Time to hit the streets and find like-minded fellows along the way. There may not be centralized leadership yet, but doing small things each day can get us there.
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We are more than two months into One Small Thing, and the government and administration are taking form before our eyes — and against many of our wishes. With confirmations being forced forward, our leadership in nearly every sector can no longer be counted on to protect us. Continuing to pressure them is important, but protecting ourselves may prove to be more practical. Here is a list of small things you can do this week to keep warding off disaster — or mitigating it when it occurs.
1) Donate to Ministry on the Margins or your local organizations helping the unhoused.
As this project continues, people have begun suggesting small things that build community and hope. On this day, a woman in North Dakota who works for Ministry on the Margins asked me to help their organization, which provides services like food supplies, vaccinations, haircuts, and a warm shelter for those in need, specifically those without homes. Being so far away, I couldn’t give food or other donation items, but I could donate $25 to help the unhoused or formerly incarcerated or struggling population there. If you want to check out what they are doing for “those who fall through the cracks during times of transition” or to donate, you can find information here.
2) Sign up for email alerts from Planned Parenthood.
I provided Planned Parenthood with my contact information and the issues I was interested in so they can email me about what they are doing. I am finding that the biggest barrier to doing one small thing a day is finding that thing. The more information that comes into my inbox, the more I can do without spending hours searching. To get the stream of information to your email, check here, at the bottom where it says, “Sign Up for Email Alerts.”
3) Fill out surveys for your area’s school systems and libraries as the Department of Education comes under attack.
Get dialed into your school systems and libraries, even if you are not a parent… but especially if you are. Often, they will send out surveys and content, looking for community input. Give it — to your local world. This time, I filled out a literacy survey from the public school system. They were looking for input to help put together a comprehensive plan for increasing literacy in our youth. Where I live in Florida, there is a deep divide between the education that white children receive and the education Black children receive, as indicated by standardized testing in our state and by grades in our schools. It’s a huge problem my home county hasn’t addressed in all the years I’ve been here. Look into your schools’ literacy rates and learn what groups are helping improve them.
4) Use Equality Florida to write a letter to Congress against banning the Pride flag.
Florida is trying to ban any flags with a political viewpoint (which includes LGBTQ and Pride flags) on public buildings. Senate Bill 100 is currently up for consideration in the Florida Senate. I used Equality Florida to send a letter to lawmakers asking them to vote no on the bill when it comes up in committee. You can send your own from here.
5) Write a letter to your local leaders weighing in on local bills.
If you are feeling overwhelmed by the barrage of disturbing things emanating from Washington, DC, remember: We still have a lot of control over our local communities. Here’s an example from my state: In November, voters in the city of Gainesville, FL, voted, by a nearly 75 percent margin, to return the city’s power utility to local control. When legislation was proposed in the Florida House of Representatives to overturn that vote, I wrote a letter to all of our local representatives, telling them to stop this state-level “power grab.” Why is this local action on the One Small Thing list? Because it worked. So many people wrote protest letters that the legislation was shelved before it could even be introduced, proving you really can make a difference when you find common cause with your neighbors.
6) Attend protests outside your local representative’s office… and speak up.
I went to a protest outside our local representative’s office. There were about 50 people there, mostly older white women, protesting Elon Musk’s gaining access to our private financial data. When I showed up, it was immediately clear that the situation today is quite different from what I remember back in 2016. Unlike what I saw after Trump’s first inauguration, there was no sign of central organization. Instead, the protest action had been called by small, disparate groups that were just learning to connect and network. But that’s an important and necessary step right now, banding together at the grass-roots level. If there’s no ready-made organization in place for us, we must build it from the ground up.
Just showing up and holding a sign or supporting the demonstrators in other ways is enough, although sometimes you get the opportunity to do more. Each of us has a skillset that can be of use. Mine has to do with amplifying messaging. There was a microphone and someone was asking people to go up and speak, so I did. I gave a little speech about how groups like this can contact the news media to get broader coverage, and so amplify the demonstrators’ messages.
Then I gave out all the business cards I had, writing my cell number on them.
7) Follow up with protest leaders to build community solidarity and to offer support.
Following through is so important. After the protest, I contacted some of the leaders of the groups involved and offered my services in a more concrete way. We need to teach people what we know, so more of us can make effective contributions to the tiring Resistance Marathon we’re running. Knowledge is powerful, and the more people with skills in different areas, the better. In my case, I offered to speak at workshops or other gatherings, teaching people the following:
- How to promote an event ahead of time.
- How to get coverage of an event.
- How to get your (accurate) quotes into the story.
- How to get access to editors and reporters.
- What you can do in place of letters to the editor.
- How current media works in terms of its structure and levels of ownership.
- How to become a go-to source for local media coverage.
Showing up is great. Following up is even better. It’s time to hit the streets and connect with others of similar minds. Keep thinking about the skills you have and share them far and wide. See you next week.
Past weeks of “One Small Thing” can be found here.
