Wish more people were in the streets? You need to know this
9 minutes A few friends have lamented to me lately: “Why aren’t more people in the streets? Why aren’t more people speaking up?”
I hear that because this moment is precarious and urgent. It feels like everyone should stop what they’re doing and scream from the rooftops against the injustice.
👉 But the #1 go-to move of fascists is to make us feel powerless. That’s how they get away with doing what they want to do. So when you feel overwhelmed by the deluge of bad news, that’s by design. It’s hard to even decide how you could respond in a productive way, let alone force yourself to actually follow through on doing something.
And yet, here’s the thing: People *are* in the streets. Even in our small group, people showed up (in person!) to testify against school vouchers at the State Capitol. They’re hosting book clubs and film screenings and postcard-writing parties. They’re protesting outside Tesla, staying strong even when bullied by Alex Jones (yes, that Alex Jones!).
As it turns out, people are stepping up for way more protests than we saw after the first inauguration in 2017. (Here’s a chart that shows the difference between then and now.) Case in point: In any given week, you can find several protests in Austin. 💃🏼
But many people aren’t seeing the reality of how folks are standing up and speaking out because for the most part, the mainstream media just isn’t covering it. Many of our media outlets are now owned by the billionaires in this administration’s back pocket. 🤑
So I have a challenge for you: When you come across a photo, video, article, or first-hand account of a protest or someone taking action to fight this administration, share it. On social media, repost it. Text it to a friend. Pull it up on your phone and hand it to your spouse or your neighbor or a fellow parent at school pickup so they can see it, right then and there.
When you see it, share it. Because when people see us speaking out, they feel empowered to speak out, too. Like a democracy-saving snowball effect. 💪
One last thought: Before we get to this week’s list of tangible, positive things we can do, I want to leave you with this quote from someone who’s in the media and probably sees first-hand how stories like this are passed over—news anchor and commentator Chris Hayes:
“Can’t emphasize this enough: if you’re feeling overwhelmed by the debased assault on our country, the antidote is connecting with other people in the flesh who are feeling the same way. There are millions of us.”
What’s inside
Inside our latest update, you’ll find these sections:
- Do this + feel better: 3 things you can do right now. Taking any action (even if it’s tiny!) will help dispel feelings of hopelessness and overwhelm.
- Get a shot of motivation: A quote that resonated this week.
- Call: 3 reasons you need to call your reps, now more than ever.
- Hey, look! We did this: A quick run-down of what folks in our little group of rabble-rousers have been doing to help.
- Your turn: What small actions have you taken lately? Let me know so we can celebrate with you!
Do this + feel better
Here are 3 things you can do right now. As a bonus, taking any action (even if it’s tiny!) will help dispel feelings of hopelessness and overwhelm…
1. Call out a cowardly Congress member
Here in Austin, Senator Cornyn thinks if he keeps hiding from us, we’ll forget about his complicity in this moment. So we decided to call his bluff by hosting a town hall anyway, without him.
And we’re not alone. During this Congressional recess, Americans all over the country are hosting “empty chair” town halls for the members of Congress who are too cowardly to do their job and hold a town hall themselves.
👉 Search Mobilize.us for the words “town hall” and filter to your area to see if there’s one you can attend.
What if you can’t find one? Instead, join in for the next Tesla Takedown rally on Saturday, March 22. Find your closest Tesla Takedown event here.
2. Protect our freedom to read
Libraries and our freedom to read are under attack, so we need to step up to protect them. While it’s difficult to move the needle on federal legislation right now, it’s much easier to make a difference at the state level. (Mainly because so few people pay attention to state legislation!)
👉 Check EveryLibrary’s Bill Tracker to see if your state has bad legislation in the works. If so, Google your state legislator’s contact info and speak up before it’s too late.
If you’re in Texas: Texas Freedom to Read Project is looking for folks who are willing to email, make phone calls, and submit written or in-person testimony during the currently-in-progress session of the Texas Legislature.
Add your information here to join the library avengers team they’re mobilizing for the final two months of the session. When bills come up that will impact our freedom to read, they’ll give you a heads up along with simple ways you can help.
3. See yourself in a new way
Every day, local elected officials do work that impacts the safety and wellbeing of millions of people. But too often, those local positions end up filled by right-wing extremists. We need more progressive folks who care about their local community to step up and run for something: school board, library commission, city council, and more.
But if the idea of running for office is scary, you’re not alone. That’s why the folks at Run for Something are holding an intro call to share what’s actually involved in running for local office, so you can decide whether it might be a good fit for you:
- Date: Tuesday, March 25
- Time: 7 pm to 8 pm
- Where: Join from anywhere
- RSVP: Go here
If you’re seeing this after the event has passed, check with Run for Something for future events.
