We are in tumult - across all spheres of life - from the individual to the international.  Cops are killing people for jumping turnstiles.  Hurricanes are strong enough to level mountains. People are stretching every dollar possible. There are no jobs. We have already passed the one year mark of the siege in Gaza. Palestinians are suffering with no end in sight, and Israel-US has now proliferated its terror to neighboring Lebanon and Iran. The crisis in Congo and Sudan continues to grow dire, millions of people have been left to starve. In Haiti, the U.S. backed occupation has displaced thousands while the global economic conditions have caused the suffering and displacement of tens of thousands more. 

Individuals and communities are coming together to help each other, prepare for the struggles ahead and reimagine and replace the destructive systems that brought us here. Disaster relief mutual aid groups have sprung into action. Military shipment blockades are having major impacts. People are becoming more attuned to solidarity economies. However, there are still shared feelings of exhaustion, terror, burnout and disbelief, and people are still faced with more questions than answers.  

The answers we seek lie in wearing a mask.

Masking means protecting yourself and loved ones from COVID (re)infection(s). However, wearing a mask also contributes to greater and more powerful symbolism, action, and meaning. Masking is a resounding ‘no’ to the U.S. killing machine that has decided our lives and its value are only important as the capital that we produce. In October of this year, local and federal government agencies tell people in Conyers, GA that they must shelter in place at night to avoid the toxins from a chemical explosion, but it is okay to travel to work and school and stores during the day, as though the chlorine burning in the air is respectful of people needing to make money. 

It is saying no to putting our lives in the hands of the media, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and other agents of the state that willingly uplifts the status quo by constantly revising quarantine requirements, mask mandates, and halting important COVID testing. Even as other public health crises loom (e.g., H5N1 or the bird flu, monkeypox, etc), the government has continued to minimize these high risk diseases because it is “easier” to wait for a mass spread than it is to halt production and travel for the health and safety of people everywhere. 

Masking is saying ‘yes’ to life! It is demonstrating that no life is dispensable. Our collective freedom lies in us remembering that we keep us safe. 

Astrologer Dayna Lynn Nuckolls (@peoplesoracle on social media) talks about resisting the Seduction of Sameness, the desire to deny and betray what we know to be true in order to belong to the group. Throwing away what we know to be true about COVID as we all watched ourselves and others get sick, and still deciding not to mask because of the race to normalcy is occurring on a large scale. “Seduction of sameness is the force that quenches and neutralizes revolutionary, radical inclinations,” says Nuckolls.  

In her poem, "I Must Become a Menace to My Enemies," Black feminist, scholar and poet June Jordan says, 

“I must become the action of my fate.

How many of my brothers and my sisters
will they kill
before I teach myself
retaliation?
Shall we pick a number?
South Africa for instance:
do we agree that more than ten thousand
in less than a year but that less than
five thousand slaughtered in more than six
months will
WHAT IS THE MATTER WITH ME?

I must become a menace to my enemies.”

Masking is resisting the seduction of sameness. It is remembering and maintaining our revolutionary tendencies. Even though the government has decided that COVID is no longer, we know that to be false. Wearing a mask is being a menace to our enemies - enemies who want us to move through life as though the horrors we are witnessing and experiencing are normal. They are not. Wearing a mask is refusing genocide, from Palestine to Pandemic.

This is not meant to sound naive. Masking won’t put an end to the genocides. It won’t house the houseless, or end the U.S. imperial project. However, masking will free us from the white supremacist, capitalist notion of ‘personal responsibility’ and the devaluation of all life. Instead, we can begin to participate in community care with actual material impact, garner the courage to live differently, and begin to engage in true self-governance. Masking offers an opportunity to turn away from despair, and a chance to move towards bold action. Masking affirms essential tenets of maroonage including the “disruption of capital accumulation processes that seek to and do extract resources [our health, wellness, and lives] from Black spaces." [1]

We are quickly approaching the holiday season. Increased travel means increased transmission. To those who mask- continue to do so. It is not in vain. Wear your N95's, KF94's or KN95's and carry extras for those you love. To those who do not mask- we are grateful that you are still here with us. It is never too late to start. Usher in more life for you and your loved ones by masking indoors, outdoors in large crowds and gatherings, and when you are interacting with people closely. Connect with your local mask bloc organization and get masks for yourself and pass out masks to those in need.

At the Organization for Human Rights and Democracy, surveys and models are being created to inform individuals and communities on short and long term risks associated with their behaviors and practices around COVID-19. No one knows what the future has in store for us. We can better prepare ourselves if we take action now because our future and fate lies inside of our daily actions, and our willingness to show up for each other.

Endnotes: 
[1] Eddins CN, Rituals, Runaways, and the Haitian Revolution (Cambridge University Press, 2022), 280.