Week 12: Lime

Week 12: Lime

Facebook
Twitter
Email
Flipboard
Pocket

the face looks unquestionably
human
, the update tells you,
eyes have moved from sides
to front of the head
, ears right
where they should be
and you
wander your fingers along
their possibilities, wondering
what human means? they say
inhumane for the centuries
your ancestors were cut
from bellies, their ears
hung around men’s necks,
their eyes backed into the skull
or swallowed whole so gold
would grow inside another’s gut,
or else they were burned
so no man could taste
such wealth, inhumane,
for the women sown
back to back by men,
their bellies growing away
so when they pushed,
they’d show what body part
tears first, the stitch or skin,
inhumane, for a man taking you
without consent, for all
the taken women, but what’s
more human than such
violation, from Latin,
humanus, “of man,” how can
your unborn child,
unquestionably,
come from this?

We cannot back down

We now confront a second Trump presidency.

There’s not a moment to lose. We must harness our fears, our grief, and yes, our anger, to resist the dangerous policies Donald Trump will unleash on our country. We rededicate ourselves to our role as journalists and writers of principle and conscience.

Today, we also steel ourselves for the fight ahead. It will demand a fearless spirit, an informed mind, wise analysis, and humane resistance. We face the enactment of Project 2025, a far-right supreme court, political authoritarianism, increasing inequality and record homelessness, a looming climate crisis, and conflicts abroad. The Nation will expose and propose, nurture investigative reporting, and stand together as a community to keep hope and possibility alive. The Nation’s work will continue—as it has in good and not-so-good times—to develop alternative ideas and visions, to deepen our mission of truth-telling and deep reporting, and to further solidarity in a nation divided.

Armed with a remarkable 160 years of bold, independent journalism, our mandate today remains the same as when abolitionists first founded The Nation—to uphold the principles of democracy and freedom, serve as a beacon through the darkest days of resistance, and to envision and struggle for a brighter future.

The day is dark, the forces arrayed are tenacious, but as the late Nation editorial board member Toni Morrison wrote “No! This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal.”

I urge you to stand with The Nation and donate today.

Onwards,

Katrina vanden Heuvel
Editorial Director and Publisher, The Nation

Ad Policy
x