Cindy Milstein (they) on Nostr: On many a weekday, when the neighborhood grade school lets out, an exuberant group of ...

On many a weekday, when the neighborhood grade school lets out, an exuberant group of kids—ranging from around 5 to at most 9 years old, and lugging oversized backpacks—scamper into @bibliocafestekilazone on their way home. They crowd around the cafe counter, some tall enough to reach it and lean over, and others needing to leap onto stools. From there, they point toward where they know the sweets are kept, joyfully repeat again and again the name of whomever is behind the counter (one of two people they know), and ask for a small piece of chocolate or little cookie. And the good-hearted La Zone folks usually have something on hand to satisfy these kiddos’ after-school mission.

It’s a routine that never fails to put a smile on my face when I happen to be at La Zone (often!) because these children’s delight is so evident at getting a treat from friends.

These kids have, compared to most, relatively little. They’re what are labeled, by states and borders, as “migrants” or “refugees,” coming here from a brutally war-torn country. And they live in a squat down the street with various adult family members—all of whom daily face a precarious existence, “thanks” to the structural violences of, say, colonialism, racism, and cops. No doubt their lives are hard—and their lives have hardly begun.

A bit of candy, while “nothing” in the scheme of things, somehow is transformed into love and solidarity each afternoon.

Yet sweetness doesn’t come cheap, “thanks” to capitalism making bags of chocolates far more expensive than they should be.

Hence this little fundraiser, which I know would bring sweet joy to my friend Des. I turned some of his artwork into stickers, which you can get “for free” at La Zone, but donations are much appreciated (big and small ones). The proceeds will go to stocking up on snacks for the Notara26 kids. But hopefully you’ll also learn about Des (@free.des.revol / freedes.net) the other Prairieland folks (@dfwsupportcommittee), who were recently convicted and are imprisoned in Texas for the federal “crime” of being “antifa” and thus terrorists, “thanks” to Trump and USA Christofascism—and who could use your love and solidarity too.

#SolidarityIsSweet