Warrior up! Begin with small actions. We’ll be updating this list of resources, so check back, and please comment below with your own suggestions.
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Call Your Senators and House Representatives:
Spend 5 minutes, make 5 calls to “turn your passive participation into active resistance.”
There’s literally a reason to call every day, like in the ’90s when you had a crush. And while change is the endgame, it is not the point (though it’s kind of the point). However we can and all the time, we must refuse bigotry, racism, sexism, xenophobia, ableism, climate death, and Scott Baio. A phone call to your representatives sustains our values and reinforces the staying power of alternative views to white supremacy and kakistocracy (“government by the least qualified or most unprincipled citizens”).
How to make your congressperson listen: use the “telephone” feature on your phone, as calls are more effective than emailing (life-hack?). Confront your phone phobia today!
Here is a script with ideas about what you might say, and here is another (“We’re His Problem Now”), and here is the contact information you’ll need. And here is a photo of a puppy and kitten snoozing together.
Here’s a script from The American President:
“Listen to me, it’s crunch time. It’s personal. This is one of those moments….Just vote your conscience, you chickenshit, lame-ass.”
Download Indivisible, a practical guide for resisting the Trump agenda.
Call local offices first, and then the DC office. If it’s busy, be a mom and keep calling. Screaming optional.
Here’s Paul Ryan’s number: (202) 225-3031. Just call him about whatever. It’s a landline, though, so sext someone else.
Call the House Oversight Committee: (202) 225-5074 to support the call for a bipartisan review of Trump’s financials and apparent conflict of interest.
As the venerable Beth Montgomery, my high school AP European History teacher, posted on Facebook: “Tell Trump no. Use your voices to say white supremacy in the the executive branch is not normal, is not good, is not acceptable.”
Not normal, not good, not acceptable is the new Clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose.
Throw as much sand into as many gears as possible. Embolden elected officials to denounce what is going on. As Junot Díaz wrote, “To be heard. To be safe. To be free.”
Samantha Bee asks us to mail stories of post-election hate crimes and abuse to Paul Ryan.
Donate and/or volunteer, if you’re able. Here’s a starter list of organizations (there are many more) that protect us and help preserve everyone’s rights:
National Immigration Law Center
National Partnership for New Americans
International Refugee Assistant Project
Planned Parenthood (Bonus: make a donation in Mike Pence’s name and he’ll receive the certificate of donation; let’s make him a top donor: Office of Governor Mike Pence, State House, Room 206, Indianapolis, IN 46204-2797)
Center for Reproductive Rights
NARAL Pro-Choice America
ACLU (which will see Trump in court)
National Resources Defense Council (“to ensure the rights of all people to the air, the water, and the wild”)
NAACP Legal Defense Fund
The Trevor Project (for LGBTQ+ youth)
The Anti-Defamation League (fights anti-Semitism)
Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund
Sylvia Rivera Law Project (“to self-determine their gender identity and expression”)
Transgender Law Centers
Southern Poverty Law Center
The International Rescue Committee’s work for refugees (donations via The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund)
Reach Out and Read (helps at-risk kids learn to read)
The Compassion Collective: In Aleppo, We Are the Ones We’ve Been Waiting For
Eight Charities Working to Provide Food, Shelter, Medicine and Education to Syrians
See also: Jezebel’s list of pro-women, pro-immigrant, pro-Earth, anti-bigotry organizations that need your support.
And: Jezebel’s list of Organizations Dedicated to Helping Immigrants and Refugees That Need Your Support.
New Yorkers: We Are New York Values offers an impressive collection of causes that need you. “We know what’s worth fighting for. Choose your cause. Click. Volunteer.”
Subscribe to the New York Times, which Trump is already gunning for, and donate to ProPublica.
Stand with Standing Rock, still.
Step in:
26 Ways to Be in the Struggle Beyond the Streets
Seven Real Things You Can Do Right Now About the Catastrophe in Aleppo
Opportunities for White People in the Fight for Racial Justice (moving from actor to ally to accomplice)
Five Ways to Disrupt Racism
A Bystander’s Guide to Standing up Against Islamophobic Harassment (and Other Types of Harassment, Too) by Maddy Myers
Stopping the “Muslim Registry”: A Serious Approach
Okay, Fine. Here’s What You Should Do Post-Election by Ruby-Beth Buitekant
Strategy for white people to dismantle white supremacy:
“When the forced Muslim registration begins at Mosques, the first 8000 people in line better be white.” –Linda Sarsour, Director of Arab American Association of New York
See you there.
What you and ten friends can do, including:
If you’re White: Join Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ), which organizes white people to fight for racial justice.
If you’re wealthy: Join Solidaire, a network of progressive donors.
If you’re young and wealthy: Join Resource Generation, a community of young people leveraging their resources to support grassroots social movements.
Sign up, follow, join:
Volunteer to fight Islamophobia by signing up on the Council on American-Islamic Relations website.
Sign up for an “accompany my neighbor” list in your area, to be an escort for anyone who is now in fear.
Follow Shaun King, Senior Justice Writer, @NYDailyNews. He’s documenting some of over 900+ reported hate crimes and is sharing valuable information, in my opinion. Jezebel is tracking hate crimes, too.
