At noon on Friday, the 20th of January 2017, a New York City real estate developer with business interests across the globe, someone who lost the popular vote but garnered enough states to win in the Electoral College, will be sworn in on the West Lawn of The Capitol as the 45th president of the United States.
On the following day, I will join women and men from across the country in Washington, DC to protest the direction he has chosen for our nation, down a road far from the values we hold dear. Protests will also be held in other cities, including ours. The lives of many Americans have already been put at risk, some targeted by his late-night tweets; his lies, although challenged, are repeated by his supporters even as he quotes them from known fake news sources; and his reckless policies will endanger our relationships with other nations, as well as the environment we all share.
As historian and activist Howard Zinn reminded us, “dissent is the highest form of patriotism. In fact, if patriotism means being true to the principles for which your country is supposed to stand, then certainly the right to dissent is one of those principles. And if we’re exercising that right to dissent, it’s a patriotic act.”
There is much to dissent in the appointments Donald J. Trump has announced:
- a chief counselor who runs a website is lauded by the most virulent racists in America
- a climate change denier in litigation against the Environmental Protection Agency to run that life-saving department
- a strong advocate of private schools to run the Education Department
- someone who opposes minimum wage to run the Labor Department
- handing the Department of the Interior over to someone who plans to sell public lands
- nominee for attorney general whom the Senate refused to confirm as a federal judge in 1986 for being too racist
- a Treasury secretary who foreclosed on thousands of homes during the housing crisis
- and a nominee for Secretary of State with a financial stake in Exxon, which has operations in more than 50 countries, and who has drawn scrutiny for his close relationship with President Vladimir Putin, whose country has been accused by the CIA of having influence our presidential election.
And this was just the news from December, along with a rise in hate crimes perpetrated by those emboldened by his inflammatory rhetoric. There is much more in store for us and the rest of the world. It is no wonder, then, that people are gathering to exercise their right to dissent, to proudly declare themselves as patriots.
Among them is Mayor Bill DeBlasio who, during a public address at Cooper Union on November 21, reassured New Yorkers that “The results of an election don’t change who we are. A single office-holder doesn’t change who we are; a law that gets passed in Washington doesn’t change who we are. We are 8.5 million strong, and we ain’t changing. We are always New York. Somos siempre Nueva York.” He went on to say, “We don’t live in perfect harmony, but we’ve found a way to live and let live. And we know how to support each other, and we know how to protect each other, and we know how to have each other’s backs. . . Now, it’s our turn to build a movement – a movement of the majority that believes in respect and dignity for all.”
Here’s what lies on the road ahead: Muslim-Jewish alliances, sanctuary sites for undocumented immigrants, activist engagement of a younger generation, training in allyship, and indigenous peoples declaring “a reawakening of the nations of Turtle Island.”
Here at Ethical, we recommit ourselves to standing up for human rights and protection of the environment that embraces us all. In this issue of Outlook, you will find programs and activities, a list of ethical action affinity groups, and inspiration to walk down this road together.
