Dear Dana,

After you stabbed me something very strange happened. I felt as though I was being pulled upward, but then suddenly the direction changed and I had the sensation of moving forwards. When I woke up, I was seated at a desk in a building resembling a library. There was so much noise and commotion everywhere, but the one thing that held my attention was the computer (I just recently learned the name for this device) sitting before me on the desk. After weeks of learning how to navigate this strange device from a kind librarian, I stumbled upon a Scalar page titled the “Museum of Resistance and Resilience”. The page is a collection of past, present, and even imagined future events of resistance against systems that are inequitable. You can imagine my shock. Living in 17th-century Maryland as a plantation and slave owner, I’ve seen resistance. I’ve seen slaves who I thought were far too broken by the hands of white men rise up again and again. And to see where black people are today in America. Though I am shocked, I am not surprised; resilience and resistance is baked into African American culture. What does surprise me, however, is the way these acts of resistance are described. They are not hateful nor vengeful. These protests are not out of spite but instead out of love. Love for all people, even the oppressor, and stem from the love for united and equal communities. Many pages on this Scalar page speak about an Author named “Bell Hooks” and her “love ethic”. This ideology is that our culture must embrace loving one another and propelling each other forward, rather than the dominator culture in which you and I both lived, Dana. When I read this I immediately thought of you. You lived by this love ethic in a time were dominator culture flourished. The strength you had to continue to push everyone, including me, your oppressor, towards betterment was the greatest act of love I have ever experienced. In her book, All About Love Hooks states that greed still dominates 21st century culture in the same way it dominated the 1800s. She says that people fear recognizing other’s oppressions will further their own oppression. People often have the notion that there is only a certain amount of social justice to be had in the world, so it’s only available to some people. You never believed this, Dana. In your attempts to seek freedom you never sought to imprison me. You did quite the opposite, in fact. You saved me from the river, saved me from my father’s rage, saved me from death at the hands of Issac, and nursed me to health on numerous occasions. I never thanked you, nor did I treat you with much kindness. I did not deserve your care, yet you did care. You should have hated me and instead, you cared for me. I’ve been trying to figure out why and I now believe it is because you followed this love ethic. You see a world where all can be equal and loving, and for that to happen you must show love to every member of society. After everything I put you through, you had no desire to dominate me in the ways I had done to you. You simply craved freedom. This physical freedom, I’ve learned, has been achieved for people of color, however, many are still not free to live their lives fully and safely. I don’t know much, but after having you in my life and studying this page, I believe if more people were like you, and more people introduced this love ethic into their life, this complete freedom would be achievable.  

After reading through projects under Praxis 3, I noticed a quote from a group who created the project “Circle.” they asked, “why are the oppressors allowed to ignore problems and continue to advance and better themselves within these unfair systems while the already oppressed are expected to fix/educate society about the issues while also trying to advance themselves?” I thought back to when I was a boy and you and Kevin attempted to educate me. Not only did you attempt to teach me basic schooling, but you tried to teach me to become a better person. I fear that despite your great efforts I have failed at that. You constantly put yourself at harm in an attempt to save my life and make me better. You cared about the betterment of our culture not simply the betterment of the worthy. However, this is not fair. As I read through the posting, I saw that it is a trend in history to expect the oppressed to fix their own oppression from positions of far less power. This is the struggle you attempted each day you lived with me. I hurt, whipped, and blamed you when things when wrong in my life. All to avoid my own guilt. I’ve learned that for years, before and after my time, blame has been placed on the weaker members of society to avoid the guilt and effort it takes to resolve issues. I was floundering my entire life. I lost my father, I lost the woman I loved, I had no one in the world but you. And, instead of recognizing your kindness, I pulled you down with me into my guilt-ridden fate. My final act in this world was to take with me the arm that you held out to me so many times. I am so sorry. 

Our final conversation was about hate. I spoke of Alice’s hatred of me and asked if you had ever hated me. You replied “Never for long. I don’t know why. you’ve worked hard to earn my hatred.” Well, Dana, I believe I have an answer for you. You envisioned a world dominated by love. And even in the 19th century, when creating this equal and loving world seemed like an impossible task, you worked your hardest to bring the love ethic into every aspect of your life. From examining Praxis 3, a page of projects where the future has been imagined in different variations, I learned that it’s less about how and when justice can be executed, and more about believing and imagining a just world, for the details will follow. Your imagined equitable world is advancing.  I wish you could see how much farther today’s world has come to the love ethic you practiced, it still needs a lot of work and could use a few more Dana’s, but progress is being made.

With my deepest apologies and appreciation,

Rufus