Over the past couple of days in the midst of a flurry of activity and battling a terrible cold, I received three e-mails that have stayed with me.

First an acquaintance of mine sent an e-mail about the death of one of her students, an 18 year old, shot & killed on the streets of Albuquerque. For those who live in Chicago, this is a familiar story. Another young person struck down in the prime of his life. I read her words which just pulsed with anger, sadness, dedication, and ultimately with hope. Hope that this young man’s death would not be in vain. Commitment that she would not allow his death to have been in vain. Those of us who are working to support young people on a daily basis have to steadfastly refuse to give in to despair and cynicism.

Next a colleague of mine sent along an e-mail with an attachment that listed the names of slaves that were insured by their masters. He expressed how deeply disturbed he was by seeing those names on the list. Even knowing that slaves were considered chattel and property somehow seeing a list of people actually being “insured” by their “owners” was seering. He wondered if prisoners are currently also being “insured” by municipalities. I don’t know the answer to that but would welcome any information that anyone has about this possibility.

Finally, I received an e-mail from a stranger. She wrote to me with a simple question: “How do you keep from giving up?” The e-mail was much longer than that but I didn’t get her permission to quote any parts of it. So I won’t. I was struck however by the question that she asked me. It is relevant to the kind of work that I do. It is relevant to my organizing and social activism. It is relevant to my life. I wrote back to her but I fear that my response to her e-mail was inadequate. Mainly because I am just so damn tired this week. So I want to take another shot at formulating a coherent response here.

I don’t give up because of the thousands of young people like my friend’s student who are senselessly killed every minute, every hour, every day. We have to be witnesses for each other. We are interconnected and we cannot be free while others are oppressed. It is a simple lesson and the world would be better if more people internalized this.

I don’t give up because I know what black people had to endure and continue to endure everywhere, the world over. My colleague’s e-mail about human beings being “insured” by their “masters” is reason enough for not giving up. Those slaves paid the price for my being able to freely write here today. I am a student of history and this allows me never to give up or to give in. Progress is difficult but inevitable. This is borne out by history. As I listen to pundits and some so-called “progressives” bitching and complaining about this week’s elections, all I can think of is “boy our ancestors seemed to be made up of different stock.” Social change and transformation is a long, hard slog. There are setbacks and there are some terrific highs. The key is to keep moving forward and to keep making progress. This is what I believe about all struggles for justice. So I don’t give up.

Not long ago, a friend sent me some words from Cornel West that she thought I would appreciate. I want to share some of them here:

“It takes courage to cut against the grain and become non-conformist. It takes courage to wake up and stay awake instead of engaging in complacent slumber. It takes courage to shatter conformity and cowardice.” I would add that it takes courage to keep from giving up.