LOOK, I know you don't want this

Neither do I

Look.

I know you don’t want this. I don’t want this. Kids, parents, death of a loved one, job, trying to pay bills, the car is dead, you can’t afford a car, wondering if you should get a third job and where else you can cut costs. It is all we can do some days to get to evening. To collapse. To seek rest.

So no. We have real things to do.

But.

It isn’t going to go away. Or stop. It is going to keep getting more horrible. Cruel. Sadistic. Unbelievable. Craven. Stupid. Shameful. WRONG.

I know it feels like fighting for fundamental basics of democracy is too much. And you just cant. I know.

BUT. We have to. We are it. No one else will save us.

I don’t want it to be true. And I’m so very very angry that it is. NO ONE IS COMING. We elected politicians, not revolutionaries, not their fault. The courts don’t move fast enough. NO ONE IS COMING TO SAVE US, TO STOP THIS.

YOU AND I ARE IT.

I know you are bone tired. And it feels like too much. It IS too much. A firehose forcing your head back and blocking your throat so much you want to hide. I KNOW IT. So you go to work, or to look for work, and you handle the life things, all the while thinking “I need to do something” but not knowing what. Or how. Or whether you can make any difference or we are just doomed. I feel it a gazillion times a day.

BUT YOU AND I ARE IT. It isn’t going to get better. It isn’t going away. And we have to act NOW.

I know you have things to do that seem more immediate, feel more important than the dread. But you know I’m right. If you let yourself listen. YOU KNOW.

SO ITS TIME. NOW. TODAY.

Start. Decide what you will need. Start planning. Pick a busy intersection, make a sign saying “GENERAL STRIKE NOW OR WE LOSE OUR DEMOCRACY” or something, bring your chair, pick a day, sit there for an hour to spread the idea, come back every week. Talk to a neighbor today about what they would need in order to be able to strike, if it is something you could help them do. Start talking to all your friends about where we are. Educate them, if necessary. Talk to them about a general strike. WE WILL NEED CRITICAL MASS OR IT WILL NOT WORK. Get to know people in your area who may be at most risk, families, workers, etc., from ICE. Start a phone tree with people in your neighborhood who agree to watch out and notify others if they see anyone suspiciously casing a vulnerable neighbor or their home. PRINT OUT cards from the ACLU website in different languages about immigration, protest, other rights and hand them out on a street corner. COMMIT TO SOMETHING EVERY WEEK.

And put your back against mine. Together we will stay standing. And keep going. Together we are unstoppable.