Get a shot of motivation
A quote that resonated this week:
“The mushy middle can be too welcoming to the right, but the puritanical part of the left has a perpetual unwelcoming committee for people who are not in perfect agreement or all up on the terminology and stuff. If organizing consists of building movements through finding common ground and motivating people with a sense of confidence and possibility, this is pretty much a tactic of disorganizing, of coalition prevention and driving people away by making them fearful of getting anything even slightly wrong.
It can be a conscious technique of sabotage, but I believe it’s most often an unconscious technique by people who think the assignment is to be perfect rather than to be powerful. By powerful I mean achieving your goals, realizing your hopes, and that’s most often done incrementally, imperfectly, and by working with people who don’t agree with you about everything.”
— Author, historian, and activist Rebecca Solnit, in Stand Your Ground. Plant Some Flowers On It Too.
This is something for us to remember as we build power together—we won’t always agree on everything, and that’s okay. ❤️ We can still work together to move the needle.
Call
Here are just 3 of many reasons you need to call your reps, now more than ever:
- Protect students and teachers: The recent executive order to dismantle the Department of Education is extreme, and it will take away our children’s freedom to learn. Details here.
- Protect our freedom of speech: Legal resident Mahmoud Khalil is being detained with no official charges because he served as a lead negotiator mediating between protestors and Columbia University last year. Watch a video of the arrest here, taken by his wife who’s 8 months pregnant. Details here, along with Khalil’s full statement, which was dictated to his friends and family over the phone from an ICE detention facility. (Also, here’s a first-person account from a Canadian who was detained by ICE for nearly two weeks.)
- Protect our mail service. US Postmaster DeJoy is aligned with the administration and has partnered with DOGE to cut 10,000 jobs at the US Postal Service. This is part of a plan to privatize our mail service, which would threaten mail-in voting and lead to higher prices and reduced mail service especially in rural areas—not to mention destroy the livelihood of hundreds of thousands of workers, many of them veterans. Details here.
Why this matters: According to current and former Congressional staffers, calling your reps is the most effective way to make your voice heard—better than text messages, emails, or letters.
Reminder: Install the 5 Calls app to get your reps’ phone numbers, or save them in your phone as contacts. (If you don’t love talking on the phone, call after business hours and leave a voicemail.) Also, no need to read a long script. This is the most important part:
“Hello, my name is [first and last name]. I’m a constituent, and I live in [city]. I’m calling to urge Senator/Representative [name] to [whatever you want them to do/not do].”
Hey, look! We did this
Here’s a quick run-down of what folks in our group have been doing to help lately:
- Around 200 people showed up for the Tesla Takedown protest in Austin last weekend, including Bonnie, Cindy, Jana, and Richard. 🙌 And there were so many honks from drivers in support of the protest!
- JoAnn and the folks at the Democratic Study Group signed up for a virtual screening of the movie Stripped for Parts: American Journalism on the Brink followed by discussion with director Rick Goldsmith on Saturday, March 29, at 7 pm. Watch the trailer and sign up here. ✅ (Note: This movie is not available on any streaming platforms, so this is your best chance to catch it.) More about the movie:
- “Stripped for Parts is the story of a secretive hedge fund that is plundering what is left of America’s newspapers, and the journalists who are fighting back. Hedge fund Alden Global Capital is quietly gobbling up newspapers across the country and gutting them, but no one knows why– until journalist Julie Reynolds begins to investigate. Her findings trigger rebellions across the country by journalists working at Alden-owned newspapers. Backed by the NewsGuild union, the newsmen and women go toe-to-toe with their “vulture capitalist” owners in a battle to save and rebuild local journalism in America. Who will control the future of America’s news ecosystem: Wall Street billionaires concerned only with profit, or those who see journalism as an essential public service, the lifeblood of our democracy?”
- Several folks have been tuning in for every virtual call they can that features Rep. Jasmine Crockett, from a virtual town hall with her on Tuesday to a Tesla Takedown mobilizing call for protesters on Wednesday. If you haven’t heard her speak yet, keep an eye out because it’s an excellent way to get fired up. 🔥
- Caroline is hosting a film screening for her friends to share the documentary Zurawski v Texas about the women who were denied abortions under the Texas abortion ban and then banded together to sue Texas. 💜 (If you haven’t seen this yet, you can watch it here until April 28.)
Your turn
What small actions have you taken lately? Please drop a comment below (or email me) and let me know what you’ve been up to so we can celebrate with you. 🥳
