#Resist 31 Jan

Signed petition here: https://notoimmigrationban.com/ (ACADEMICS AGAINST IMMIGRATION EXECUTIVE ORDER)

Encourage other academic friends to do the same.

Drafted some letters.

Planning some calls.

The Resistance Will be Blogged

I've had rather a long hiatus from blogging.  Not for want of things happening; I just haven't had the time or inclination to write here for a while.  My plan now is to try to write about the things we're doing to resist, to hopefully make the world a better place or at least stop it from becoming a much, much worse one.

Since November, we've been struggling to figure out how to deal with the political realities of the new US government.  We have talked with a lot of people.  We have wrung our hands and lost a lot of sleep.  We have tried to stay informed and read up as much as we can on what is happening.  We've made donations to groups that matter to causes that are important to us (and to others), including Planned Parenthood, Doctors without Borders, The Southern Poverty Law Center, and the White Helmets (for Syrian refugees).

In November, we participated in a Solidarity rally here in Lowell.  I even spoke at it.  I am including below, the remarks I made there.

My mother is an immigrant, my father was a veteran who used a wheelchair, and I am the mother of a daughter. It is hard to know what to tell children about what has happened in this campaign and election.  Many young girls and boys watched as one candidate made fun of people with disabilities, and spoke in ways that were demeaning, hurtful, and hateful of whole communities of people.  As I heard these things with my now nine year old daughter, I was horrified, and often at a loss for how to talk about those things.  How can I tell my daughter that her body is her own when the president elect brags about assaulting women?  How can I talk to her about her concerns about our friends, neighbors, and families who face harassment, intimidation, and violence because of their religious beliefs, their family structure, the color of their skin, or their nation of origin, their gender identity, or their sexual orientation?

In recent years, in the aftermath of natural disasters, tragedies, and attacks, many people have turned to a popular story told by Fred Rogers, where he said that when scary things happen on the news, one thing we can say to our children is “look for the helpers.”  Seeing brave people – like nurses and rescue workers – running to help and save people – can help children to process things, to see that there are good people in the world, and to focus on our strengths.

In the aftermath of this election, I find that I am telling my daughter to look for the helpers – like protestors, like our government officials and community leaders who HAVE stood up and taken a stand against racism, islamophobia, xenophobia, and hate.  But more than that, I know that I have told my daughter that I will stand up too – that I won’t just watch when someone is in danger.  I will stand up and be a helper, and that she, too, can be a helper – an active participant, not just a bystander.  Every day, we can look out for our neighbors, our friends, our classmates, our colleagues, and we can speak out and speak up --- even when it might feel uncomfortable – about language that is meant to hurt others, to demean others, and about legislation that constricts the rights of people in our community.  We must all do more than just look for the helpers, look for the fighters.  We need to be the helpers and the fighters.

I'm going to try to keep updates here about what we're doing.  Letters/e-mails/calls to senators/representatives/etc., rallies, actions, and other such things.  We need to make this part of our daily lives, and I am hoping that this will help us as a family to do that.

I hope you'll stand up, too.