It’s been a difficult start to the new year.
I have had friends that have lost work opportunities or been placed on administrative leave because they did DEI work within a government agency. Friends whose organizations have had their funding revoked and those whose jobs are jeopardized due to grants that fund their work being shut down.
Many people are learning about the role of federal indirects (organizations that aren’t governmental agencies but receive federal/state funding) and how they have been critical to their institutions. A lot of people are being directly harmed already and it’s only day four of this administration as I write this.
We knew that Project 2025 was not out to destroy just DEI but to destroy our civil rights. That’s what they are coming after and they have spent the past 72 hours doing just that. They want to create and instill fear, confusion, and a sense of hopelessness. The bombardment of these new policies and executive orders is meant to overwhelm us. They want us to be afraid to act.
Even in the midst of all of this, I know a few things to be true.
We have been here before—fighting for civil rights in the courts and the streets. We know how to organize, we certainly know how to fight, and we know how to win. We know that cross-class multiracial organizing is what allows us to do our best and most effective work. We know how to speak up, and we definitely know how to use our resources to propel social movements. We have been here before.
Grace Lee Boggs told us that we only survive by caring for each other. This means we deliberately and actively find the time for each other. We laugh together. We grieve together. We share resources, and we provide sanctuary. Liberation is always communal.
We must not over comply. No one wants to be a target so an institution might over-comply to try to protect themselves.
Safety is an illusion under the current administration and to overly comply is to betray our collective power and solidarity. We are all targets and while their actions will not affect us in the same ways— they will be coming for all of our institutions one way or another. We must remember that there is a difference between executive orders and laws passed by Congress.
I urge us all to take a deep breath and take the time to truly understand the executive orders but not to over-comply, or to get overly bogged down. Do not give up your sovereignty, autonomy, and imagination.
There are opportunities for us to continue this work, let’s find new, creative, and imaginative ways to do this work.
Why we do this work has not changed, instead how we do it will look different but the work continues.
“We never know how our small activities will affect others through the invisible fabric of our connectedness. In this exquisitely connected world, it’s never a question of ‘critical mass.’ It’s always about critical connections.” —Grace Lee Boggs
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