Donald Trump is hoping you won’t speak up. He is hoping you will ignore him. He is hoping you will let him usher in a new normal that is everything but. He is hoping to desensitize us all to the absurdity and the inhumanity that is quickly becoming the hallmark of this new administration. And we cannot let it stand. Or become normal. Or become our new reality.
As he pardons those who threatened to overthrow our democratic processes with violence on Jan. 6, let your representatives know that this is not who we are or what America is.
As he fires individuals charged with offering valuable oversight to his administration, speak up and let your representatives know that this is not how a democracy functions.
When he authorizes the detention of the undocumented at our churches and at our schools, raise your voice.
When he maintains that only two genders exist despite all evidence to the contrary and despite the existence of a diverse transgender community, speak up. Hate and intolerance should have no haven here, even if the occupant of the highest office in the land is the one to spread it and enshrine it.
Hate and fear should not be allowed to be the new normal.
Speak up for your neighbors and your community; for those who do not have a voice and are at the receiving end of Trump’s hateful and amoral policies. His deluge of hate must be met with resistance. The absurdity and the lies need to be called out. Trump’s America is an America that willfully excludes, vilifies, and dehumanizes entire populations and communities within its boundaries. Don’t subscribe to Trump’s vision of America. Stand up and speak out against it.
Maren Williams Warnick, Syracuse
