21. Don't panic (feat. Rashida Bonds)

We're living through some intense times. The U.S. may be rapidly turning into a dictatorship. We're watching genocides, famines, and refugee crises unfold in real time, in almost every continent. 

Our message for you?

Do not panic.

And we have really good reasons why you shouldn't.

Listen to this conversation between allyship educator and coach Rashida Bonds and me about how to navigate times of communal crisis. 

Many people have told us it gave them so much hope and encouragement, and we hope it does the same for you, too.

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Hang out with Rashida and me on Instagram.

Transcript

 Hello, my friends. You're listening to Liberatory Business and I'm your host, Simone Seol. Now, this still was not a planned episode. My friend, Rashida Bonds, who's an incredible educator and coach on the topic of allyship... she and I just had to say something about what's happening. 

If you've been paying attention to the world lately, you know that we're living through some pretty intense times in the United States. We're seeing military deployment on the streets in response to community protests. And a series of unprecedented and rapid actions that expand executive power and move the country towards authoritarianism. 

But this moment of crisis I don't think feels unique to the US. People all around the world are witnessing the genocide in Gaza, authoritarian crackdowns in their own countries, the dismantling of institutions, attacks on human rights, erosions of many systems that people have relied on for justice and protection. So many of us are grappling with the same question. How do we respond when everything is literally on fire?

Rashida being my friend and also my go-to expert on all things allyship, which seems very necessary in these times, I was asking her, "Hey, what do you feel like is the message that people need to hear the most right now?" And she said, "don't panic". 

And I was like, "okay, let's talk about that." 

And so we did a spontaneous Instagram live and afterwards, so many people told us how enormously helpful and hope giving and mind blowing it was. And so I hope it serves you too. 

And notice, and you're about to hear this conversation, but this is a spontaneous IG live, so it's kind of rough around the edges and the audio quality isn't the best, but you know what is the best? Rashida's wisdom.

So keep listening.

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Rashida: Yeah. So some extreme stuff is happening. It has been happening since January. Right. And when you think the most extreme thing happened, then a whole other thing happens. And you know, I remember so many people, so many people that I respect and who know a lot more than me, were talking about how this is like a tactic.

This is a military tactic. The shock and awe is a military tactic and we aren't falling for it very much. Right. There was murmuring around it like, oh, he wants to bring in martial law, right? So be careful when you're out protesting. And so that was one of the reasons that black people stayed home because we make people with guns nervous.

And so we're like, if we're not there, then the people with guns are a lot more peaceful. And that's exactly what happened. There were protests around this entire country, very few black people or people of color, and they were so peaceful that people who were new to the protests were like, why didn't we have bouncy houses for the kids?

This should have been more kid friendly. As a kid who was forced to go to protest as a kid, we don't do that. That's not what happens at a protest, but that is how safe they were when we didn't show up. Right. And so what you and I talk about, especially in our community and home, and I'm gonna just do this.

You didn't tell me to, but if you are not in home, I don't know why you should probably just get in there and get all the good nuggets. We talk about this a lot at home, in home about how all the things feel big, right? What's happening in LA right now and honestly all over the country because the governor of Indiana really is trying his best to be Trump.

He is working very hard and is succeeding in a lot of ways. And so there is a lot of scary things happening all over the place. And the way that the citizens of Los Angeles were like, no, y'all gotta get outta here. That is community. Do you know what I'm saying? It feels huge, but all of the movements that we have heard about, especially me growing up, hearing about them, they have been in different areas.

Uh oh. Did I freeze again? Just a second. You said all the movements that happened in the civil rights movement. Okay. That I heard growing up. They happened in different pockets all over the country, mostly in the south, but they happened in different pockets. But there were a lot of different small movements that affected the communities that the people lived in.

Right. Even here in Indiana, there were things that happened in the black communities that kept certain neighborhoods from being destroyed. They stayed strong in their neighborhoods. And these are the movements that make the big movements that get put into history books. You don't have to change the world.

You just have to help change your world, your community, the people around you that you care about.

Simone: While we were chatting right before this, you were saying if you've been in a place where you're like, ah, I feel like I should be the kind of person who does something, but I don't know what, this is your chance.

