the work starts now.
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joshua0I wrote this over on Facebook:
I am lucky that the impact, in the short term, will be but an inconvenience for me. But I fear for the impact of the rise of the alt-right on some of my closest friends. My trans friends, who I fear for the safety of. My friends of color, who I fear the increase in the day to day abuse of. The women in my life, who stand to face the consequences as our country travels back in time.
I don't know what happens next. But today isn't the last day that we'll have to face together, and January 20th won't be, either. It's time to redouble our commitments to each other, and to our communities. If you can, give money and resources to organizations that matter. Get to know the stories of the service workers around you whose lives are on the line. Volunteer your time to work in the places and with the people that will be hit the hardest.
The work starts now.
Here's a handful of resources and thoughts that I've collected over the past 14 hours since I woke up. Some of these are a place of hope, some a place of caution, and many are disturbing. Take care of yourself. I've continued to update this in the days after the election. I've also added * to the best things.
- the effects begin to appear
- * this thread, by @absurdistwords: finally, empathy starts many tweets up, ends many tweets down. you'll have to click 'show more' a few times. keep scrolling up past the top until twitter's useless interface stops loading more tweets.
- * this thread, by @LibyaLiberty: a connection to the middle east
- a church protects an undocumented immigrant for 9 months (caution: autoplay video)
- * this thread, by @polotek: white people are divided. you'll have to click 'show more' a few more times.
- Zeynep Tufekci: this, among others (this, this, and tangentially but importantly this) about social media, and its impact on how information spreads. I cannot in stronger terms state: if you are involved in an algorithm that controls how people communicate, the responsibility for what happened last night was in part yours.
- Maciej Ceglowski: this, among others on the industry of selling your data to advertisers, and the data collected; this, and this.
- relatedly, me, on apps that sold you out.
- the ACLU is ready to fight. "If you do not reverse course and instead endeavor to make these campaign promises a reality, you will have to contend with the full firepower of the ACLU at every step."
- this is how the future voted.
- Lambda Legal.
- Southern Poverty Law Center.
- * National Domestic Workers Alliance.
- "Seattle will remain a sanctuary city."
- US sanctuary cities.
- "All the research that we have suggests that this isn't really a problem." -- Zuck on filter bubbles
- No, I Will Not Give Trump A Chance
- * Autocracy: Rules for Survival
- Let's talk secure communications
- * "You belong here. This is a country of immigrants and common people. No vote will ever changed that."
- I worked for Congress for 6 years, and here's what I learned about how they listen to constituents.
- * 6 Reasons for Trump's Rise that No-One Talks About (or: "How Half Of America Lost Its Fucking Mind"). Really good post on what I like to call "closing the empathy gap".
- * The 2016 Election Isn't Over Yet (opportunity to act: there is a senate candidate remaining in Louisiana)
- * Forget "Why?", it's time to get to work. How to do the work.
- Holy Fuck. Now What? Opportunities to volunteer and get involved.
- Risk of Democratic Erosion -- Reading List
Take care of yourselves, your friends, your families. Be there for each other. And then once you have some time to spare, be there for your community.
The work starts now, but it doesn't end tomorrow, or next week, or next year, or even in four years.
"God gave Adam a secret — and that secret was not how to begin, but how to begin again."
— Elie Wiesel