November 2nd
Dear ones,
I watched this astonishing video with my meditation group the other day. The child asks the question, what do you practice? His message is that we get good at what we practice. Since early June, we have been practicing together. What do we practice? We practice educating ourselves and taking action for justice.
I confess that staying well-informed right now is an awful business. A friend in North Carolina, to whom I sent a pile of bumper stickers, sent this missive late Saturday:
I tried to hand out more stickers in town today but nobody would take them. One store let me put a stack on the bench outside. I pinned a bunch of stickers on the big bulletin board outside the Chapel Hill library.
So in the last 24 hours in our little liberal pocket of NC: two Black Lives Matter banners burned overnight at a local church, the Farmers Market space (next to the Town Hall and voting spot) was covered in Trump signs overnight, and up the road in Graham my friend and other folks were pepper-sprayed and arrested at a peaceful GOTV/ Souls to the Polls March.
I fear it’s only gonna get worse.
You probably read about the caravan of Trump supporters trying to force the Biden/Harris campaign bus off the road in Texas. The president retweeted a video with his approval (“I love Texas”) and later remarked that he saw nothing wrong in what they did. The local police “did not observe any traffic violations”; the FBI is now investigating. Apparently, Trump caravans are going to be blocking traffic with impunity.
Unions in the US are discussing the possibility of a general strike in the likely event that the president claims electoral victory before the votes are counted. Of course, union labor is a small percentage of the American workforce; nonetheless, it is good to know that there is serious consideration of a general strike.
Did you do your homework? Check here for an event near you. Tell at least a handful of people what your plan is for Wednesday. You have to sign up to get exact locations, which is a safety feature. We signed up to go to Grand Army Plaza at 1 PM, but I got a text redirecting us to NYPL at 5th Avenue at 4 PM. There’s a seniors event near the Old Stone House on Wednesday afternoon, too. My sense is that things may change again. Attend with friends, wear a mask (of course!), and be safe. There are online events if you do not feel safe attending in person for any reason. A swift response to a power grab is the only kind that works, so make a plan. If you want a bumper sticker (ready-made sign!), text me (929-313-3713 to figure out how I can get one to you today or tomorrow.
with love,
L
The driver of this vehicle agreed to let me put a sticker on it: