Here’s the thing

I graduated this year and was proudly told to set the world on fire. Additionally, that my Jesuit education has ruined me for life. Both are fairly lofty and idealistic and I’ve been wondering: what do they actually mean? How can you use your college educated mind and Jesuit spirit going forward? To start: to never be blind to injustice and to not remain silent.

Because you cannot forget that being silent, complicit, passive, and complacent is so easy. Voicing your opinion, pointing out racism, and stepping up and being an ally can be uncomfortable. But your comfort is not and should not be of that much importance when there is so much at stake.

Even more valuable is your voice especially if you are a person of reputation, privilege, and access to many willing ears. As a privileged, educated, white-passing woman living in New York, this is something that I take incredibly seriously. My days are devoted to being a proponent of intersectionality in all forms and for calling out, educating myself and others, recognizing my mistakes and when I lack in knowledge, stepping back for all WOC/POC and assisting by being a platform in every way, holding others accountable and being able to fact check, and figuring out actionable steps.

Action is so important and continuous daily action is even more important. It can be exhausting and daunting but again, I can assure you that the continuation and such real harms of racism, corruption in government, dictatorship, and climate change puts so much of what we and you hold dear at stake.

It is a privilege to ignore and pretend that none of this affects you in any way. Facts are more important than anything and should never be ignored. Your ego and your indifference are dangerous.

Change is possible and progress is vulnerable to ignorance.

Never forget that. Never underestimate how much harm you can do just by doing nothing and never underestimate how much good you can do.

The time to go through your day with your head down is not today. Your success will mean very little if you passively let things happen that you vehemently disagree with. Love is important but it is not a band-aid solution just at the mere mention of it because, “‘Love’ that won’t fight or sacrifice isn’t love. ‘Love’ that demands submission to violence isn’t love'”  (Ju-Hyun Park). Additionally, “The hate we are facing is white supremacist, capitalist, cisheteropatriarchal, and ableist. To combat it, we must anchor ourselves in love for the people targeted by these systems: Black, indigenous, Asian, colonized, poor, working, houseless, undocumented, migrant, refugee, queer, trans, nonbinary, women, femme, non-Christian and with disabilities” (Love Needs Fury To Defeat Hate).

You showed up at a march or two? That is an excellent start but resistance is a daily act. It is an act that should guide your every move and thought. Don’t forget that black lives matter, there are unreported atrocities occurring in non-Western countries everyday, trans lives are important, sexual assault is an epidemic, white women voted for Trump, Native American populations are amongst the highest rates of suicide, dictatorship is not a thing of the past and it evens happens in your hemisphere, global warming is real and you can’t ignore science, Nazis are unacceptable, if you are white/white passing you benefit from any amount of white supremacy and you must be part of the dismantling of it, posting online is not enough, inclusion and representation changes lives, undoing racism (along with plenty of other isms) in your life will change your life, white silence is violence, and there is so much more to be advocated for.

And now: “outrage is appropriate. action is productive. get angry. then act” (Brittany Packnett).

What can you do?

