These organizations have signed this statement, collectively pledging their commitment to support and protect the members of our community.
With the most recent actions of our current administration, we refuse to sit idly by as passive onlookers as families are torn apart. We will not resign ourselves to a status quo where communities across the country are demonized and scapegoated for political gain, where the truth is subject to relentless obfuscation, and where base cruelty is greeted with jubilation or indifference.
Beyond the routine falsehoods and the outrageous rhetoric is an incalculable human cost–lives will be lost from violence, poverty, environmental disasters, and self-harm. Many of our fellow Americans from the LGBTQ+ community will be forced to live in an environment where their existence is considered illegitimate, censored from medical journals, schools, and broader society. Across the country, millions will be coerced to give birth or, in desperation, seek high-risk healthcare procedures through the black market. As economic and social conditions deteriorate, countless individuals will be compelled to hide themselves from the world and suffer in silence.
In response to this recent barrage of executive orders, an organized resistance in the federal government has yet to be seen. Therefore, it is up to us, average people from all walks of life, to organize ourselves and protect one other. Against all odds, generations from our nation’s past successfully fought for the rights we hold sacred today. From their relentless organizing and determination, our children attend school instead of the mines and factories; the most explicit forms of racial, religious, and gender discrimination were curtailed; racially motivated immigration quotas were repealed; and environmental protections, public health programs, and social safety nets were established to improve our quality of life. As unequal and imperfect as American society is, we benefit from the efforts and sacrifices of those who came before us. And the current administration is on an unsparing path to turn back the clock and destroy what has taken so long to build.
In response to this threat, communities across the country are rallying to the common cause, reporting ICE activity to warn their neighbors, re-doubling their efforts of mutual aid, and pressuring their local, regional, and state governments to stand by their constituents. Organizations from across the Bay Area have pledged to support one another and ensure the safety of our communities. In this critical moment, we will join these efforts.
In our local areas of operation and by supporting other allied organizations whenever and wherever possible, we collectively commit to:
- Expand our services to serve our community members in need by providing economic and social support, especially in light of the dismantlement of federal programs across the United States.
- Pressure our local, regional, state, and federal elected officials to commit to the protection of their constituents and ensure that they act on their commitments when their communities are directly impacted.
- Prepare people to act against all forms of religious bigotry through community-held education, training, outreach, and advocacy. In recent times, Anti-Semitism and Islamophobia are of particular concern. People must be able to practice their faith without fear or obstruction.
- Work with educational institutions such that students have a functional understanding of contemporary social issues, including, but not limited to, systemic racism, religious persecution, gender discrimination, and the marginalization of the LGBTQ+ community.
- Resist mass deportation by disseminating information and volunteering for organizations, such as those involved in the Rapid Response Network of Santa Clara County.
- Promote a general sense of safety and social belonging through gatherings, events, and collective activities across all elements of our diverse community.
- Provide support to our local and/or regional institutions that promote Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI).
- Advocate for policies that will improve the affordability of our communities for people of all socioeconomic backgrounds.
- Correct misinformation present in our own communities.
- Advocate for and defend effective environmental policies that will mitigate the damaging impacts of climate change, including, but not limited to, wildfires, drought, floods, and heatwaves.
- Remain action-oriented and open-minded as the political situation unravels and new challenges present themselves.
This will not be easy. Our ability to act effectively comes down to our resolve, patience, endurance, strength in numbers, and level of organization. We will face difficulties, setbacks, and resistance. At the time of writing this statement, our government has made haste to ship undocumented immigrants to the Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp, attribute wildfires and midair collisions to DEI efforts, and embolden white nationalist militant organizations by pardoning its members involved in the January 6th attack. These are merely the opening weeks of four long years. If there was ever a moment that demanded a sense of urgency, it is now.
And we will act.
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