This is the time, this is the moment.

This is the time for you to step up and here's the thing. Here's the thing. There's no such thing as an organizer, activist, resistance fighter who emerges fully formed. No such thing. And most days I'm like, I don't know what I'm doing, but you know what I'm gonna do.

I'm gonna show up. I'm gonna mess some things up. I'm gonna learn some things and I'm gonna do a little bit better tomorrow.

Rashida: That's exactly right.

Simone: Beginner's mind. Try something, know that you're gonna mess some things up, learn some things, and then you're gonna do a little bit better tomorrow.

Rashida: Right. Literally, nobody's asking you to be Martin Luther King.

Simone: No.

Rashida: Nobody's asking you to start revolution. No one's asking you to do that.

Simone: And because so many people in my world are neurodivergent and have sensitive nervous systems, and I really get this, I really, really have sympathy for so many people who feel like, I just feel overwhelmed.

My nervous system feels frozen. I don't know where to start. I don't always think that's just like an excuse for people who are lazy or don't have motivation. That's real sometimes. And I really get it. And I have sympathy for that. And sometimes you just need to know that it's safe to take messy, imperfect action.

Yeah. And that is a really courageous, beautiful thing to do. Knowing that it's not everything, knowing that it's imperfect. Knowing that it's probably going to be an experiment that you learn from.

Rashida: Yeah. We encourage kids to make mistakes. I've seen billboards in classroom that says, mistakes are proof that you're trying. I don't know what happens between childhood and late teens, early twenties that tells people that they can't make mistakes anymore.

Simone: Yeah, because one of the questions that you get the most is like, "Rashida, I wanna do something, but I don't wanna say something wrong, do something wrong 'cause I'm white or I'm cisgender," or I'm, you know, "how do I not do it wrong?" And you always say, do it wrong.

Rashida: Do it wrong. Yeah. That's the only way to learn how to do it right, is to do it wrong, because it's not something that you can read in a book and know what to do.

The way that you are a part of a movement is such a personal thing. It isn't something that can be taught. Your kid has never existed before. You have never been a parent before. So there's no book on how to parent. Right. Trial by fire. That's right.

And that is what this is like too. You know, my mom was really good friends with this priest and nun who did a lot of protesting and just causing havoc here in Indianapolis in the sixties. And their stories are like, we didn't know what we were doing. We just showed up and then this happened, and now it's a story, you know?

Now it's a part of Indianapolis history. I've never heard somebody be like, you know, we were gonna go here and we knew that this was gonna change the world. They were like, we just showed up. Just show up. Yeah. And you have to

I'm a very sensitive neurodivergent person. I'm not showing up physically anymore the way I did in my twenties, right? When I was in my twenties, I felt invincible. I would go to a thing and I would scream and I would yell. I don't feel like that is my place now. What my place is now is creating more allies so that when I get tired, there are people who can take my place.

That's what my job is. That is how I show up now, right? What do you do? Well, do you make food? Because there are people out there who are working, who are hungry. Can you gather up water? Are you really good at raising money? There's just so many things that can be done that you do easily. I'm terrible at raising money.

I hate it, but I know a lot of people who can just do it super easily. Do that thing. There is something that you do that you don't think is special that people need. That we need right now is about us. Right? Right now is about the people. Right now is about community. Right now we have to take care of each other and not look to big power, whatever.

To tell us what we can and can't do. We have to take care of each other. Like what happened in Korea? Y'all were like, no, we are not doing this.

Simone: I feel like that's something that Koreans do really well is that we don't sit around panicking. We're like, action, who's, what's next? Okay. The aunties are like rolling up the rice rolls to feed the protesters and the baristas are making coffee for the protesters. Yes. Everybody's like, alright, let's get to work.

Everybody do their thing. Everybody has a role. Yeah. Right. Yeah. And I've been thinking so much lately, Rashida, about how there are two different things. I think of it like this, like metaphor in my mind is like two different soils that you can be rooted to and one is the soil of fear and one is the soil of love.

