Dear friends,

I am writing to you all from Monastery of Christ in the Desert, the most remote monastery in the Western Hemisphere. I am here in guest residence, living and praying for several weeks alongside the Benedictine monks who call the monastery home. Here, I begin my sabbatical, my personal celebration of completing seven years of Data for Black Lives, which have so far been the most humbling, challenging, and rewarding calling from God in my life.

For the coming months, my focus will be on what I found little time to do while directing a nonprofit, managing staff, organizing conferences, and doing the critical work of research and advocacy — seeking God’s face and kingdom through his word and in nature. These days, it is in the red and yellow high desert cliffs, snow-covered mountains, amidst the sagebrush and cottonwood along the banks of the Chama River.

The journey here was nothing less than a pilgrimage. Before the hour-long drive through dirt roads that led to the monastery was the 2,036-mile journey from Miami. As I drove past cities and through time zones, I thought of all of you. Praying that you all stay warm during this cold and unrelenting Winter in America to reference a Prophet of our own time, Gil Scott-Heron. As we enter spring, winter continues, for the fall of an empire has a lasting effect for generations.

The subject line of this email is based on a chant from the mystical ascetic tradition I grew up in, Rastafari (Ethiopian Orthodox), and was often sung and chanted by my mother. The hotter the battle, the sweeter the victory implies not solely a physical battle but a spiritual one. And it is the promise that we have victory in all that comes against us. And in fact, the more we face, the hotter the battle becomes, the more we will be vindicated, justified, and glorified. Our victory will be sweet.

We must remember that all that is undone must be rebuilt. And all that is demolished, a gap, an opening, is created. If you were one of the 485 who joined me in Miami for the third Data for Black Lives conference, you are well equipped to discern the opportunity in crisis, and you have been endowed with the imagination and the spirit to rebuild. Let those who seek to destroy do what they know how to do, and let us who know how to create patiently await our opportunity. If you were unable to join me in Miami for D4BL III, you can watch the live stream and read the testimonials below.

I see this as time on, not off. Without this time, I would be ineffectual as a leader. As I embark on living off the grid, in remote areas, in a frequency and rhythm unknown to the world, I pray that you, too, are able to advocate for your own rest. For those committed to making data a tool instead of a weapon, to the goals of not just diversity, equity, and inclusion but justice, reparations, and the redistribution of power, our race is a marathon, not a sprint. And while the battles will be many, and they will prove to be hot, we run knowing our victory is guaranteed and that it will be sweet.

May the embrace of our time together in Miami keep you warm in the coldest winters, and the strength of the community we have built sustain you in the hottest battles.

With all my love,

Yeshimabeit

At this very moment, in a lackadaisical effort to address ballooning US debt, the current Presidential administration is scapegoating DEI initiatives and laying off thousands of federal workers.

But we know that they are only doing in public what the private sector (corporations and philanthropy) have been doing behind the scenes since 2022: bulldozing infrastructure and funding streams that will dramatically destabilize civil society. In particular, efforts that are dedicated to addressing the material conditions faced by Black people.

We are proud to have hosted a conference with no corporate logos. But as the landscape changes, we need your support to continue to deliver the critical infrastructure our movement has provided civil society and our country as a whole at a time when it is desperately needed.

Now more than ever, we must remain unbought and unbossed. Donate using the link below to help Data for Black Lives remain battle-ready for the long haul.