Imagining the Future
“Hold fast to dreams / For if dreams die / Life is a broken-winged bird / That cannot fly.”
— Langston Hughes, “Dreams”
An Invitation to Dream
In a bleak present, it is easy to see dystopian paths ahead. Living in a culture that has traumatized many and limited all our capacity to envision a more equitable future, we recognize that dreams can be the place of privilege. And yet, joy is resistance, and vision is essential to liberation. Together, they can give us room to embrace creativity, conceive something impossible, and will it into existence.
With that in mind, we asked community members, partners, colleagues, and peers: what could our world look like if we harness today’s lessons to create a more equitable future? The vision below weaves together many of their responses.
We invite you to consider the following reflection from a place of joy and possibility. A brief meditation may help you access your creativity. It also may be helpful to imagine yourself 30 to 50 years in the future, where you can let go of the constraints of today and dream freely.
A Vision for What Could Be
Imagine a world where we’ve chosen the path of justice. Our response to the global pandemic and nationwide protests for racial justice in 2020 leads to dramatic shifts in national values, policies, and leaders. We have moved toward a more humane form of capitalism and economic structures that favor inclusion and collaboration. And as a result, we’ve seen steady declines in racial and economic inequities.
While we haven’t emerged unscathed, 2020 fosters empathy and urgency to rebuild for resilience. Self-enforced social distancing evolves into a sense of interconnectedness and solidarity with those with whom we share the world. With it comes the commitment to undo and unlearn the harms which we’ve been socialized to normalize.
The nation declares racism a national threat to public health. The declaration prompts a federal racial equity audit and anti-racist policy reforms around social inclusion, taxation, reparations, and poverty alleviation. Transformative justice and community-based healing replace policing and imprisonment. Funding is reallocated into education, health care, affordable housing, job creation, and basic income for everyday citizens. Our government’s bipartisan commitment to a holistic “well-being threshold” helps aid a strong and inclusive economy.
Society embraces humane capitalism, in which humanity is valued more than profit. Progressive businesses invest in fair, living wages for employees and are rewarded with consumer loyalty. Tech giants give increasing attention to equitable design and universal access. Nonprofit models evolve to prioritize community-led organizing as an essential tool for changing outcomes. Community members, especially those closest to inequity, have a “seat at the table” and therefore a hand in influencing policy and changing systems. The ability to connect on a grassroots level is essential to sustainability and impact for governments, businesses, and nonprofits alike.
Imagine the joy we all feel in our wholeness, our connectedness, and our shared prosperity. Imagine the power in our collective liberation as we build the path toward justice.
Take a moment to breathe that in. That is the work in front of us.
This new world is not the only potential future, yet it is a visionary one we’ve dreamed up, together. It may feel impossibly far away, but we believe that by naming it, we may invite radical change.
In our next post, we’ll begin to unpack the shifts that we believe can help us get there, starting with Inequity Awakened.
Tell us: What in this visionary world moves you? What would you add to it? When you allow yourself to dream, what gives you hope? How might you move toward that better future?
This post continues our series about emerging shifts that can lead us to a more equitable future. These posts are adapted from our 2020 report, Pathways to the Future. You can find the complete report on our website.
