That Ain’t Right & We Got Your Back: Anger, Love, and Joy in Social Movement Work

• In Event: 30851 - The Racial Politics of Joy

Abstract

Anger and rage are emotions that are often treated with disdain in US culture. They are viewed as inappropriate in professional settings and when displayed, they are used as a rationale for ignoring or dismissing the claims that undergird them. But anger and rage are the product of injustice. More specifically, they are a human response to the pain of injustice, and human empathy is an indication of love for one another and hope for a different reality.
This may be why anger and rage are so threatening to the social order—they reveal the contradictions and injustices, but also they inspire connection, collective power, and efforts to change the status quo. As Melissa, a 33-year-old Afro-Caribbean non-binary leader explains, “Anger is like a black light. It shows you what you don't want to see. But when you're angry, you fucking see it.” By leaning into anger, identifying its triggers, and harnessing it, anger serves as “the catalyzing flame that gets shit going.” It also brings us into loving human connection.
In this paper, I explore how KC Tenants, a citywide tenant union and grassroots movement “led by a multiracial multigenerational base of poor and working-class tenants in Kansas City, “organize to ensure that everyone in KC has a safe, accessible, and truly affordable home,” use emotions like anger, love, pride, and hope to motivate action, but also solidify collectivity and power in a culture that seeks to isolate and divide power through emotions of guilt and shame or worse still, the absence of emotions entirely. In doing so, I make the argument that through relational, educational, and political work anger, shame, and depression are transformed into love, pride, and joy, emotions that are crucial for collective liberation.

Author

• Michelle Smirnova, Rice University