Radicalness means to go back to the roots of the injustice

Quotes and more

The concept of the “radical” inherits its most powerful meaning from the Latin word for “rooted,” in the sense that radical ideas, ideologies, or perspectives are informed by the understanding that social, political, economic, and cultural problems are outcomes of deeply rooted and systemic antagonisms, contradictions, power imbalances, and forms of oppression and exploitation. [1]

As a result, radicalism does not so much describe a certain set of tactics, strategies, or beliefs. Rather, it speaks to a general understanding that, even if the system as a whole can be changed through gradual institutional reforms, those reforms must be based on and aimed at a transformation of the fundamental qualities and tenets of the system itself. [1]

To love this way requires relentless struggle, deep study, and critique. Limiting our ambit to suffering, resistance, and achievement is not enough. We must go to the root—the historical, political, social, cultural, ideological, material, economic root—of oppression in order to understand its negation, the prospect of our liberation. Going to the root illuminates what is hidden from us, largely because most structures of oppression and all of their various entanglements are simply not visible and not felt. For example, if we argue that state violence is merely a manifestation of anti-blackness because that is what we see and feel, we are left with no theory of the state and have no way of understanding racialized police violence in places such as Atlanta and Detroit, where most cops are black, unless we turn to some metaphysical explanation.

~ Robin Kelley, Excerpt from “Black Study, Black Struggle”

The roots of plants are the most intelligent part

When I think about what it means to embody radicalness, to embody the properties of the root, I turn to roots in nature. What do they teach us?

The tip of the root is the sensing, most intelligent part of the plant. Plant roots investigate critically and independently while staying connected to their origin. They communicate with fungi and other roots. They engage in reciprocity.

Therefore, to me, being radical means to be a critical thinker and intentional decision maker. If roots were literate, they would probably love critical theory.

[1] - Why Social Movements Need Radical Imagination - opendemocracy.net

RADICALNESS