Embedded Files
Circles and Kin: How We Hold Each Other—Community as Lifeline and Legacy
The 2024 election left scars—but it also revealed where our true power lies. Not in the halls of broken institutions, but in the unshakable bonds between us. As Black women, we know too well the labor of fighting, the grief of loss, and the fire of political backlash. But we have also learned this: we cannot survive—we cannot thrive—alone.
In the wreckage of this cycle, our lifelines have been clear:
The support of our sisters—who carry us when our strength falters.
The wisdom of our elders—who remind us that this struggle is both ancient and urgent.
The hope of our youth—who demand we imagine beyond what seems possible.
Kinship is more than comfort—it is strategy. It is how we rest without surrender. How we recharge without retreat. How we ensure that when we speak, the world must listen.
Through mentorship, through shared stories, through the quiet and loud acts of holding each other—we keep the line unbroken. Whether it’s passing down lessons, lending a shoulder, or celebrating the smallest victories, our communities are the bedrock that lets us rise, again and again.
So we ask you:
How has sisterhood saved you?
What legacies of care have shaped your fight?
How do we keep holding each other as we build beyond survival?
This is a call for stories of kinship—because the future we seed grows deepest roots in the soil of us.
Sample Themes
Sisterhood as Strategy
The group text that got you through Election Night
Who called you first when the news broke - and what you said to each other
What it meant to be held by another Black woman when you had nothing left
A story of how a friend, cousin, or colleague kept you from breaking
The Wisdom of Our Elders
What your mother, auntie, grandmother, or church mother said that grounded you
Lessons passed down about survival, political betrayal, and rising again
Sitting at the feet of women who’ve seen it all before - and still believe in more
The Fire of Our Youth
What your daughter, student, mentee, or godchild demanded of you
Moments when the younger generation called you out
How their clarity, impatience, or dreams reawakened your own
Mentorship & Mutuality
Stories of how you poured into someone else, even when you were empty
Sharing jobs, housing, opportunities, and wisdom without strings
Navigating conflict or generational tension and staying in the room anyway
Building Beyond Survival
How your people helped you imagine a life that is not just endured, but designed
The first time you let yourself dream again because someone else believed in you
Creating collective care outside the state's gaze
Other Possible Themes
Other Possible Themes
Community Grief and Healing
What rituals did you turn to in your circle, after a layoff, a betrayal, a law passed against you?
Family Conversations
What did you tell your children, nieces, or little cousins after the election? What did they ask?
Cultural Legacy & Generational Memory
What do your people carry that this country will never understand and how do you keep it alive?
Private Hope Made Public
What’s a truth your circle helped you say out loud for the first time?
Kinship as Resistance
In a world that isolates and divides, how do we stay connected, stay real, stay soft together?
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