Make a Difference Friday

I am scared and sad. If you don’t understand why, or you think it’s sour grapes, please read this–the author said the why better than I could. And this. We are scared and sad for a reason. We feel as though half the country has voted to take rights away from the other half. And while individual voters have been saying that is not why they voted for Trump, that is what he promised.

Something I’ve decided to do is take a least 2 hours once a week, to engage in some online activism and letter-writing. I’m documenting that in case anyone else wants to do similar things. My work will be organized around a few things:

• I believe that a lot of the press mainstreamed or ignored Trump’s bigotry and racism, and blew Clinton’s minor mistake with the email server out of all proportion. I want to encourage the press to do a better job.
• White people especially need to call out racism where we see it, and let people know it’s not okay, that we do not want it done in our name. It proliferates when people think it is okay.
• We need to protect those who will be most harmed by the policies that have been promised by Trump: disabled people who may lose ACA coverage, LGBT+ people who will face greater discrimination, black people who will face violent policing, Muslims who will be harassed or barred from the US, Latina/os who will be deported. We need to stand up against those policies.

I also plan to do in-person activism in NYC. If you’d like to join me, please request to join this Facebook group.

I’ve started a separate blog to record what I’m doing, so after today this will not be on my main book news/writing blog. If you’d like to use my letters and ideas, please do. Here are my activities today:

1. Join and donate to ACLU
2. Subscribe to the Washington Post–support some of the best journalism from this election
3. Help Foster Cambell in a run-off election in Louisiana for a Senate seat that could flip the Senate to the Democrats.
4. Electoral college petition and letter
5. Voice my support for the Right To Know Act that mandates police accountability in civilian interactions.
6. Sign up for Our100.
7. Ask president Obama to immediately appoint Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court
8. Put on a safety pin to show solidarity.
9. Sign an Open Letter from American Jews

…I realize how little this is. I realize I’m doing this to fend off my sense of helplessness and despair. I accept if that is all it is, because even one more day of not giving in to helplessness and despair is some kind of victory.

For all the details and links, please visit my new Making A Difference blog.