Follow the Union of Concerned Scientists.
Sign up for Defend Democracy to stop Trump.
Sign up for My Civil Workout.
Join the @LoveArmy: Fight Different.
Join Flippable to “flip the House, flip the Senate, flip the President.”
Join The Injustice Boycott.
Join Writers Resist.
Then, remind someone who wants to “give Trump a chance” of the skyrocketing hate crimes–or name-drop the swamp people with whom the President-elect has chosen to surround himself thus far.
…I’m not a politician, and to me, what this feels like is if the South had won the Civil War. It took them 150 years, but they finally won. They have absolutely legitimate economic grievances, but this does not entitle you to bigotry.
Write:
NPR shows us how it’s done with this reporting template: “Trump Administration Goes To War With The Media Over Inauguration Crowd Size”
Read:
How to #StayOutraged Without Losing Your Mind
Rebecca Solnit is giving away Hope in the Dark, her book on activism and hope, for free.
Trump changed everything. Now everything counts, by Barbara Kingsolver
Now It’s Time to Talk About What We Are Actually Talking About, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Buck Up, Democrats, and Fight Like Republicans
A 12-Step Program for Responding to President-Elect Trump
4. I’LL DO my part to support the society I’d like to see. I’ll eat Chobani yogurt because its owner has been subjected to racist attacks for his willingness to hire and promote refugees.
How We Resist Trump and His Extreme Agenda by Congressman Jerry Nadler
What to Do About Trump? The Same Thing My Grandfather Did in 1930s Vienna by Liel Leibovitz
When the levers of power are seized by the small hands of hateful men, you work hard, you stand with those who are most vulnerable, and you don’t give up until it’s morning again. The rest is commentary.
There’s Work to be Done by Michael Strusser at The Good Men Project
Morning-After Pill by John Jeremiah Sullivan
Greater polarization serves the other side. We just learned that. We have to reach out to the Trump voters. We have to present them with a vision of liberalism inspiring and coherent enough that those among them who can be swayed will be swayed. The margins are razor thin and can be moved.
Buddhist teachers respond to Trump’s presidential win
What Normalization Means by Hua Hsu
I Love You, We’re Dead Meat by P.E. Garcia
Autocracy: Rules for Survival by Masha Gessen
Rule #1: Believe the autocrat.
Rule #2: Do not be taken in by small signs of normality.
Rule #3: Institutions will not save you.
Rule #4: Be outraged.
Rule #5: Don’t make compromises.
Rule #6: Remember the future.
How Half of America Lost Its F**king Mind by David Wong
A 70-Day Web Security Action Plan for Artists and Activists Under Siege by Candace Williams
Let’s Get to Work: Practical Ways for Writers and Teachers to Get Involved Right Now by Anu Jindal
Teaching after Trump by Melissa Febos
A Time for Refusal by Teju Cole
We have 100 days to stop Donald Trump from systemically corrupting our institutions by Matthew Yglesias
The First 100 Day resistance plan
Lindy West shares WHAT TO DO
Survival Kit for Lives Affected by Trump by Keilicia Ariel
I am working with others to create a comprehensive list of safety planning guides for self-care and self-preservation, for LGBTQ folks, for those who wear religious garb, for domestic-violence survivors who are too afraid to call the police, for evacuation, for alliance building and resource identification, for family planning, for undocumented residents, for the poor and working poor, and for everyone who will be living in even more danger come January.
Celebrate:
Pictures from Women’s Marches on Every Continent
Boy Scouts Welcome All Transgender Children Identifying as Boys into Ranks
The number of women of color in the Senate quadrupled.
Kate Brown is the first openly LGBT person to be elected Governor.
A Muslim Woman Also Got Elected (Ilhan Omar, elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives)
My Denver high school made love go viral.
Maggiano’s Pledged Profits from White Nationalist Dinner to Anti-Defamation League.
I saw a photo of a baby in her “first pantsuit” with the caption “Because someday, someone will.”
Watch:
David Remnick on how we’re normalizing the Trump presidency
Elizabeth Warren calls out Trump’s swamp.
CollegeHumor’s The Sinister Reason Weed Is Illegal (racism)
An Irish politician totally burns Trump and says everything you’re thinking, minus the NSFW stuff.
Boycott: Trump products, hotels, and cruise lines (does he have one of those? I assume).
Remember:
Some have been fighting this whole time. As my friend Martha Polk posted, “Our activists, organizers, and other social justice warriors can’t double-down; they’ve already devoted their lives to the good work. It’s the rest of us who are needed now.” If you’ve checked your privilege and it’s at an all-time high, then see above.
There is no cavalry; we’re the cavalry.
Laugh:
Give Steve Bannon a chance. It’s not like he’s literally Joseph Goebbels by Alexandra Petri
You say, “potato enthusiastically supported by the Ku Klux Klan’s David Duke”; I say, “controversial potato.”
Ways I Am Preparing for a Trump Presidency by Blythe Roberson
Looking in the mirror every morning and saying, “In Trump’s America, I am worth nothing.”
Looking in a second, smaller mirror and saying, “I am secretly going to burn this thing down from the inside.”
Don’t forget: Not normal, not good, not acceptable.
