Assata Taught Me: Revolution Is Love
this is the 21st century and we need to redefine r/evolution. this planet needs a people’s r/evolution. a humanist r/evolution. r/evolution is not about bloodshed or about going to the mountains and fighting. we will fight if we are forced to but the fundamental goal of r/evolution must be peace.
we need a r/evolution of the mind. we need a r/evolution of the heart. we need a r/evolution of the spirit. the power of the people is stronger than any weapon. a people’s r/evolution can’t be stopped. we need to be weapons of mass construction. weapons of mass love. it’s not enough just to change the system. we need to change ourselves. we have got to make this world user friendly. user friendly.
are you ready to sacrifice to end world hunger. to sacrifice to end colonialism. to end neo-colonialism. to end racism. to end sexism.
r/evolution means the end of exploitation. r/evolution means respecting people from other cultures. r/evolution is creative.
r/evolution means treating your mate as a friend and an equal. r/evolution is sexy.
r/evolution means respecting and learning from your children. r/evolution is beautiful.
r/evolution means protecting the people. the plants. the animals. the air. the water. r/evolution means saving this planet.
r/evolution is love.
Assata Shakur
Revolution is love. It almost sounds like an oxymoron; revolution throughout history has always been bloody, gruesome, and violent. But as Assata tells us, revolution is love; moreover, revolution is the evolution of human beings from selfishness to consciousness. Revolution represents the possibility of a world filled with radical love, the idea that these genocidal empires can end is rooted in the liberated love for the people. A radical undying love for people, the earth, and everything found on this planet. Revolution is love.
Kwame Ture said that we must build an undying love for the people; an undying love that never fades. This undying love gives us the capacity to fight for those who can’t, an undying love allows us to commit ourselves and our lives to liberation. Revolution is love because we know to struggle for human rights means to assume the risk and make yourself a target of these imperialist fascists who have likewise committed themselves and their lives to the genocide of the people. Revolution is love because there is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for their friends.
Revolution is love because love does not seek to exploit, revolution breaks every chain of bondage and oppresion, revolution is agape. As capitalism kills and exploits the people all across the colonial empire that is amerikkka, there is no love to be found. As we seek revolution, we seek to radically love the world: we seek the end of the exploitative capitalist system that allows children to go to bed hungry, a system that dictates that certain human beings should be forced to sleep outside, the abolition of colonial occupation and racist genocidal laws that have been designed to capture, kill and destroy Black and Brown Indigenous People. Revolution is love because we are fighting for freedom. They say if you truly love something you should set it free; freedom is a by-product of revolution, because revolution is love.
To wage revolution means to reclaim your history and culture from the slow genocide of amerikkka and their propaganda. To wage revolution means that we are breaking free of the neurosis amerikkkanism has placed upon African and Brown Indigenous Peoples. Revolution means finding our true indigenous self, which is why the youth always inherit the revolution because they have yet to succumb to the psychological war being waged on the people. The youth are more closely connected to their indigenous self. As children, we are innately aware of right and wrong, what is fair and what is unjust, and we live with the freedom to be whatever we can dream up. As Nina Simone said “freedom is living without fear”, and love cannot co-exist with fear. Revolution is love because revolution finds the ability to love everyone, without fear. “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” Revolution is love because love always preserves until it wins, just like the people!
Revolution means changing the way we think, the ways we speak, the way we act, the way we learn, and yes revolution means changing the way we love. Revolution means stepping out of the cycles of violence that have been replicated in our own families and social circles. Revolution means demanded that we personally are growing and evolving, revolution means pushing others to grow and evolve. This breaking of cycles is out of love, a love for the liberation of all people. Revolution is love.
Revolution means loving the people and the world and placing them above yourself. Revolution isn’t about yourself, because freedom isn’t about you, freedom is about everyone else. And that is what revolution is all about. Revolution isn’t about one’s individual ability to create wealth, revolution isn’t about electoral representation, revolution isn’t even about your freedom, revolution is love because revolution about freeing the land, revolution is about freeing the people. Revolution is love because my undying love for the people compels me to fight so that the people can finally have some peace, so the people can feel loved. Revolution is love.