And you can't be planted in two soils at the same time. When you're rooted in fear, it's like that's where you're just scared and panicking and despairing. And from that place you can't do anything. You are not taking action and you are just marinating in worst case scenarios and you are just crying about how sad things are and you are not fucking useful to anybody and you are buying into what they want.

To make happen because you are just creating more, you are adding to the atmospheric panic and chaos. Yeah. Chaos and freeze.

Rashida: Yeah.

Simone: Or you can be planted in love. And love moves. Right? Love says, what can I do for you? Yeah. Love says, how do we move to make things better? Love says, how do we actualize this vision that I have of you flourishing, of you being safe, right? Yes. Of you being taken care of. Love moves and you can't be moving with love towards love and panicking at the same time, right? So that's why I want everyone to ask yourselves, and I've been asking myself this tons and tons lately. Am I rooted in fear or am I rooted in love and choose to be rooted in love?

And it's an active decision that I have to make all the time. And being rooted in love is so powerful.

Rashida: Yes. And it's not easy. It isn't, and it looks different for every person. And so you don't have to look at someone else and say, this is what I should be doing. That's really almost the opposite of what should be happening, because it's not gonna look like that when you do it.

You have to do your thing and it is about your fellow human. And that's what we're seeing in LA. That's what we saw in Korea. That is what is happening in little pockets everywhere. And so now is time to build community. Don't panic. We're just way more powerful than we realize.

Simone: And we're way more powerful than them.

Rashida: 100%. We outnumber them. We outnumber them.

Simone: And love is more powerful than fear.

Rashida: 100%.

Simone: And last thing I wanna say as a business coach, is this. Did you know that revolutions require money? Revolution need to be funded.

Rashida: That's right.

Simone: If you have a revolution, if you are here to advance a revolution, you gotta fund that shit. You can't do it broke. If you're like, I dunno if I am allowed to be making money while all this shit is happening, I'm like, okay, your broke ass isn't gonna be useful to a revolution.

Rashida: No. Please make the money so you can help!

Simone: Make money so you can be resourced. 'Cause if you are not resourced, you are not gonna be helpful. Okay, and the only people who are gross are people who are making money while pretending like there is no social political context in which they are operating, right?

Right. If you make your values clear, if you make it clear that you are paying attention and that you care and that you are part of that, you know, that you are here for the revolution and that you are here to contribute to and support and fund the revolution with all the resources that you have, and I'm not just talking about money, right?

Your spiritual resources, emotional resources, intellectual resources. Then people want you to be resourced. People will want to support you and pay you. So don't you dare hide under this, oh, there's so many terrible things happening, to justify your weird money mindset issues.

Honestly,

Rashida: Preach.

Simone: Take responsibility for your role in stewarding resources. Make money to fund the revolution.

Rashida: Yes.

Simone: Okay. Yes. Okay. I just have to yell at you about that.

Rashida: Do that. Yes. Especially if you're good at it. If that is something that you do well —

Simone: That adds value to people's lives... like you wouldn't begrudge someone selling groceries to people for money. 'Cause people need groceries. 'Cause groceries add value to human lives. If you have something that genuinely adds value to people's lives, sell it and take money for it. Yeah.

Rashida: Yes, yes. And honestly it was when it clicked to me, oh, we need more allies in the world. I know how to do this uniquely. My life experiences have given me all of this insight. I need to share it with people. Yeah, they need to do this also. When I make money doing this, I can be even more helpful.

I can be even more helpful.

Simone: Yeah,

Rashida: And so that's right. Yeah.

Simone: So no panicking,

Rashida: Don't panic.

Simone: Move from love, let love move through you with action. Make money to fund the revolution.

Rashida: Start in your community. Start where if it feels too big and it does feel very big, start exactly where you are.

There's need where you are. I literally don't care where you are. There is need where you are. Start there.

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 Hey, if you wanna hang out with Rashida and I on Instagram, I'll leave both of our handles in the show notes. Check out Rashida's classes and offerings while you're there. She's an unparalleled teacher on all things allyship, which more than ever these times are calling you to be more of. And my life has been deeply changed by learning from her again and again.

And yours will too. Thank you so much for listening, and I'll talk to you next time. Bye.