We Weren’t Meant to Survive: Reclaiming Power in a Manufactured Crisis

Hey Friend!

In this manifesto...

I unpack a recent conversation about a sweeping new bill passed under Trump’s influence and the haunting patterns it reveals. This is not just about politics—it’s about power, labor, race, and control. In this post, I share my working theory about what this is all really for and offer an ancestral ritual to ground, protect, and prepare us. If you're feeling disoriented, angry, or helpless—you’re not alone. Let’s piece the puzzle together and remember what our ancestors knew: even in the darkest soil, we can plant something sacred.

The Big Beautiful Bill… and the Bigger, Uglier Picture

A few nights ago, I was in deep conversation with friends when someone asked a heavy question:

“What is all of this really for?”

We were talking about the new policy package from Trump’s camp—this sweeping bill being lauded by its creators as “beautiful,” “patriotic,” and “restorative.” But when you dig past the headlines and look at what’s actually in the bill—cutting food benefits, dismantling diversity initiatives, funneling funding into in-vitro access while blocking immigration—it doesn’t feel beautiful. It feels calculated.

It feels like a plan.

And it feels familiar in a way that makes your spirit sit up straight.

When the Puzzle Pieces Don’t Come With a Box

Here’s what I’ve been sitting with: this bill is like dumping out the pieces of a puzzle without giving anyone the cover photo. We’re all sitting here trying to figure out what connects—but the shape they’re trying to build is hidden.

So let me offer you my hypothesis. My opinion. My spirit’s warning call:

This isn’t random.

This is systemic. Strategic. And possibly the beginning of a new caste system—one dressed up in the red, white, and blue.

Download the free July issue of Sundana, a ritual magazine for Black women embracing soft living, ancestral wisdom, and sacred self-return. Begin your journey with rhythm, rest, and remembrance→ GET ACCESS

Step 1: Remove the Brown Labor Base

Let’s start with immigration. This bill accelerates policies aimed at mass deportation and restriction of brown and Black immigrants. These are people who’ve built this country’s infrastructure, harvested its food, cleaned its homes, and done so for scraps—without access to citizenship or political power.

Getting rid of them isn’t about “safety.” It’s about reshuffling labor.

Because when you remove one vulnerable population from the workforce, you make room for another to be funneled in—desperate, cornered, and unpaid enough to stay silent.

Step 2: Collapse Upward Mobility

Dismantling DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion) initiatives across education and corporate spaces ensures that poor and marginalized groups won’t have legitimate pathways to rise. The ladder gets pulled up.

Now combine that with the gutting of SNAP benefits, health programs, and affordable housing support. What do you get?

People—especially Black and brown people—forced into survival mode.

Hungry people. Sick people. People with no choice but to say “yes” to the worst jobs for the lowest wages.

Sound familiar?

Because it should. This is sharecropping 2.0. This is slavery in sneakers and uniforms.

Step 3: Manufacture a New White Birthrate

This is the piece that made my stomach turn.

White birth rates in America have been declining. That’s not a conspiracy theory—it’s statistical fact.

And suddenly, tucked inside this “economic” bill, there’s funding for in-vitro fertilization. Easy access. Covered by insurance. Who do you think that primarily benefits?

Meanwhile, the same bill strips healthcare options, reproductive care, and maternal health protections for the very communities already dying in childbirth.

This isn’t about protecting life. It’s about controlling which lives get to exist.

Step 4: Starve and Isolate the Rest

We’re talking rising food costs. Slashed benefits. Hospital closures in rural areas. Medicaid barriers. No rent control. No livable wage.

It’s not chaos—it’s choreography.

They are creating two Americas:

The elite class of decision-makers and legacy families.

Everyone else—forced into perpetual labor and medical vulnerability.

And guess which class we are supposed to die into?

So… What Now?

We have to zoom out. We have to piece together the patterns. And most importantly, we have to turn to something ancient.

When the system is designed to erase us, we return to the systems that built us.

We return to the ancestors.

We turn to ritual.

Ancestral Grounding Ritual: “The Seeing Bowl

This ritual is rooted in West African practices of water scrying, ancestral communication, and grounding.

This is for the times when the world doesn’t make sense but your spirit knows something is off.

What You’ll Need:

• A black or dark blue bowl (or any bowl filled with water)

• A small piece of mirror or reflective metal (optional)

• A white candle

• A pinch of salt

• A protective plant or herb (rosemary, basil, bay leaf, or dried sage)

• A quiet space

🕯️ Ritual Steps:

1. Set the Space

Dim the lights. Place the bowl in front of you with water. Drop the salt and the herb into the water slowly. Light the candle beside it.

2. Call In the Ancestors

Say aloud:

“I call on the ones who saw before me. Who knew the truth behind the veil. Stand beside me now. Let me see what I’ve forgotten.”

3. Breathe + See

Gaze into the water. Let your mind wander. Don’t force clarity—invite it. Journal what comes. Ask questions:

What do I need to know right now?

Where am I being misled?

What would my ancestors have done in a time like this?

4. Speak Your Seeing

End the ritual with your own words:

“I will not be lulled. I see the pattern. I remember the old ways. I will prepare with power, not panic.”

Blow out the candle. Pour the water into soil outside or near a plant.

Final Thoughts: Don’t Panic. Prepare.

This blog post isn’t about fear—it’s about clarity. It’s about not waiting for mainstream media to give us the box cover of the puzzle.

We already have the pieces. We’ve always had them. Our ancestors left them in soil, in song, in ritual.

You don’t need to understand everything to start preparing.

You just need to see enough to move.

🔥 CALL TO ACTION

If this post stirred something in you, I invite you to do three things:

-> Share this post with someone who’s been feeling lost or overwhelmed by what’s happening right now.

-> Leave a comment below and let’s piece together more of this puzzle, together.

-> Keep practicing and being curious.

The system may be trying to silence us, but we’ve always had a deeper language.

Let’s remember it.

Live Pleasurably,

Manifestos You’ll Love!

---