In February, we celebrate Black Futures Month, a tradition created by the Movement for Black Lives in 2015 that invites us to not just reflect on Black history, but also dream of Black futures.

Black history is intrinsic to American history. The story of the United States is inseparable from the labor, contributions, sacrifice, joy, and talent of Black people.

Carrying the weight of chattel slavery, Reconstruction, Jim Crow, and ongoing systemic racism and violence, generations of Black ancestors and leaders practiced tools for survival and resistance.

One of those tools is creation.

Dreaming of something new — through art, mutual aid, family and community structures, and more — has always been key to liberation. Possibility, imagination, future.

Black American tradition, and therefore American tradition, is to create. This Black Futures Month, we recommit ourselves to that tradition.

We look to those who came before us to create a future for those who come after us. A future of Black liberation, where everyone in the United States is liberated, free, and thriving. A future where we look out for one another. A future full of community, safety, joy, music, and more creation.

These are Black futures, and therefore American futures, and therefore Jewish futures.

We are intertwined. Our futures depend on each other.