The Problem with Anticipatory Obedience

As Alice Walker famously said, the most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don't have any.

In Summer 2024, I received a call that left me stunned. One of my long-time clients informed me that they were ending our contract. No explanation. No warning. And soon after - another email, another client relationship ended. I was confused - my clients and I got along, and I am very good at my job. And while client relationships end, the way they did it made me raise an eyebrow. Decisive. Cold. Without warning. Without a final meeting to wrap things up.

Over the next few weeks, calls that had been on the books for weeks were suddenly cancelled or “postponed”. Over the course of the year, I had coffees and lunch meetings with potential clients who suddenly changed their minds about our partnership and conversations with close colleagues that felt weird and resulted in no client work.

While blacklists aren’t new, especially for those of us who are fighting for workers rights, healthcare, affordable housing, and equity for women and people of color, do a quick Google search and you will see that they are common in DC. In 2019, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) infamously had a blacklist which featured consultants who worked with primary challengers candidates who ran against incumbents. In 2021, DCCC backed off and course corrected (on paper, at least).

There will always be a price to pay when you stand for truth and justice. I knew my clients were under attack - and not because of their work with me. In fact, a couple of months before I was dismissed, a home on my client’s property went up in flames, a crisis that I expertly guided them through, but always found strange. As for my other client, later that summer, a member of their leadership team experienced a crisis communications situation, which, from my perspective, was fraught with mischaracterizations.

I do not blame those clients for making the choice to step back from our partnership. When I think about the changes our country was experiencing, I keep in mind that my clients and many others were scared of losing their funding, jobs and livelihoods, even housing opportunities.

This has been a traumatic experience and I haven’t gotten the support I needed from many people close to me. But it has also been full of God’s mercy and grace. For example, last Spring, I applied for a new apartment because my housing situation at the time had become untenable. The leasing manager told me that I had an account in collections - which I knew was erroneous. I called the company, they confirmed that there was no such account. But as I went to do the final walkthrough, the door to my would-be apartment wouldn’t open. God told me not to sign the lease. Less than a month later, I lost my clients. As the old saying goes, what the Devil meant for my harm, God meant for my good.

That said, there are two things that I know: 

• No weapon formed against me shall prosper.

• The majority of my work has been in partnership with Black women to elevate their voices in a world that tries to silence us. Of course they would try to silence me. Notice I said try.

Coined by Timothy Snyder, historian and author of OnTyranny, anticipatory obedience describes the act of aligning one's actions with perceived expectations before any specific directive is issued. He says, “Most of the power of authoritarianism is freely given. In times like these, individuals think ahead about what a more repressive government will want, and then offer themselves without being asked. A citizen who adapts in this way is teaching power what it can do.”

Anticipatory obedience never works out well for anyone and yet we see it all around us. We have seen it with our leaders. For example, here in DC, we recently witnessed the Black Lives Matter mural being painted over. What a powerful message to send to people like me: a black woman and (adopted) Washingtonian.

We have also seen it with the media, who have been stifled for a very long time. Last year, the Washington Post declined to endorse a Presidential candidate for the first time since the 1980s. Several prominent members of the progressive media kissed the ring. What a powerful message to send to We the People.

America, where is our fight? 

As we continue to build a movement that galvanizes people and ushers in substantive change across all levels of the system - from education to voting to criminal justice reform to defunding the police to healthcare and housing security - we need communication professionals who are unafraid to stand up and speak out, even if it means experiencing a decrease in (or in my case, lack of) income. I cannot speak definitively for all of my fellow Black women in political communications, but I will not back down or be silent. 

Perhaps, as young, Black, college educated professionals, we got too comfortable within the system to disrupt it. And, while community is a form of resistance, when I think about the galas, there was often more excitement over the gowns than the gathering of minds. We must come up with solutions that work for all members of our community - especially for the ones who may never experienced the luxury we became accustomed to. As much as I’m embarrassed to admit it, this experience was a wakeup call for me. It should be a wakeup call for us all. If it happened to me, it could happen to you.

After nearly a year of holding my peace and taking it on the chin, here are the facts:

Yes, I was blacklisted for the work I do to support progressive policies and progressive causes.

Yes, I became unhoused after being financially targeted in a variety of ways.

Yes, I will continue to do the work God has called me to do for such a time as this.

While I was blackballed, I remain committed to partnering with clients who are truly committed to doing the work on the ground, fighting the good fight and speaking the truth.

The truth shall set us free. After being more vocal about my story, the phone has begun to ring again, emails are being responded to and meetings are on the books.

KC & Co Communications turns ten years old in a few months. While I am heartbroken by what I experienced over the last year, I am focusing on my healing.

And, I am confident that the best is yet to come.

I will not obey in advance.

I will not obey anything that stands contrary to the will and Word of God.

And, I will not play the game.

However, I will be working overtime for the Lord to advance his kingdom through the work I do through my PR consultancy to support those in need. KC & Co isn’t going anywhere and neither am I. After all, the Book of Romans 8 says it best: In all these things, I am more than a conqueror through Him who loved us.

That said, KC & Co is accepting clients and yesterday’s price is not today’s price. In fact, the price has gone up. Give me a call if you’re ready to make some good trouble.