This moment holds tremendous opportunity for our movement if we are willing to accept its invitation. We can live into new ways of being that have the power to shape a nation that works for all. But these new ways of being do not just require us to apply revolutionary love to the strategies, policies, and practices we rely on as organizations. They require that we live into a revolutionary love with each other. We must interrogate our relationships, partnerships, and ways of being, or we risk missing the opportunity to radically transform our movement.

What if we accepted the challenge to act with a revolutionary love for those with whom we share a common purpose?

What would acting with revolutionary love for one another—in this movement with all our differences, imperfections, and promise—look like? Understanding the present moment means recognizing the need for change. Practically, what does this need for change mean for our engagement and our work? How must we transform ourselves?

Not Merely Acknowledging But Also Encountering

Our collective flourishing requires tending to our hearts and souls, a key to how we relate to one another, and mending connections that have been broken within and between us. This means not merely acknowledging one another, but also encountering one another deeply and recognizing our shared state of being both in the present and in the future that we will either create together or inherit. We must accept, as The Equity Manifesto makes clear, “that our fates are inextricable.”

If we turn inward and toward one another, we can see if there are ways we have experienced or even perpetuated harm. We can see if there are ways we have conceded to inaction for fear of causing harm. We can repair harm and prevent it from happening again. When we act with revolutionary love, we can value one another, not just because of our similarities or despite our differences, but because of what can be learned or achieved through our shared experiences, including those of misalignment and complexity.

We have an opportunity to set expectations for one another that are rooted not in perfection but in a commitment to celebrating each other in all of our contradictions and embracing the power and possibility of growing an imperfect, broad coalition of people accountable to creating a nation that works for all. Opening the aperture of our alliances—whether that is our understanding of the allies who have a powerful role to play or the kinds of strategies that might move us forward—is not important solely for the sake of inclusion. History has taught us time and again that comfort with learning our way forward, with our diversity of approaches and theories of change, is necessary to arrive at where we are going.

This broad coalition won’t be predicated on a collapsing of strategies or beliefs. Instead, it will become a space fueled by the invaluable learning that comes from each organization’s unique contributions, as it tests, stumbles, and pulls us toward the future we are working to create. We don’t have to agree on a single way forward; we simply need to agree on how we will treat one another on the journey.

Founders of Our Movement

Our common and unlikely partners, both crucial to realizing a future where all can thrive, are under attack from external and internal forces. Some have even been pushed to the precipice of extinction. These threats mean that we can no longer afford to only acknowledge the ways that the systems around us must change. We must also bring the honesty and forthrightness called for in The Equity Manifesto and collectively reject participating in our own demise. In the struggle for the future of our nation, we must choose to become a united force that cannot be denied. This doesn’t mean we flatten our differences. Much the opposite, we can embrace the multiplicity of identities that have gotten us to where we are today and that are required to create a more vibrant future.

As Michael McAfee and Abbie Langston write in “A Revolution of the Soul,” “The decision before us is whether we stake a claim as rightful cofounders of the nation—the most powerful mantle the equity movement could take up—invoking not just the stewardship of government but also the cocreation of the entire social fabric.”

This same invitation lies before us in our own movement. The most powerful choice we can make is whether we stake a claim as the cofounders of our movement, committing to the cocreation of our entire social fabric.

How can we begin? We can free our imaginations from cynicism and scarcity, which tell us that we can only defend and we can only hold some and not all. Instead, we can choose to be led by an imagination that sees a nation that honors everyone’s humanity and works in service of the thriving of all, as well as the multitude of pathways that can lead us there. In the face of challenges in front of us and between us, we must remain unwavering in our belief that we have the power, individually and collectively, to win and look at our approaches and strategies with possibility rather than suspicion. We must take all these intentions and potential and make real the changes we urgently need. To do so, we must embrace new ways of working together, using accountability to outcomes and material changes in people’s lives as our North Star.

We have the power to usher in the next era of our movement, rooted in revolutionary love, honesty, and accountability while accepting and embracing one another in our wholeness and fullness. We can model and shape the nation we envision for all.