This or That (edited)

I have more to say.

“It does not know the power of Love.”

That’s how I started this post yesterday, January 8, 2026. On a plane, weeping at the callous killing of Renee Good. A murder, immediately covered up with fake righteous indignation from this administration. She is a terrorist (lie). She was trying to hurt the agents with her car (lie). The ICE officer was lucky to be alive from this encounter (lie). His actions were justified (lie).

Angry and sad, all I could write was “It does not know the power of Love.” It being hate. Hate does now know just how powerful love is. I was thinking about all of the ways love has created a more just society; how Love has stood strong in the face of hate and changed the story.

Let me say a little more, now that my brain is working better.

Love walked rather than taking the bus, and dismantled segregation in Montgomery. Love insisted on the right to vote in Selma and won it for the nation’s Black population. Love stood against bigotry at Stone Wall and made us all believe in Pride. Love created suffrage for women, won the right to marry for our LGBTQIA family. Love won reparations for folks in Evanston IL. Love responded to state sanctioned murders of Black folk with the demand that Black Lives Matter. Love closed down the Manhattan Bridge to stand up for a Free Palestine. Love bangs pots, honks horns, and marches in the cold because we will have No Kings in this nation. Love walked dusty roads to register voters in Sunflower County MS and love drives older citizens to the polls. Love canvasses and organizes and demands a living wage, health care for all, and the right to live where one wants. Love puts itself in the way of broken policies and violence. Love demands liberty and justice for all.

Love moves; Love is a movement.

I just could not think, nor write all of that yesterday. And there is so much more to say, to celebrate about what love has to do with building a just society. But I was tired, and sad.

I am tired and mad.

There is such an evil force at work in our nation. Make no mistake about it. It wants to devour freedom. It wants to destroy liberation. It wants to ban Black and Brown bodies and culture. It wants America to be a fascist state, in which whiteness rules. It is lawless, it is fearless.

It will shoot you in the face, it will grab your husband and send him into detention, it will lie about an insurrection, it will insist lies are truth and dare you to question the lies.

This evil does not understand Love. It does not know the power Love has to redeem us, to transform us, to heal us. But we know. We know what Love can do.

Love got Allan’s case reopened, so he can get home to Matthew. Love takes to the streets, over and over again to stand with those who are violated. Love draws us togther, across our differences, to build a world brave and safe enough for all of us.

Love gathers, organizes, stands tall, trains leaders, holds space and speaks truth to power.

This is what love looked like in Atlanta these last days, when I was blessed to be with Black and Brown leaders working to heal America. I could not photograph all the beautiful people, but here are some of my posse—our posse. We know what time it is, and we are ready to Love the HELL out of this nation.

You know what that other mess looks like. We are saturated with the violence, with scenes of sites of terror. Love looks like this. Beautiful people doing what they can to heal the world with Love.

Family: Let’s train our eyes on love….look for love in all the places, then go and do likewise.

Show me what love looks like where you are. Let’s amplify THIS: Love. Love will dismantle THAT: Hate. It is the only power that can.

Will you can post a photo on instagram, Tik Tok, or facebook and put hashtag #whatlovelookslike and tag me? I might be slow to respond but I want to see you!

In time, with prayer, and protest, and persistence—Love will win. Love is the Way, the Truth and the Light.

Love will dismantle the hate.

PS: This week and weekend, love looks like showing up. Light a candle. Pray for our neighbors. Join the vigil. Stand with trans kids. Speak up when silence feels easier. Love is not passive. It moves. Email Rev. Amanda for more info.