Radical simply means ‘grasping things at the root.’
Angela Davis
I am someone who is inspired by the promises of social change – that things can improve to the betterment of everyone in our communities.
But I don’t assume this progress to be guaranteed.
No, it requires coordinated social efforts across generations to change our politics, our economies, our cultural traditions, our social norms, all to better reflect our values.
And once changed, defending these principles require attention and commitment.
Earlier in life, I sought to help promote social change through the legal system, earning myself a bachelor’s and master’s degree in criminal justice. During this same time, I also found myself increasingly involved in community organizing: fundraising, protests, event planning, blockades, developing resources and doing outreach.
In recent years, however, I increasingly felt the need to shift my focus – to spend less attention on social media and “convincing” strangers of my opinion.
Eventually, I found where my passion resides: artistic resistance.
This looks like writing, like music, like drawing, like fiction, like painting, like poetry.
It is searching for self-expression in the midst of this capitalist hegemonic mono-culture, where every hour the news-media bombard us to be afraid, insecure and distracted.
We all need money to survive in capitalism, but the work available twist our talents to pedal junk commodities, fooling us to confuse value with price, identity with income.
So I do my best to stay radical, to keep grasping at the roots, by making art.
By writing, I dream about helping transform hopelessness into hope.
What we all need, now maybe more than ever, is bold and radical visions.
We need imaginations that scare us, keep us up at night, make us cry, make us furious, make us hungry, make us realize exactly who we are and what we can become.
For more, read how archie became a full-time writer and empowerment through fiction.
archie writes 