It’s up to us by Ruth Neuwald Falcon

My stepfather had a habit of jotting things he heard on the news or talk shows on envelopes or whatever other scraps of paper were handy. They were always scattered around the apartment he shared with my mother. Until they moved to Southern California to be near me (and, as it turned out, to die in relatively short order), Lou spent the evenings listening to WBAI on the radio in the living room while simultaneously watching MacNeil-Lehrer in the den. Darting into the bedroom where my mother lay trying to tune out the world, he would say, “There’s something interesting on PBS. Shall I turn it on for you?” 

This gathering of fragments always struck me as rather silly. Now I understand it. Now I’m doing it. It’s not just information I’m gathering on notepads and envelopes. It’s hope. I suspect that was true for Lou as well.

Our country was built on resistance. We need another resistance movement. — Don Lemon

As cowardice is contagious, bravery is also really contagious. — Molly Jong-Fast

We will not roll over and play dead. We stand up and we fight back. — Sen. Elizabeth Warren

If it’s illegal, isn’t it supposed to be stoppable? Don’t let anybody tell you that pushback doesn’t matter. — Rachel Maddow

Think of yourself as marchers on the Edmund Pettis Bridge. If we just outlast the bastards, that’s enough. If all we do is not give up, that’s enough. — Robert Hubbell

This is the worst place we’ve ever been as a country. But it’s not over. Do not give up your joy or your sense of humor. Authoritarianism cannot rise if we laugh. The idea that some weenie is going to come in with a bunch of misfits and take over our government is only possible if we allow it to be. — Heather Cox Richardson

Saturday, April 5, is a day of national protests. Leading up to it, MoveOn, Public Citizen, Stand Up America, and the Not Above the Law Coalition have organized a Mass Call for Mobilizing against Trump’s Power Grab that’s happening on Tuesday, April 1, at 8 PM Eastern/5 PM Pacific.

We know things are going to get worse before they get better. We were able to spend most of our lives behaving as if our active participation in preserving what is precious in our country and its governance wasn’t necessary. We were wrong. It’s up to us now to hold the ground against full-blown fascism.

We are the guardrails. We are significant. Trump can only disband democracy if we accept what he does and stay silent. — Joyce Vance