We will not stop fighting for justice

Dear friends,

Yesterday 50 US senators plus that sorry excuse for a human, the vice president voted in favour of Trump's super fucked up Big, Assed Bill. While this was going on, Trump visited his newest concentration camp (cutely referred to as "Alligator Alcatraz", also less cutely referred to as "Alligator Auschwitz"), accompanied by Ron 'Don't Say Gay' DeSantis and Kristi Puppy-Killer Noem. You can find photos of them having a right good chuckle posed in front of the literal cages where they intend to imprison 5,000 migrants in this swamp, surrounded by - you guessed it - alligators (and pythons).

Yesterday I was glued to the screen, watching the fury and heartbreak unfold at the utter betrayal and obscene inhumanity, as the cruel and gutless Republicans stabbed another knife in the back to the democracy Americans have always taken for granted. It's both terrifying and devastating in equal parts.

Fuck Nazis!

Today I sent this email to all the Republican senators bar the 3 who actually had the cojones to vote against the fuhrer's demands (Collins, Paul, and Tillis).

Senator,

Yesterday you voted in favor of Trump’s Big, Deadly Bill that shamelessly steals from the poor to allow the filthy rich to get even richer. You voted to condemn millions of Americans to a life of abject poverty, illness that they’ll not be able to afford to treat, and premature death. You voted to raise the national debt to figures never before reached in our country’s history. All of this is absolutely inhumane and totally obscene, but I believe that the truly evil piece of this bill is allotting $45 BILLION for new detention camps, and $31 BILLION to ICE so they can expand their kidnapping sprees. We can’t feed the poor, but we have money to build concentration camps and grow the gestapo?

On the same day that you gleefully handed your soul over to Satan (presumably to avoid the wrath of the wannabe dictator), reports came from his so-called ‘Alligator Alcatraz’, complete with photos of him having a good old chuckle with Ron ‘Don’t Say Gay’ DeSantis and Kristi Puppy-Killer Noem in front of the literal cages where our kidnapped neighbors will be held hostage. They seem absolutely delighted with the notion that these prisoners will be subject to hurricanes, alligator and/or python attacks, not to mention the sickness and disease that comes from being caged in a swamp with thousands of other prisoners.  

On the same day that our Fascist-in-Chief went to visit his brand new concentration camp, I also read a heartbreaking account from a wife whose husband is one of the thousands of individuals ‘disappeared’ by heavily armed, masked, unidentified goons who may or may not have been ICE agents (who can even tell if they carry no ID or warrants, wear no uniforms and are fully masked?). All over our country, people are being assaulted, handcuffed, thrown into unmarked vans by violent thugs, and disappeared to inhumane for-profit holding camps with no way for their loved ones to find them. This is NOT immigration reform. This is what we call Fascism. And you voted in favor of it!

Before you even think of replying with some BS about all these migrants being ‘violent criminals’, the truth is that 92% of people abducted so far have no criminal record. Many of them have been following the rules and have been attacked as they attended their immigration hearings. Many of them are young children. All of them are our neighbors, our friends, our colleagues and companions. And they are being abducted and imprisoned without due process.

Senator, I never knew my paternal grandparents because they were murdered in the Holocaust. Just like Trump and his henchman Stephen Adolf Miller, Hitler used all the tricks in the book to convince gullible Germans to believe that Jews were their enemies, when actually, they were just their neighbors. Just like Trump, Hitler spread horrid, stupid lies (“They’re eating your pets!”) about the people he wanted to get rid of (my grandparents). Just like Trump, Hitler employed stupid, violent thugs to do his dirty work of rounding up the Jews and imprisoning them. Just like Trump, Hitler was very pleased with his concentration camps where 6 million Jews would die, including my grandparents. Just like Trump is threatening to do (because you’ve abdicated your responsibility to uphold the Constitution and now he thinks he’s king), Hitler de-naturalized German citizens. In other words, Trump is a goddamned Nazi, and you seem to be just fine with this. Did you learn nothing in history classes? Spoiler alert – the Nazis are the bad guys.

When I read that wife’s account about her husband being disappeared, I thought of my paternal grandmother whose husband (my grandfather) was also disappeared by violent thugs (Nazis). I can only imagine how inconsolable she was, left alone with my young father (who miraculously survived the Holocaust), with no income and a literal target on her. My grandmother’s state of distress over her husband’s disappearance was short lived, however, as she too was hauled off to a concentration camp where she, too was murdered by Nazis.

So, congratulations, Senator – you have voted to support the death of our democracy and the rise of a violent fascist regime. You have voted in support of ripping medical care and food programs from millions of Americans, which will result in millions of premature deaths. And you have voted to use my tax dollars to pay for concentration camps and the American gestapo. I am utterly disgusted and will do everything I can to make sure you lose in the next election. You are unfit for office.

Jessica

Silence is not an option

Friends - we can not remain silent when the American government is building actual concentration camps. We can not remain silent when the American government is defunding the poor to fund the gestapo. We cannot remain silent when most of our friends and neighbours and loved ones will be stripped of their medical care and meals. We can not remain silent.

Let's get creative!

The good news is that in terrible times, we have what it takes to fight for justice, for the people we love, and for all the strangers we don't know. We are all oozing with creativity, and many of us are boiling with outrage. Combine the two and we have what it takes to fight this fascist take-over on all fronts.

What can we do?

I am by no means an expert in social movements, but when I look around I see people stepping up in all kinds of capacity (not just posting their anger and grief on social media) with all kinds of ideas on how to take care of ourselves and others under this brutal regime, and work for justice.

