COURTNEY POPE
The Value of Selflessness
The people who show up, give it their all to help others and ask nothing in return are among the rarest you can find in a world built on a system of inherent selfishness. And the source of endless frustration for those rare people is looking around at a world of humans unwilling to do the same, knowing that if the inverse were possible – a world where most humans operated at the same level of selflessness – then the world might actually have a chance at becoming a better place instead of barreling towards inevitable catastrophe cultivated from our collective consent in such a selfish, violent and unsustainable system built on the exploitation of the masses.
I have a friend who shows up to help others and asks nothing in return, except occasionally that others show up alongside her. A friend who spreads herself thin in activism and advocacy because of the sheer size of her heart. A friend who, even with the stress of financial turmoil and health issues, goes to the ends of the Earth to lend a hand wherever she can. A friend who has witnessed me spiral in self-doubt and anger at the unfairness of this cruel world, and been there to help me pick up the pieces and continue the fight together.
That friend is Courtney Pope.
I met her last year in Washington DC, near the beginning of a protest movement that has morphed into a network of dissent in desperate need of further organization and national unity. She knew of my work documenting the movement and offered me encouragement, honest advice, and the first GoPro I’ve ever owned.
I was baffled at such support. But Courtney believes in people.
She’s worked mobilizing women through the Handmaids of Washington DC, an offshoot of the Handmaid’s Army that derived from seeing other groups pop up nationally. She’s frequented the halls of Congress, advocating for impeachment alongside Flare. But what she said has been the most fulfilling work within this movement has been what has had the most tangible effect: being able to help people get out of detention and save them from deportation.
That is works she does with the Free Them Now! Coalition, a group of people who advocate for those wrongfully detained inside these ICE concentration camps, amplify their stories to the media, find legal counsel and maneuver through a cruel system while constantly calling out the injustices that are increasing by the day. She does so much of the necessary work that not many want to or are capable of: organizing the people and the data in order to operate most effectively and help those in need to the highest degree.
And the Free Them Now Coalition is effective, having helped many people who are detained and their loved ones to make their voices heard and get there stories out. And they have been effective in getting people released as well by putting constant pressure on a system that has no ground to justify itself.
“I’m involved with so many things, because I’m not sure which thing will work,” she once told me. And while it’s hard to accept the small wins as moving the needle when up against such a large entity of cruelty, Courtney does what works. She’s helped so many people. She’s even helped me more than she knows and I have to believe that’s worth everything.
It’s all parts to a whole. Everyone has their part to play and Courtney plays many.
Something she’s working on now is the Pay it Forward Program. Something that could be adopted by communities to attempt to offset the violent and unsustainable system of selfishness we all exist in. It’s a system of mutual aid built on trust and cooperation.
“Minneapolis could be the testing ground for it,” she told me. “Since they already have a system of mutual aid and solidarity within their community.”
It’s a solidarity cultivated from the terror they have faced at the hands of authoritarianism.
The Pay it Forward Program is a work in progress. Something that could start out small and blossom into something worthwhile.
Because like I said before, Courtney believes in people. Maybe we can start believing in ourselves and look at the example she sets, and start believing in each other as well.
Courtney Pope helps so many people and often asks nothing in return. So that’s why I’m asking. Below is her GoFundMe for her organization and resistance efforts. If you’re able to lend any help, please do so here:
Photos by MattWagnerSub
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