GOING VIRAL
Viral Justice
Inspired by my colleague and soul sister, Ruha Benjamin, whose book Viral Justice just hit the stands this week, I have been asking myself: How do I want to grow the world I want?
One of the life lessons I have learned from her book is that wherever we are, whatever we are doing, there is something we can do to better nurture the love in our world. One of the life lessons that I have learned from her friendship, and from the relationships I have held with all my loving soul sisters, brothers, mamas, dadas, and kiddos in my life, is that manifesting love means manifesting equality. In other words, growing a more loving world means growing a more equal one.
For a long time now I have spent my energies helping my own community by lending a hand to those nearest to me. As a kid, my world was tightly bound around my neighborhood, so sowing seeds of love happened on my home turf. When I was in middle school, my mom started having me volunteer with community organizations across Greater LA. I did fundraising drives, soup kitchens, whatever needed a helping hand. As soon as I got to college, I planted myself in two new community centers, doing the cooking, cleaning, admin, you name it.
But as Ruha’s book so gracefully highlights, things have changed dramatically in recent years. We have to aerate our soil and plant new seeds of care. We have to grow and stretch our branches as far and wide as we can. The time is now!
The Doc Is In
That is why I decided to bring my hand in la lucha to TikTok, where many of our most determined luchadores are coalescing. In the classroom, the lecture hall, and across the various speaking events that I am engaging in, I’m getting more and more questions about race, intelligence, brainpower, and genetics than ever. And I am realizing that the answers that I have to share must be made available and accessible to all. That means putting my ideas out there for not just the people who have committed to getting a degree at my university or those who have gathered to see a public lecture in a particular place and time. That also means reaching out to those who might not have a focused interest in the topics I speak on. People who are curious and questioning but not sure yet where to lend their hand.
I don’t expect to go viral on social media. But I do hope that a more modest kind of propagation will take place—the dispersal of ideas for how to create a more just world, like seeds on the wind finding their way to fertile terrain in the minds of anyone anywhere.
If you are on TikTok, come find me at @Dr.RinaBliss and see what I am up to. And if you aren’t sure whether you want to join? Take the leap, join the conversation, and come check out some of the ideas I’m sharing, hoping to seed a better world.