For decades, through systematic marginalization and the use of the media as a propaganda machine, we have been convinced we are powerless. You have heard it from peers, family members, friends, and acquaintances: nothing will change. Your efforts do not matter, the system is rigged and will remain rigged. Give up, go to work, and just don’t think about it.
I tell you: a single person has the power to change the world. A single idea has the power to dismantle empires. Unlike people, ideas are immortal; they prevail through the ages. Ideas are contagious, their reach is exponential, and once they change your psyche, there is no going back.
Change does not need to be visible for it to exist. Change does not have to be immediate to be considered successful.
Sometimes the fight is local, ideological, and quiet. Fighting an ICE facility in your town matters. Staying informed matters. Creating art that says no to fascism matters. Even talking to your neighbors and getting involved with your community matters.
When people laugh at you, call you names, or minimize what you do, pause for a second and consider who the person attacking you is. Think for a second how miserable someone must be to attempt to bully someone they know nothing about. Think for a moment how sad the life of someone who has nothing to fight for must be.
Once you understand that some people’s passion is to hate and demean others, I ask you to react with grace and not anger.
We will not win the battle by yelling louder or acting meaner. We win the battle by preserving our values and changing minds.
Thousands of students walked out all over Oklahoma in support of immigrants and with burning disdain toward ICE. Rejoice, because the future belongs to the kids.
You are special. You have power. You matter more than you think. If MAGA did something right, it was to unite all of us, and now there is no stopping us. The future is ours.