• Displaced by Harvey? Here’s How to Get Help
• Here’s How You Can Help People Affected By Harvey
• “If you’re mad about the #ArpaioPardon, here are some things you can do with that energy:”
• NYC Calendar of Protests
• Fact check. Show up. Call out. Stay aware. Stay aware of current and past debates. Educate others. Make a personal change. Stay present
• Donate–if you are able to!!. Put your money where your mouth is. Consider donating to smaller organizations where your money can go farther.
  • A List of Organizations Dedicated to Helping Immigrants and Refugees That Need Your Support
  • Here’s A List Of Organizations To Donate To That Support Women, Immigrants And Young People Post-Election
  • Donate to: RAINN, ACLU, Planned Parenthood, Friends of the Earth, Border Angels, Sacred Stone Legal Defense Fund, NAACP, Human Rights Campaign, and more will be added.
  • Also donate to: Audre Lorde Project, Black Youth Project,100%, and the Police Reform Organization Group.
• Propose new ways to raise awareness
• Stay apprised on new legislation. It is now very easy to do. Have your local legislators on speed dial.
  • Trump Agenda tracker 
  • Resistance manual
  • How to contact your elected officials
  • Find your representative
• Join a group or start your own
• Lobby.
• Organize!! Learn about community organizing, participate in your community.
  • Community Organizing: People Power from the Grassroots
• Be intentional about the little ways you can individually combat climate change. Change your living habits, recycle, buy second hand, bike, donate and more!
  • Go Carbon Neutral w Carbon Fund
  • Sustainable Baby Steps
  • Citi Bike
  • Sustainable Promises to Make to the planet this year
  • Know your materials: what each one means to sustainable fashion
  • 59 Organizations Fighting Food Loss and Waste
  • Sea Legacy
• Follow activists and activist organizations. Support POC/WOC artists. Be an ally. Read literature that was not intended for you. Write, blog, tweet, and have those uncomfortable conversations with your midwestern family members who don’t get it and voted for Trump.
  • 13 Important Organizations To Guide You Through The Next Four Years
  • So you call yourself an ally
  • 10 ways to be an ally and a friend–Glaad
  • Hispanic Heritage Month Syllabus
  • Black Lives Matter Syllabus
  • https://docs.google.com/document/d/1By9bUjJ78snEeZuLXNGBdlVMJgEQWMEjR-Gfx8ER7Iw/preview?ts=58264b73#
• Unlearn the racism that you have been marinating in all of your life.
  • Undoing racism workshops
• Stay persistent. Live what you preach. Organize. Take responsibility
• Check your privilege on the daily. You may not be affected that has happened yet but you might be and if you’re lucky enough not to be affected, use your privilege to help others. You’re a white woman who suddenly gets it? Cool, you still have plenty of work to do.
• Be intentional about the little ways you can individually combat climate change. Change your living habits, recycle, buy second hand, bike, donate and more!
• Follow activists and activist organizations.
• Support POC/WOC artists.
• Be an ally.
• Volunteer–if you are able to. If you don’t have enough money to volunteer your time is valuable as well.
  • A List of Pro-Women, Pro-Immigrant, Pro-Earth, Anti-Bigotry Organizations That Need Your Support
  • How To Volunteer With The ACLU & Other Trump-Resisting Organizations Like It
• Read literature that was not intended for you.
• Write, blog, tweet, and have those uncomfortable conversations with your midwestern family members who don’t get it and voted for Trump.
• Unlearn the racism that you have been marinating in all of your life.
• If you’re in school, use that space for on-campus activism and organizing.
• Host workshops, volunteer, create dialogues, organize a protest and more. Use that network of people to keep them engaged and aware.
• Pay for good journalism and demand journalism that does not present “alternative facts”.
• Stay engaged; stay mad; stay vigilant.
• Your civil engagement is essential to combat hate and discrimination.
• If you are white or white passing, use your privilege to be vocal and to people from marginalized groups a platform.
• If you have a platform (a sorority/fraternity, a ton of followers, access to thousands of people through your org/club/university) use it.
• Direct your political energies
• Run for something or support progressives
• Be vocal
• Report hate crimes
• There are many crowdsourced lists that you can use and follow for your activism ==> things you can do re: Charlottesville
• Checkout lists of Collective Action (this is in reference to Charlottesville) that you can participate and contribute to
• “BE VOCAL AND LOUD. Post on social media that you are anti-white supremacy and that you denounce white supremacists (who are domestic terrorists) as well as Nazis. Do the same in your actual not-online interactions–even more important” (Collective Action).
• Advocate to replace statutes in tribute to white supremacy
• Monitor online circulation of false news
• Readily have facts and stats prepared to correct inaccuracies mid-conversations
• Action steps concerning the latest but also following up on events that kept swept away by the news cycle
• Thoughts on Charlottesville