Two years ago, at the Brandenburg Gate and all around the neighborhood, Berlin was celebrating. Festival foods, Glühwein, music, videos of the city’s history, people whistling “Wind of Change,” and – the highlight of it all – a wall of lights. It was the 25th anniversary of the Mauerfall.
Once upon a time, this country’s citizens, suffering deeply, decided to point the finger of blame at people on welfare, people suffering from addiction or disabilities, liberals, gay men, academics, promiscuous women, racial minorities, and non-Christians – all accused of “ruining” their country. That kind of bigotry literally tore their country in two. Hence, a wall, blocking them off from each other. A self-begotten purgatory, the legacy of their choices.
For catharsis, I went to the Brandenburg Gate tonight, seeking at least some semblance of the celebrations of 2014. Festivities in honor of unity. Healing. Brotherhood. The ultimate victory of love.
There was none of that though. Instead, for reasons no one seemed to know, the bank adjoining the U.S. Embassy was lit up in red – not its typical color, but fitting. Meanwhile, the accoutrements of peaceful protest sat in front of the embassy. Candles, posters, flowers. One deeply disheartened American even discarded his old passport on the ground here earlier today; it was gone by the time I arrived. Americans, Germans, a Canadian, and a Brit stood around, expressing confusion and shock. Just a few paces away, a street violinist (unaffiliated) played “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” only heightening the sense of the surreal.
Nobody was confrontational. No sense of danger, no one in riot gear, just respect and good faith in everyone’s mutual civility, despite the political disenchantment. The beauty of a truly democratic society.
Tonight’s peaceful protest on the streets of Berlin was significant for another reason too. Decades ago, on this very night, all across Germany, there was violent mass rioting, motivated by xenophobia (Kristallnacht). Then, decades later, on the same date, the Berlin Wall started coming down. Germany wrecked itself with hate, suffered its own poisons… but then it healed. It took decades, but it healed.
I’m not sure what the road ahead looks like for America. But I have faith that America will heal too.
listen.
even if trump wins, it doesn’t mean it’s over. congress will not let him do most of what he wants to do (i mean, a lot of it’s unconstitutional, lmao). even if they do, it will a take a long time, perhaps even bleeding over into the next president’s term (and i hope to god that next president is a democrat). so do not assume that everything he proposes will happen! and voting is not our only way to participate in the government. protest. lobby. fight. don’t just accept a trump victory. if he wins, we need to fight harder than ever. we can’t give up. we can mitigate the effects of a trump presidency, but we need to fight.
millennials are a powerful group. we can make our voices heard. i know it’s scary. but it’s more important than ever to fight. don’t give trump an easy victory. fight as hard as you can for the entire 4 years he might be president. and help each other, protect each other. lift up your head and fight together. it’s easy to be discouraged, but the fight is not over.
i’m scared, too. i’m scared for my life. and take the time you need to take a deep breath and get away from everything for a little while. but in the end, if trump wins, we cannot make that easy for him. people are making a trump presidency seem like doomsday right now, but congress, checks and balances, and the actions of people – like us – can stop most of it from happening. the only bad thing that is really guaranteed to happen under a trump presidency is the appointment of some conservative supreme court justices (but even then congress has to approve them).
so tl;dr: if trump wins, the fight is not over. take a deep breath and hold your head high. he cannot, and will not, do everything that he’s proposed. so keep fighting and don’t let him destroy everything we’ve worked for.
There is a petition that we can sign to change the outcome of this election. This petition will be given to the Electoral College before they vote on December 19 and it tells them why they should cast their votes for Hillary and get this dangerous man away from the presidency. we need to take back our country from the racist, sexist, homophobic, islamophobe that is Donald Trump and his supporters. We can do this. The petition already has over 1.5 MILLION supporters. join the fight to take back our country. please. do it for our future. do it for our human rights. please sign and share this petition with your friends and family so we can gather more supporters and change the future. sign the petition here: https://www.change.org/p/electoral-college-electors-electoral-college-make-hillary-clinton-president-on-december-19?recruiter=626583473&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink
This is how it is: Trump gets sworn in January 20th. We’ve still got 2.5-ish months under the Obama Administration. Between now and then there’s the chance to make a media circus out of Donald Trump’s upcoming sexual assault trial, creating more friction between him and his party, giving us at least a little breathing room in congress. He’s appointing three new judges this term, so checks and balances (which weren’t really adjusted well for a two-party system) won’t be in good working condition for the Democrats (which counts third-party and non-voters and basically any minority because welcome to reality).
So first thing: fight for that media circus. House reps will do ANYTHING for reelection. Friction within the party will force them to pick sides.
Second thing: VOTE IN 2018. Mid-term elections are a thing. ALL 435 SEATS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES WILL BE CONTESTED. Go out and VOTE. We can win back the house. That’s one victory we sorely need. 33/100 SEATS OF SENATE WILL BE CONTESTED. We can win that back, too. 38 GOVERNORSHIPS WILL BE CONTESTED. If your county’s red, time to turn that around. VOTE ON NOVEMBER 6TH, 2018.
