Resistance is not Futile

Saturday, Ellyn, Frances and I attended the Memphis Women’s March. Like millions of other people around the country, we stood with friends, family and strangers to defend our rights. To stand side by side with our brothers and sisters in solidarity as a part of the resistance.  The march also helps show that we will not stand idly by while a new administration seeks to curtail those rights.

The march here in Memphis was empowering. It was emotional. It brought together 7000-9000 Mid-Southerners…most of whom I’d never seen before at anything.

Hopefully this will turn into a movement of resolve. Resolve to not stand by but stand up to those who would turn back the clock to the dark ages of yesteryear.

I’ve got some pictures and a video of the march passing the half-way point to its final destination at the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis. You can find them at the bottom of this post.

Pushback from the Left and Right

The Twitterer in Chief
The Twitterer in Chief

Of course, newly inaugurated President, Donald Trump had to weigh in on the marches. Interestingly his next tweet acknowledged that protest is a part of democracy, which is an interesting turn of events.

Even still, the simple fact that he had to throw it in people’s faces like that is really petty.

On the left, there was some shaming. Posts like this one decrying those who “didn’t work hard enough” during the campaign were outliers. This sentiment has been there since election day.

I get it. Its hard to be open to all this energy when some of it just wasn’t there before the election. But the truth is, a lot of it was there…even if it didn’t come across as urgently as some think it should have been.

But there’s a bigger point. Over the next four years, there may be a lot of new energy coming around to our side. There may be some folks who voted for Trump this time finding that all that glitters is not gold. And while I understand and share the anger and frustration about how November went down, living in that past isn’t going to move us forward.

We need allies, new and old. We need people activated so we can win in 2018 and beyond. Shaming them for not being there, or not being there enough in the past isn’t going to keep them on our side.

If they’re willing to come around to our way of thinking, we have to be willing to help them grow. We have to be willing to nurture that energy so they don’t fall by the way side again.

New allies won’t be perfect. They may not have a full understanding all at once. Epiphanies are cumulative. We have to help show them the way. They may not get all of it at once. Chances are, neither did we when we were new. We grew in to where we are today. They will only grow into that same place if we there to help guide the way.

Its hard, and there’s a lot of hurt, but growing past the hurt is the way to heal make our voices louder the next time and all the times after that.

Just think about it.

Resistance against the new administration is only futile if we resist new allies based on purity tests.

Photos from the Memphis Women’s March

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Video of the Memphis Women’s March crossing Peabody Place

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.