This weekend, OCRA coalition partners and comrades, namely OKC DSA, For The People OK (FTP), Autonomous Brown Berets of Oklahoma (ABB), Student Socialist League OK (SSL), and Scissortail Defense Network (SDN), operated a mutual aid fair at the storefront of Nappy Roots Books in east OKC. FTP provided groceries, Central OK IWW + OK Tenants United provided labor and tenant resources, and DSA brought vaccine information and resources to community members. Over 50 households came through Saturday afternoon, and we successfully distributed 60 bags of fresh produce, shelf-stable perishables, and snacks, along with 3 labor supports, 7 housing supports, and 2 vaccine supports to community members. As multiple people told us, had it not been tempestuous winds throughout the afternoon, we would’ve had more people come through. And we probably wouldn’t have lost our canopy tent to damage from being blown over repeatedly.

Considering that today is Mother’s Day, we thought it’d be only just to acknowledge the contradictions between a social norm of nuclear familial households and an economic system that horribly underserves and actively exploits the working class, a class that is increasingly led by already busy mothers as the single breadwinners in households, often with no support system, socially or politically. The alienation, austere politics, and re-emergence of slave-like conditions in our time must be challenged at every place they emerge. When we engage in mutual aid, it is essential to acknowledge these failures of the society to meet our needs, and that it is only through community-led material solidarity that such challenges can be overcome. The state cannot save us, it never has, nor will it ever.

Our next fair will be set for the second weekend of June, and may include grilling food and music, continuing our monthly cycle of mutual aid events. We greatly look forward to continuing our mutual aid with the east side community of OKC.

Solidarity forever!