Righteous Anger & Action

🤓 Bite-Sized Knurd: It’s ok to feel hopeless in this moment. You are not alone. And together we can make change.

Read on for more…

Are you feeling hopeless? Overwhelmingly angry and sad? Were you able to concentrate on work or your daily life yesterday?

How many of us out there feel trapped in this endless cycle of violence and hate?

As you know by now, there was another mass shooting in the United States on Tuesday. I won’t talk about the details…you already know about them.

What I want to talk about today are emotions.

As difficult as it may be to feel pain and agony after a tragedy occurs in the US once again, there is hope in that pain. The fact that you are feeling those emotions means you are human. It means you care about other humans. You care about who your country is and what we stand for.

And if enough of us are still human. It means there is still the capacity to change our fortunes.

It’s All Connected

Let’s be clear. The murder of children in schools, the murder of African Americans in grocery stores, and the murder of Asian Americans at church are all choices that the United States has made.

This does not happen in other countries.

And as devastating as that is, it means that we can change our reality. Australia is a great example of this.

As unusual as this may sound, what gives me hope is that all of the horrible things happening in our country right now are connected. They are connected to a right-wing authoritarian minority that has captured our Supreme Court, paralyzed our Senate, manipulated our school boards, and more.

Gun violence, racism, abortion restrictions, police violence, homelessness, voter suppression, housing shortages, wealth inequality, etc. It’s all because there is a faction in our country that would rather have the few (mostly white men) have all the power and wealth, while the many suffer and contribute to their good fortune.

It sounds insurmountable.

How can we possibly change things? It is so bad out there!

Yes, there are constant reminders of how horrible things are right now, but let’s not lose sight of the progress we have made and the progress we can still make.

The 2018 and 2020 elections were historic. We collectively brought in more pro-choice, anti-racist, gun reform, and climate advocates across all levels of government. And that was just in two election cycles! Think of what else we can do this year and in 2024.

Let’s not lose sight of the power we hold if we stand up and say enough is enough, together.

Radical Imagination

There have been many statements over the last few days, but the one that struck me the most was from Amanda Brown Lierman, the Executive Director at Supermajority, a non-profit that organizes women to vote & run for office.

“And I do not want to lose my hope for change. Call it radical imagination.

Radical imagination is what we need to build a world where my children, your children, all children can go to school without fear. Where women get the freedom to make their own healthcare decisions. Where our families have what we need to thrive. Radical imagination is the practice of picturing a future that isn’t limited by the brutal realities we face today – a practice taught by one of my favorite women’s rights and civil rights activists Linda Burnham.”

We need radical imagination now more than ever.

From every level of this country. In the Senate, in state legislatures, and even in local school boards. And especially YOU. We need radical imagination from you and all the other people who are feeling pain right now.

What does the United States look like in your radical imagination?

The Good Knurd:

Here are ways that you can help in the immediate aftermath of the Uvalde and Buffalo shootings and larger actions to make sure this never happens again.

• 🤔 Help Ubadle Families

• 🗣️ Support the Victims of the Buffalo shooting

• 🫂 Donate to Texas Democrats (& make it monthly! It helps so much)

  • Beto O’Rourke for Governor (buh bye Greg Abbott)

  • Mike Collier for Lt. Governor (buh bye Dan Patrick)

  • Rochelle Garza for Attorney General (buh bye Ken Paxton)