Thread by @jnash

1/ This Twitter #TeachIn is comprised of three thread-chapters. This is thread #2, entitled “Love." The others are: #1 "Getting level set,” and #3 "Fixing Up My House.” #ScholarStrike

2/ Being active in the work of racial justice and anti-black racism weighs on people differently. #ScholarStrike

3/ My experiences, and what I draw on for strength to do this work is mine, and I can only invite you to join me — the way in which you join me will be your own journey with your own past guiding you. #ScholarStrike

4/ From where does my strength to show up emanate? From where do I find my moral inspiration? From the notion of love. Unconditional love. #ScholarStrike

5/ As John Lewis noted to @benhdc, "Without love, a person does not have the capacity or the ability to even begin a struggle or participate in one. You have to have love.” #ScholarStrike

6/ You can see the interview with John Lewis and @benhdc here: menshealth.com/trending-news/…
#ScholarStrike

7/ John Lewis also said, to @kristatippett, "Can we be just human and say I love you? I think so — so many occasions we think of love as being romantic and all of that, but just love because it’s good in itself, just love living creatures." onbeing.org/programs/john-… #ScholarStrike

8/ I’ve experienced unconditional love in the way I believe John Lewis may be expressing it: acceptance for who you are, as a human, with no expectation. And that experience has told me the following: #ScholarStrike

9/ Unconditional love is possible and it’s morally right. Unconditional love drives radical inclusion. It accepts radical self-expression. It values communal effort. Unconditional love values civil society. #ScholarStrike

10/ But unconditional love may not be innate. Back to John Lewis with @kristatippett: "You have to be taught the way of peace, the way of love, the way of nonviolence..." #ScholarStrike

11/ "And in the religious sense, in the moral sense, you can say in the bosom of every human being, there is a spark of the divine..." #ScholarStrike

12/ "So you don’t have a right as a human to abuse that spark of the divine in your fellow human being.” onbeing.org/programs/john-… #ScholarStrike

13/ I don't believe you can accept simultaneously the following: that truism that love of fellow human beings is good and the fundamental lie which exists that black people are inferior and white people are superior. Something’s gotta give. #ScholarStrike

14/ As @RitaOmokha notes, "It’s exhausting. How many hashtags will it take for all of America to see Black people as more than their skin color?” elle.com/culture/career… #ScholarStrike

15/ And so I move forward with this, humbled and cognizant of my privilege, and start to take action in my corner of the world. #ScholarStrike

16/ And I love you. #ScholarStrike

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