At age 32, I began my fight with breast cancer and won after a mastectomy, chemotherapy, radiation, multiple corrective surgeries and years of tamoxifen. Now, as I celebrate my 50th year of living, I can articulate the parallels between my battle with cancer and our collective fight against racism. It is shocking, painful and transformative.

When diagnosed, my first question was, “How bad is it?” From my observation, America’s societal cancer has spread to the point in which we can no longer ignore its deadly progression.

As a first-generation American with roots in Colombia and Honduras, I embraced the beauty of diversity while witnessing our country’s anti-Blackness reality, which along with the principles of my Bahá’í faith compelled me to stand for justice at a young age.

But now, entering the seventh year of Organic Oneness, an organization I founded on principles that bring people together to eliminate racism and create healthy communities in Chicago, the work against racism is multiplying with fewer resources. America continues to suffer from the cancer of racism, and its health is declining rapidly, creating openings for other global ills to attack its fragile state.

The beautiful veins of this country are plagued by cancerous cells; these cells have entered every organ. We are witnessing how this diseased mindset laid the foundation for every major system: law, health, education, economics and housing.

Liberation movements were like chemotherapy, flushing our systems to reboot their chemistry at the cellular level. And now it’s time for another blast as major cities in our nation resemble the countries my family fled from. I now understand why my grandmother never left the house unassisted, as I am hesitant to take walks where I normally felt safe, and I am afraid for my parents.

While fighting cancer, I had to manage extreme emotions and be patient in the midst of anxiety. I had to envision myself being healthy while painfully battling myself away from death. But here’s what truly transformed me: understanding how to love myself, realizing how each part is interconnected and honoring how each system works. My thoughts manifested emotions and behaviors. My spiritual centeredness determined my mental strength or weakness. My food contributed to physical wellness or illness. My environment promoted or delayed my healing.

I had to relearn how to live life, understand root causes, aggressively change my habits and build new structures so the cancer cells died and never returned. I learned to accept all the parts of my body that I was conditioned to hate. I found my voice to be brave with words. I created space to heal and taught everyone my new boundaries. This reflective, perilous process is what I had to do for my body to survive.

The mature love I experienced required sacrifice of immediate gratification for the greater good so my daughter can have a mother and my husband a wife. My new love carried me through the darkest moments.

Fighting racism is no different. America must do similar work to survive. There is a dire need for us to understand that we are one human family; we are witnessing the danger of believing we are not interconnected.

The treatment for racism must take place on every level: individual, community and institutional. No one is exempt as we are all affected by this deadly disease. It will require us to confront uncomfortable truths about this nation — who we took land from, who suffered to build it and who is still presently suffering — and aggressively, systematically repair the harm.

We need to rid ourselves of any ideas of inherent superiority and see the nobility in each person. We need to let go of old patterns of behavior while integrating new ways of life. We need to focus on individual transformation while actively serving the community. We need to replace hate with thoughts of love.

The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. said: “Those who love peace must learn to organize as effectively as those who love war.”

This means everything; our data, strategic plans, human capital, materials and supplies, and mindset all need to be focused on one common goal. Our decisions should be made with everyone at the table. Embracing our diversity allows us to build new systems so everyone lives to their fullest potential.

This is where local community building becomes essential. As Organic Oneness convenes its annual King Day of Service on Jan. 19 for 350-plus volunteers, I witness how love manifests in action when we bring people together for service projects, create spaces for healing conversations and invest in the well-being of all people, foregrounding Black and brown communities.

Transformation happens when neighbors look each other in the eye and choose connection over division. It happens when we show up for each other and build trust through spontaneous conversations and genuine care, when we share a meal, laugh and pray together. This grassroots heart work is how love becomes tangible and shifts from abstract ideals to lived reality and policy.

I stayed hopeful while fighting cancer, even when the treatment felt worse than the disease. America can do the same. We can eradicate racism if all communities commit to doing this together with love as the guiding force and stay centered and healthy during the transformation.

The beautiful life we want is possible. Start with love in your heart, and that energy will flow through the veins of the community to the rest of the nation.

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Syda Segovia Taylor is the founder and executive director of Organic Oneness and a member of the Chicago Reparations Task Force and the Be the Healing Movement. She is also a member of the Bahá’í Faith.

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