The clock is ticking guys.
“I first ran for Congress in 1999, and I got beat. I just got whooped. I had been in the state legislature for a long time, I was in the minority party, I wasn’t getting a lot done, and I was away from my family and putting a lot of strain on Michelle. Then for me to run and lose that bad, I was thinking maybe this isn’t what I was cut out to do. I was forty years old, and I’d invested a lot of time and effort into something that didn’t seem to be working. But the thing that got me through that moment, and any other time that I’ve felt stuck, is to remind myself that it’s about the work. Because if you’re worrying about yourself—if you’re thinking: ‘Am I succeeding? Am I in the right position? Am I being appreciated?’ – then you’re going to end up feeling frustrated and stuck. But if you can keep it about the work, you’ll always have a path. There’s always something to be done.” (Humans of New York)
i’m not giving up on america, even though america gave up on me. i’m here to fight.
choncegiving:
What does this mean?
Right now, the presidential election results are only a PROJECTION of the election outcome. They are PRELIMINARY RESULTS. A candidate still needs to earn 270 electoral votes to win. Hillary Clinton won the popular vote, which means that more than 50% of the voters wanted her for president. The electoral college shouldn’t guarantee an override of the public’s opinion– and it doesn’t have to.
There are 21 states that do NOT restrict which candidate the electors vote for. Out of these 21, Hillary lost the following:
As you can see, these states are worth 166 electoral votes. As it currently stands, Hillary Clinton is projected to receive 232 votes. Trump is projected to win 306. This means that 37 votes need to be taken away from Trump to bring him down to 269. Hillary Clinton needs 38 votes ADDED to win 270. These electoral voters can also abstain, which means that they can refuse to vote for either candidate. If 37 of the voters within these states abstain then no candidate will have reached the required 270. In this case, the vote would be taken to the House.
Trump won Pennsylvania, a state that typically votes blue, by less than 100,000 votes. While it is highly unlikely to get all 20 electoral voters to cross party lines and vote democrat, it also isn’t impossible to convince a few of them to be “faithless electors.” We only need to convince 38 out of the 166. That is 23%. There are SIXTEEN states we need to focus our attention on.
A move like this would be unprecedented. However, as we all saw on November 8th, odds don’t guarantee reality. Trump had a less than 20% winning, yet given the circumstances, enough people came together and made it happen. We can make this happen.
Ask yourself this: What do we have left to lose? We can stay complacent and accept that this country will be run by a racist, sexist, islamophobic, homophobic, ablest bigot, or we can at least try.
How?
SPREAD THE WORD. Trend #NotMyPresident to let people know that we do not accept being led by a man who does not care about our wellbeing. Email your professors, email the dean of your colleges. The last thing a university wants is negative press. Millenials can take a stand, but that doesn’t mean we have to be the only ones. Church-led events helped bring a lot of disillusioned voters to the polls. Spread the word in any way possible, whether it be on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, or even in person. Stage a peaceful protest. Hand out flyers. Let the people around you know that you don’t accept this man as your leader when he won’t even accept you as a citizen with your designated rights.
These 166 people need to face the consequences of electing this man.
Do this for the people who couldn’t vote. Do this for the people who live in the very real fear of being deported. Do this for the people who will have to face the rise in hate crimes. Do this for the people who have a very real possibility of losing their rights. Do this for the people who will no longer afford necessities.
*pulls your face real close to mine* Listen. To. Me.
You fucking fight
I’m not american, I can’t imagine how terrified those who are LGBT+, POC, Disabled, Female, Islamic, and any other minority of the US must feel right now, despite how scared I am myself.
But you wake up tomorrow and you fight. You show that fucking orange dickbag that you will not go quietly. You will survive. You are smart, brave and important to your country no matter what anyone tries to tell you.
You fight to keep yourself safe, you fight to make your voice heard, you fight for your future, you fight for those around you.
This is not the end, this is the beginning of a long road ahead but I believe in you.
Stay safe, look out for yourself, stay informed, and survive just to spite them.
I love you all. Let me know what more I can do.
Please spread the word on tumblr, twitter, via text message, facebook, and your communities! On Dec 18th we will be having a country wide walkout from work and school to peacefully protest our way to the state capital building in your area to change the minds of the college electoral voters to vote for Hillary. If we succeed, Hillary will win by electoral votes along with popular votes and officially become president. Join the petition (2.2 million already) on our blog to accomplish this also!
now? now we support the supporters. now we give time and money to organizations that fight the good fight on our behalf and that protect those who are vulnerable.
Planned Parenthood
American Civil Liberties Union (including immigrants rights)
Equality California (or the LGBTQ org in your state)
Southern Poverty Law Center
please share with me and others your top picks for where we can do good, so we can do more good together.
so what now? now we do what we can, where we can, because we can.
"The American flag upside down signals a nation in distress." Sign the petition on change.org to tell your state college electors to vote for Hillary December 13th (2.2 million supporters already!) and join us on December 18th to walkout from school and...
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