A Case for Inconvenience: In Solidarity With Los Angeles Protesters
In response to the militarized reactions to the Los Angeles protests against ICE from the Trump Administration, The Catalyst launched a flash submission campaign to show solidarity. The following letter, "A Case For Inconvenience", is from Jasper Pockets. You can view the original stylized PDF through the link at the end of this page.
A supplemental protest photograph published to Unsplash on June 8th, 2020 by photographer Nathan Dumlao. Photograph added at the discretion of the editor.
From the desk of:
JASPER POCKETS
”I’m alive, I’m awake, & I feel GAY!”
SUBJECT: A CASE FOR INCONVENIENCE
SUMMER 2025
My dear friend:
It’s me, Jasper, coming to you live from Meeting Circle HQ. I’m sending this letter to address some uncertainty in our friendship.
If you ever worry about being an inconvenience in asking if I could drive you to the protest, know that I will always be happy to drive when I’m able to. Because lending a hand and sharing presence is a gift to me as much as it is for you. I know one day, there will be a time of grief in the future that this won’t be possible anymore. We won’t live in the same city or I’ve joined my son in the great big open sky and I won’t be able to hug you tightly, reminding you to text me later so I know you’re safe.
I love showing up for my friends because the mundane makes the big moments feel real. It’s not just about the happy moments that we share, but the times when we felt our lowest, that our friends show up for us and everything in between. I’ve almost died multiple times in the past couple of years in so many different ways. But it was my friends who held me gently when I wasn’t able to give them anything back, people I see as family, and community circles that have saved me, time and time again.
In the time and space we live in that commodifies tender acts of care, I hope you dare to impose your needs to be answered by your friends and family. Trust that we will have the agency to say no when we can’t. Because how do we create opportunities of care if we aren’t able to ask for the care we need?
When we’re able to be there for each other and our people, we are fighting the system that wants us to feel petrified and alone.
Granting me the privilege to drive you to the protest, the airport, the vet with your pup, urgent care, and to surgery and back, gives me the gift to share my company with you for a brief moment in time and do my small part for the collective liberation. Don’t take away that opportunity away from me.
Let us remember to honor the promise of loving, holding, tending, and celebrating each other as we show up.
Sending with the courage to care,
Jasper Pockets
Meeting Circle HQ @ Boston, Massachusetts, USA