At the Action Meeting my comrade gifted me an illustration she had been working on.

At the Action Meeting my comrade gifted me an illustration she had been working on.

An illustration of a photograph. Of a moment in time. My first arrest. Tr$mp speaking at the United Nation General Assembly. When my Arrest Buddy became my Arrest Buddy.

She had sent me a few images of the work’s progression.

At the Action Meeting when the doubts were beginning to rise to the surface, she passed me the work, wrapped in a rainbow canvas tote.

I couldn’t look at it— not with these doubts thick in the air.

The entire meeting I knew it was next to me—

The entire meeting I knew I owed it to this truth my friend had portrayed. I owed it to the group. We owed it to each other. To Stonewall’s Legacy. ACT UP’s Legacy.

To The Fight We Are All In Right Now.

We began to stack the chairs in the church basement as the meeting concluded. I removed the framed illustration from the tote. Revealing this precious work.

Revealing what we are all capable of.

I thanked my friend. Held her so very close. She looked to me and said—

Hell Yeah. Hell yeah, we are gonna do this.

Illustration by Tati Cruz @tatianababi1989