My ancestors took part in the movements of the Old Left: they were immigrants and refugees from Eastern Europe who found a home in the organized fightback against the robber barons and factory exploitation of capitalist America. The ones from Northern Europe didn’t join organizations, but carved out tiny entrepreneurial niches for themselves: a candy store with an upstairs apartment to raise children in; a career in polka-inspired band music. They gave birth to my Dad and Mom, who themselves joined the resistance movements of their time: undermining and protesting the war in Vietnam, organizing with teachers’ unions, registering Black voters, ministering to congregations, lobbying for the rights of migrant workers.
I’ve taken part in resistance movements in my days, too. But the role I find most suits me is the one that brings me back to you, my readers, in this moment of flux and fear: storytelling. So: Let me tell you a story. It’s a story of the ways that people are saying Nope to the illegal, rolling coup that is underway in the halls of power in Washington.
As I offer this roundup of some of the ways folks are creatively fighting back against the coup, I encourage you to follow some of the steps I and my loved ones are following to protect ourselves and stay healthy and hydrated for this long fight:
Co-regulate with others. This means being in IRL spaces with our loved and trusted comrades and chosen family, rather than doomscrolling or being overly online. Pet your animal companions, water your plants, go to church or synagogue, drink water, take vitamins. If you have trouble sleeping, listen to something soothing such as this guided meditation. Don’t doomscroll.
List gratitudes. There is still much to love and celebrate about all of our lives. Even yours.
Keep a journal. Record what your eyes and ears are seeing and hearing in your location, as a result of the coup. A historian friend recommended I do this at the start of the COVID lockdowns in 2020 and it really helped to ground me in the truth of what was happening. You are a reliable observer, and your observations will help to tell the story of how all this unfolded.
Pick one small thing to do. Because you cannot address everything everywhere all at once, try to identify one small intervention that is within your resources to make. Want to help protect abortion access? Order some abortion or Plan B pills and alert your loved ones who may need them that you have them at the ready. (Reach out to me directly for the link to order them.) Want to help the resistance with your dollars? Give to organizations that represent vulnerable folks who are at greatest current risk under this regime, such as the Transgender Law Center, or the Centro de los Derechos del Migrante (CDM). Want to go out to protest? Plug in to your local church, union hall, or activist network and ask organizers how you can be notified about opportunities to show up. (I don’t recommend using Facebook or any other Meta platform for this.)
Build your resilience. Check out this amazing toolkit from a group of mental health professionals (including my therapist, heart-eyes emoji) on how to build resilience in yourself and your community while also being targeted by state-sponsored violence. There is so much we can do.
How Folks Are Saying NOPE:
This group of rich criminals came to Washington to seize and loot the government, but they did not come prepared for an organized fight. People living in MAGA regime states such as Arizona and Nebraska are out protesting in the streets. This is the way to hope, for me. I will be using this newsletter to talk more about the ways we in Baltimore are collectively building the world we want to live in, but also: Send me your protests! Your demonstrations! Your petitions! I can highlight them here. You can reach me by replying to this email.
The Just Security law journal has a Litigation Tracker where you can see all of the court challenges to Tr**p’s coup in one place.
Cultural arts, media, theater, dance and performance are critically important to our republic and our civic life. See an art show! Attend a performance! Even at your local public library.
We don’t need to catalog all of the rich criminals’ behaviors to know that the dangers of this moment are real. Journalists and historians are documenting what is happening, and we should heed them without panicking. Award-winning journalist and 1619 Project author Nikole Hannah-Jones explains in this video clip (starting at the 7:10 minute mark) how the rights of Black people, and really all of our civil rights, are at stake in this moment unless we decide to defend them: