The Epstein files reveal a ruling class that refuses to play by the same morality, laws, or basic decency that the rest of us do. This impunity and vileness is the foundation of the system, but it doesn’t have to be. In order to move forward, though, we have to understand where we’ve been.

The girls school bombing in Iran killing 175 people, mostly students, is nothing short of a tragedy. It also represents a symptom of a fundamentally broken approach to conflict. The same governments overseeing this war are the ones dismantling women’s rights, protections, and political power in both countries. That is not a coincidence. It is a pattern. 

The United States touts itself as a place for second chances and prosperity, but, in reality, was created through a legacy of pain, degradation, and abject horror for millions of people. Black women, and their bodies, hold a unique place in this story.

For those of us working to counter democratic backsliding in the United States, Hersey's framework offers more than self-care advice: it provides a blueprint for sustainable resistance rooted in Black feminist wisdom.

ICE is deploying hastily recruited agents with minimal training, brought in through recruitment campaigns drenched in white nationalist propaganda about “invasion” and “defending the homeland.” They’re separating families and denying people basic healthcare in detention. 

This is how it starts. Every. Damn. Time.