In the wake of U.S. Airman, son, friend & community member Aaron Bushnell self immolating, there is a heavy energy in the air.
The San Antonio community gathers to mourn a martyr who stood aflame to question the lines of what we can handle.
The truth or the “safe” version of it?
How far does your humanity reach?
Can you hear the call to action when it is in your own backyard?
When it comes from our beloved heroes?
These questions often sit light on us as we never acknowledge how others perceive the world when dealing with our very own realities.
Aaron is a man who served his country and saw all the horrors & wrong doings this nation is a part of. Aaron acknowledged it and stood up for those caught in a crossfire without a voice.
The ones we sacrifice daily hoping they come back whole after being fed violence and fear.
Aaron Bushnell found a home in San Antonio and in the idea that there is more to life than the uniform he wore and the idea of unity he got told he was fighting for. San Antonio is a city known for its rich indigenous culture, diverse land, and intersecting waters & people. Aaron found community by joining efforts to support our unhoused neighbors and many others in need during his time in San Antonio.
He fought to keep unity.
Unity that cannot be found in supplying weapons & resources to fund ongoing genocide in Palestine.
This unity cannot be found in training our cops with military tactics to use on civilians.
This unity cannot be found in ignoring what Aaron Bushnell stood for.
Our unity will not come from sending more and more of our loved ones to fight senseless wars we have no resources to even fund or recover from as a nation.
Our “frontlines” are being tainted with the weight of upholding tactics rooted in efficient mass murder, power, and greed.
All while our spaces for learning, resource sharing, and forming circles of care are constantly being defunded.
Like our libraries, schools, health care facilities, and mental health services.
There is a systemic control our states have over our sense of safety, care & community.
Where we are okay with them controlling where our money goes as long as we are “safe”…as long as we don’t see how we got there.
But Aaron’s broadcast to the world is very hard to ignore.
Aaron knew what he was witnessing in Palestine was not just, and advocated in the name of justice the best way he knew how….and that is what service to your country is.
This amount of death and power hoarding does not come natural to us as humans, and is more taxing than anything else you will try to write off this year.
While we are grieving, we also are also honoring Aaron’s incredible impact both in life and death.
We will do our part to follow through with action and love.
And we are asking every single one of you reading this to do the same.
Channel your discomfort, anger, grief into action for liberation.
The plight to drain Palestine, Congo, Sudan, Ethiopia, New Guinea, and many others of their people, culture, resources and humanity is simultaneously taking our people, culture, resources & humanity.
We watch the death of a soldier from start to finish on our phone screens and try to justify a police officer pointing a gun at a man who is burning.
There is none.
“This is what the ruling class has decided will be normal.”(Aaron Bushnell)
What will you decide?
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ACT 4 SA empowers the San Antonio community through year-round base building, actions of solidarity, public education, policy, and advocacy. We are dedicated to pushing for accountable, compassionate, and transparent measures to create public safety that preserves and centers the health and well-being of our entire community without an over-reliance on police and prisons.
Media Contacts:
Penny King: penny@act4sa.org
Ananda Tomas: ananda@act4sa.org
