2 min read

A world in whiplash (redux)

The seasons are turning, this newsletter is back from summer hiatus and chaos is continuing its reign in America. 

Chaos thrives on disconnection and this particular style of chaos is one intent on separating us from our histories. 

“You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read. It was books that taught me that the things that tormented me most were the very things that connected me with all the people who were alive, or who had ever been alive.” — James Baldwin 

When you dream about freedom, do you freedom dreams include knowledge and history?

Monday kicks off the annual Banned Books Week— an initiative one would imagine is fairly fresh but has actually been around since 1982. This fact is both sad and also delivers needed perspective— none of these challenges are new and the histories of these struggles are deeply connected. Censorship, misinformation and restricting the free flow of information is infrastructure for structural oppression.

“No one is going to give you the education you need to overthrow them. Nobody is going to teach you your true history, teach you your true heroes, if they know that that knowledge will help set you free.” — Assata Shakur

It is a struggle to imagine a future that does not always include a fight for our history. 

Recall

A world in whiplash
Our timelines are trauma tsunamis. This week, I helped a friend soundboard how to get his wife and kids out of Lebanon (shocker: it was not hard to be more helpful than this State Department). Today, the National Guard parked itself on my street for the second time in six
Sabrina Hersi IssaSabrina

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Sabrina Hersi Issa is a human rights technologist. She is committed to leveraging innovation as a tool to unlock opportunity and dignity for all. She does this through her work in technology, media and philanthropy. This is her personal newsletter.