared needs, not profit. Communities are safe, connected, and led by women of color and nonbinary people of color. People have time to rest, create, and live with dignity. Relationships are built on trust, accountability, and care.
This vision responds to real conditions. We must stabilize and bring down rising rents and utility costs. We must defend our neighbors from government attacks based on race, class, and migration status. We must resist the isolation this economy produces. It is designed to keep us focused on survival instead of collective action.
We reject that isolation.
We build a shared “we.” We learn with and from each other. We connect housing, immigration, and economic justice. We move people into action. We develop leadership rooted in lived experience. We shift culture through our collective stories. We organize for real change.
The community forum is where this begins. Join us in July to:
- Build shared understanding of what is happening and why
- Connect your experience to larger systems
- Meet others ready to act
- Find your place in ongoing organizing
This is how you move from watching to building. If you have been on the edges, step in now. Join us. Build with us. Strengthen people power.
In Strength and Struggle
Ditra
