it's time to resist
(yes, even you)
“We are never assured of justice without a fight.”
- Angela Davis
It is a dark time for the United States of America. We are merely days into the presidency of Donald Trump, and already have an affront to our Constitution by way of the executive orders seeking to end birthright citizenship and rolling back nondiscrimination and affirmative action orders all the way back to 1965. This is the beginning of a Constitutional Crisis, and given the previous decisions by the Supreme Court to no longer recognize the right to privacy when it came to federal abortion protection and not to hold our leaders accountable for the crimes they commit while in office, it is naive to be assured that the balance of power will stop this fascist overreach from occurring. It is a dark day to be an American.
American politics are uniquely disgusting. While we may all be viciously divided along partisan lines, the one thing most of us seem to agree on is the fact that neither side of the divide actually completes valuable legislation for its citizens. The longstanding normalcy of this fact hides how terrifying it is. No matter who you choose to throw your support behind, you cannot trust them to represent you. This is why political debates are so toxic and negative, and why political turnout is so, so, low.
Since disgust is the most common feeling associated with American politics across the board, it stands to reason that the majority of us are checked out. Who wants to watch car crashes as a hobby? It is much easier to smile and nod during political conversations we like, talk shit privately with our like minded friends about the political conversations we don’t like, focus on our personal goals and family before dusting off our capes and performing our civic duty every four years. Hell, might even share an infographic if we’re feeling particularly inspired.
Unfortunately, that is how we find ourselves in a scenario such as this one. And even more unfortunately, none of those details really matter right now. Maybe in 2026, but the midterms can’t save us now. I don’t want to sound alarmist, but it might be naive to believe they will be entirely free and fair at all, given how boldly and repeatedly the Constitution has been violated in just the first week of this administration.
“ ‘Speak truth to power,’ does not mean try and convince power by the logic of your truth. If it means that, it’s a slogan we should dump, because power doesn’t listen to logic. Power doesn’t give a damn about truth. The phrase just meant stand up with the truth and assert yourself with it. But somehow it got screwed into, ‘speak truth to power.’ Spend a lot of time trying to convince power what the truth was. But that’s a total waste of time. Power only responds to rising social costs, to force mostly.”
- Michael Albert
If you are scared, it means you’re paying attention. It’s also a biological indicator from your body that it is time to act. Even if you dutifully casted your vote for Harris (and even held your nose while doing so), (especially) if you posted the black square and went to a protest in 2020, you have an obligation to keep your country from sliding further back into the systems you position yourself as against. What are your morals actually worth, if you lie down as people desecrate them?
Now, I’m not calling for or advocating that anyone riot in the streets or kill an elected official (there’s the disclaimer, FBI, I’m not answering the door if you knock). I’m actually begging you to be more creative than that. There are multitudes of possibilities between horrified compliance and violent action, you just have to find the ones that work for you and yours. If you have no idea where to start, you actually do, and it’s education. The library is free. Every single civil right you enjoy today was won by people who had to employ creative strategy so that you could be more free, so there is a wealth of knowledge to glean from.
If you are already wasting hours of screen time on your phone each day, put a fraction of it to use. Read through these Executive Orders, text them to people in your life (not just the people you want to vent with) and initiate difficult conversations, tune into several different news sites regularly for a robust understanding of what is going on in your country, search for voices that you trust to guide your education and growth in resisting. And be loud as hell. Be loud with your voice, with your music, with your art, with your friends and with your community.
If you’re scared to do it all alone, I’d bet your friend, neighbor, brother or sister is too. A book club of two people who decide to bring a friend becomes a book club of 4 people the next week, and 8 the next. You get my drift. It’s a pyramid scheme strategy for organizing your community to prepare for what’s to come.
Luckily (but much more unluckily), the more time this administration has access to the structures of power that they are using to rapidly undo progress, the more people who will be searching for answers. Start building those networks now. Your neighbors will fill in the holes eventually.
“The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.”
- Frederick Douglass