Is it too late? For the past, yes. For the future, no.
We can't rely on magic. We have to work.
Recently, when civil rights lawyer Sherrilyn Ifill shared good news — a federal district court had said "no" to Elon Musk — people cynically responded: It's too late, he's done the damage, and besides, autocrats don't obey courts.
Valid concerns, she says. But maybe "these expressions of despair and surrender are really masking an irrational longing for a magical way out of this nightmare." And "there is no magical way out." We have to do the work.
She recommends these action opportunities:
- The organization Indivisible provides talking points and tells you how to contact your reps and go to your Senator's home office.
- The app 5 Calls helps you to keep congressional contact info easily available on your phone. It's in the Apple app store for iPhone.
- Find an existing mutual aid network or create a new one.
And she gives these info resources:
- Civil Service Strong: Info for civil service workers
- The ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project’s Know Your Rights guide in 10 languages
- School district trainings for parents and teachers to deal with ICE (read: NY1.com, ABC7.com) (See also what I previously wrote in Streetlights about "know your rights" school district trainings and ICE watch shifts)
No, we can't stop everything the authoritarians are doing, but we can slow them down. We can't save everyone and everything, but we can save some, and the outcome of our efforts will matter very much to the ones we do save.
Ifill hears many people saying that "no one is doing anything," but that isn't true. "People are doing things," she says. "You will meet those people when you start doing things."
Source
Sherrilyn Ifill, "Democracy is Crumbling. Is Anybody Doing Anything? Yes. And You Can Too." Sherrilyn’s Newsletter (Substack), Feb 9, 2025.
You can follow her on Bluesky.
