We Know how to Rebuild Our Democracy - final story

There is a model for how we rebuild and heal after the human-made disaster being inflicted on the USA right now. Welcome to Dena Heals—a mutual aid marketplace and wellness center born in the aftermath of the Eaton Fire in Altadena.

See the visuals for this story and all our Week of Citizening stories here:
https://newsletter.baratunde.com/p/this-is-how-we-recover-from-disasters 

This is our final story (for now) in the Week Of Citizening. Join our mailing list and share the stories you’re seeing. stories.howtocitizen.com 

When the 💩 hits the fan, we are told people become selfish and look after themselves alone. Every disaster ever proves otherwise including after the most devastating fire to hit Los Angeles. Something extraordinary took root. Not fear. Not isolation. But care for each other.

Rebecca Solnit said it well: “When all the ordinary divides and patterns are shattered, people step up—not all, but the great preponderance—to become their brothers’ keepers. And that purposefulness and connectedness brings joy even amidst death, chaos, fear and loss.”

Rooted in Indigenous wisdom and the Black Panther 10-Point Program, Dena Heals is a blueprint for what happens when we lead with love, show up for each other, and practice power together.

They’ve supported 3,500+ people from over 500 families. This is what it looks like to citizen in the midst of disaster. Not with despair—but with collective action, healing, and hope.

We saved this story for last in our Week Of Citizening series because it reflects all the pillars of How to Citizen:

🌱 Show up & participate

⚡ Understand power

🤝 Commit to the collective

❤️ Invest in relationships (including nature)

This is how we rise. This is how we rebuild. This is how we citizen. Happy Earth Day

Sign up to share and discover more stories like this: https://stories.howtocitizen.com

Video Produced by: Revolve Impact

Week of Citizening Collaborators: Baratunde Thurston, Jon Alexander, Shira Abramowitz, Elizabeth Stewart

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is it the last citizen story and the week
of citizen ing, at least for now. And I want
to start it with quote that John Alexander shared with
me and that he is using in his post for
this story. It's from Rebecca Solnet in her two thousand

(00:20):
and nine book A Paradise Built in Hell. In the
wake of an earthquake, a bombing, or a major storm,
most people are altruistic, urgently engaged in caring for themselves
and those around them, strangers and neighbors, as well as
friends and loved ones. The image of the selfish, panicky,
or regressively savage human being in times of disaster as

(00:42):
little truth to it. Decades of meticulous sociological research on
behavior and disasters, from the bombings of World War II,
the floods, tornadoes, earthquakes and storms across the North American
continent and around the world have demonstrated this. When all
the ordinary divides and patterns are shattered, people step up,
not all, but the great preponderance, to become their brothers keepers.

(01:06):
And that purposefulness and connectedness brings joy even in its death, chaos, fear,
and loss. So this strides the point home completely. We
are in a disaster like daily there's some kind of
climate disaster playing out, but we're clearly in a socio

(01:29):
political economic disaster as well. On everything we have learned
from dealing with physical disaster comes to bear right now
in this moral disaster. This lack of leadership, this callousness,
this selective self destruction being inflicted upon us by a

(01:50):
few for their tiny, tiny benefit. So this is when
the lessons from the floods and the tornadoes and the
fires is most poignant and most clear that we have
each other's back, that this is what citizen ing is
all about. A few weeks ago, I got a chance

(02:10):
to reconnect with Collett pishon Battle from Tap Root Earth.
She is a Louisiana native. She has done so much
work since Katrina, and she tells the story of Katrina
in a beautiful way. You should find her telling it.
She did it on the Bioneer stage, She's done on
other stages. But you know, when the power is out,

(02:33):
when there's literally no money, all that's left is people,
And that's the situation we're in. We have to have
each other. So thank you for being with us on
this journey. We'll probably do a little bit of a
rap thing. But today's story is literally close to homes.
It is based in Los Angeles, in the Altadina neighborhood,

(02:58):
which was struck very very hard by the Eating fires
just a few months ago. And my friend, my homie,
my brother, Mike Dela Rocha, he's telling me about what
they've done since those fires. Dina Heels, that's the name
of the organization that's popped up. It's multi racial, it
is multi economic. It is all kinds of people coming

(03:21):
together to trade skills, to meet each other's needs, and
to spread love and to heal physically and emotionally. That's
what we need now, and at a national level, even
at a global level, we're going to need some healing
from the moral assault that we are experiencing right now.

(03:42):
You don't need me to lay out the details. Whatever's
on your general screen and news feed is telling you
a different story. But the preponderance, as Solent puts it,
is in situations like Dina Heels, is in activations and
citizen ing like that. So please keep that in mind.
It is hard. I am tired, maybe you hear in

(04:03):
my voice, and I'm fired up, and I'm ready to
go and this is what we train for. So takes
Alice in this story. Find and support this organization. Find
us at stories that howdositizen dot com. If there are
more stories Happy Earth Day, it's it's I couldn't think

(04:24):
of a better way to send us off into Earth Day,
knowing the assaults from the US federal government that are underway,
but also knowing the grassroots, the people, and the planet
that are going to work together to heal. Especially with
your help.

Speaker 2 (04:42):
In the shadow of the most devastating fire Los Angeles,
something magical happen. Neighbors, organizers, business owners, and relatives who
lost so much came together to create something more powerful
than a disaster. Community. Dina Heels was born from this moment,
a mutual aid, marketplace and wellness center, but not just

(05:04):
as a response, but as a vision for what's possible
when we lead with love, care, and collective action. Rooted
in the wisdom of those who came before us, from
indigenous regenerative practices to the Black Panther Ten Point program,
Dina Heels is a living model of what liberation can look.

(05:27):
In just three months, we've supported over thirty five hundred
people in more than five hundred families directly impacted by
the Eating fire in Altadena, Pasadena a trusted hub for safety, community,
and healing. Dina Heels reminds us that our liberation is

(05:47):
not a solo act. It is shared. It lives on
through our relationships with each other, with the land, and
just as importantly, with ourselves. This is not charity, This
is not a temporary fix. This is a blueprint. By
staying hyper localized, partnering with values, align individuals, companies, and organizations,

(06:10):
we created something sacred. Our future depends on how we
care for each other, each and every one of us,
regardless of our experiences, our identities, or our backgrounds. Our
way forward is intimately connected and interdependent on each other.
This is how we're going to rebuild. This is how
we rise, This is how we will heal. Dina Hughes,

(06:40):
you see what I mean.

Speaker 1 (06:41):
That story is perfect. Mike Dela Rocha, thank you so
much for putting that video together. Revolve Impact, thank you
so much for putting that video together. Of course, Dina
Heels and I'm just popping in at the end one
last time to reinforce the pillars of how to citizen
show up and participate, understand power to the collective, invest

(07:01):
in relationships with yourself, with others and the planet around you.
This one story encapsulates all of those things. I hope
this whole mini series has reminded you of what principles
look like in practice, and I hope you have found
more places in community yourself to practice these things. Amidst

(07:22):
the chaos and the onslaught and the fire. We know
what to do with fire, and it can be very destructive,
but it can also be cleansing, create space. We turn
those ashes into something else. We grow something more beautiful.
So thank you for being with us on this journey.
I might be back sooner than expected, but for this

(07:46):
little sprint experience. This was story eight in the Week
of citizen Ing and a special special shout out Shira
Abramowitz who ran point on this. Thank you John Alexander,
who has had the vision to do this for a
long time. Thank you Elizabeth Stewart partner and everything. Thank
you alright, Peace,