For all its ills and potential temporariness, Facebook is a good place to share and gather important information, to stay informed and keep others informed. However, as I said in my previous newsletter Privileges & Perspectives, showing up on social media is not the only way to #BeNoisy.

Make art! I am in constant awe of my incredible cousin David Solnit who has been creating gigantic protest art for decades. From massive screen print signs to street murals, not only does David use his artistic skills to make this stuff, but he enables hundreds of others to participate in the creation of large-scale messaging. I often see photos of massive street murals being painted by crowds of folk ranging from toddlers to octogenarians, orchestrated by my kind and gentle, creative cousin. While David is the master of using beauty to convey strong messaging, I find it even more beautiful that he is creating outlets for others to channel their creative selves to make their voices heard against oppression and injustice. I wonder how many of the hundreds (thousands?) of individuals, young or old, who’ve participated in David’s art-builds would’ve been sitting at home, wallowing in despair without this opportunity for creative protest within community.

Feed each other! My friend Renée and my sister are both growing food for local food banks. One of my lovely neighbours has been sharing the abundance from her garden with everyone on the block. I brought warm chocolate chip cookies to the new neighbours moving in next door. Food is love and food is necessary for strength and survival. Let us nourish each other.

Follow/Support groups like Indivisible.org and 50501 who are doing an outstanding job at organizing and informing.

Subscribe to newsletters written by really smart people like Heather Cox Richardson, Rebecca Solnit, Jay Kuo, Robert Reich, and Charlie Angus (to name just a few), and get everyone you know to also subscribe. All of these writers have their fingers on the pulse and provide up-to-date information and important perspective. We know the MAGA voice is loud and ubiquitous (don't read the comments on articles and posts if you want to avoid it), so we need to be louder and equally ubiquitous to drown them out. One of the reasons I write so many emails to Republican senators and then share them with you is because it is so important that our voices are heard. I am committed to being noisy and am here to encourage anyone who feels the urge to join in.

Take joy in the 'wins'. I, for one, am finding a great deal of hope is watching the new young mayoral candidate for New York City shake up the entire system with incredible support and enthusiasm from a younger demographic. I also loved seeing videos of ICE being chased outta town both in San Diego and Pasadena, by concerned neighbours. I even found joy when Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) found his balls and voted 'no' on the Big, Deadly Bill. Every day we are handed 'wins'. It does the heart good to find them and celebrate them when they happen and for what they are (ie - try to avoid falling into the whataboutism narrative).

Take joy in your immediate surroundings. I'm deeply committed to staying informed and informing others on this fascist take over, but in order to maintain my sanity, I take frequent breaks to admire the gardens on my block, coo at the neighbour's baby, look up to watch birds, touch moss... Shit's getting real in the big world, but there is always joy to be found in our immediate daily lives. Find that joy and revel in it. Let it ground you.

Support your pals doing the work. Honestly, I don't know what's got into me. A year ago I had to stop working because I was so incapacitated with Fibromyalgia. I was barely functioning. But give me a worthy cause to fight, and I'm suddenly on fire. Who knew? My new-found energy is sustained by the loving support of my friends and community. I fully understand that not everyone is able to be noisy or join the resistance, but offering emotional or other kinds of support to your pals doing the noise making is equally important work and greatly appreciated.

Fundraise for human rights organizations. Though I've not used it yet myself, Facebook has a fundraising option that many people successfully use around their birthdays. There are some really important groups doing really important work to save democracy in the USA, and they all require donations to keep going. Or perhaps there's a smaller, more local group who provides care in your local community. As Republicans rip more and more funding from public services, there will be a lot of good groups who could make good use of your donations. By doing a FB fundraiser for the organization of your choice, not only are you supporting them, but you're giving your concerned friends with a bit of cash an easy way to contribute to the cause.

Keep connected. Oh man! The temptation to hide away while we try to navigate our grief and anger and outrage is monumental. But all science points to the power of connection to keep us strong and healthy. I have a weekly Monday lunch date with my favourite 'doomer' who shares my dark humour. Every Monday, without fail, I come away feeling uplifted. Find the people who energize you and spend time with them. Reach out to your friends to see if they're okay. Keep your connections strong so that you know who's going to be there for you when things get really hard and who will need your support.

Embrace imperfection. Perfection is overrated, and not a particularly useful goal just now as we fight our way through this shit show hurled at us by the most imperfect humans to hold office. My daughter recently worried she may have made a tiny screw up, but comforted herself with, "At least I'm not Pete Hegseth". We are ALL doing better than the orange menace and his clown cabinet, or any single Republican holding office, for that matter. The important thing is that we do what we can with good intentions to quell this fascist tide. As my friend Susan suggests, we are The 'Bumbling our Way Through Best We Can Being Noisy and Sometimes Screwing Up but Always with Hope and Love' movement. Let us all bumble our way through this critical point in time the best we can, being noisy and sometimes (definitely) screwing up along the way, but always with hope and love in our actions.

We will not stop fighting for justice.

My friends, yesterday was brutal, and we probably have lots more brutal days ahead. I can only imagine how brutal each moment, let alone day, is just now for the millions of neighbours who have arrived from other countries to make this one better. Take the time you need to eat ice cream, weep, wallow in a hot bath, swear up a storm, or whatever it is you need to do to recover from yesterday's dose of pure evil. Once you've processed the horrific events of that day, I invite you to return to our collective fight for collective justice. However it is you feel you can show up, we want you, we need you, we love having you on our winning team. And we will win. Whatever that looks like, and however long that takes. We will fight for justice and we will win.

Love and hugs to all who want or need them,

Jessica

p.s. I promised not to bombard you with emails, but desperate times call for desperate measures, so this is my second email in two days. Hopefully, I won't have much to write about for the next few days or so.