To be clear, President-elect Donald Trump has declared war on immigrants and on the social justice movement as a whole.
But our movement and the progressive movement on all fronts will respond to Donald Trump with an unprecedented wave of energy, activism and power. Together, we will overcome.
Now more than ever, it is important to stand in solidarity with immigrants, LGBTQ individuals, Muslims, people of color. Now more than ever, it is important for our movement to connect more deeply with the broader movement to end mass-incarceration and all movements for progressive social change. It is time to mobilize and meet Trump’s hatred not with fear, but with resilience and love. It is important to look deep within ourselves and harness our individual and collective passion to respond to this crisis. As Secretary Clinton said this morning, “Never stop believing that fighting for what is right is worth it.”
We will continue fighting at the local, state and federal level for dignity not detention. We will continue to visit people in immigration detention. We will continue to protect our First Amendment right to bear witness to the reality of immigration enforcement by speaking out. We will develop a training on diversity, racism, and racial justice with our allies to make sure our movement understands the racism that drives our immigration detention system and that has driven the election of Donald Trump.
We will use all of our resources to prevent human and civil rights abuses in detention by continuing to be the eyes and ears of the detention system. We will dismantle the system from the inside out by elevating the voices and stories of those most directly impacted by the detention regime. We will protect against the form of collective amnesia that forgets that immigrants and diversity are what make this country great. And we will not allow people in immigration detention and their loved ones who suffer to be forgotten. We will continue to advocate for community-based alternatives to detention, and we will bring our most creative minds together to ensure that our mission is furthered over the next four years.
Now more than ever, we will need your support. We will need your voice. We will need your fearlessness. We will need YOU.
Trump’s vision for our country is dark and divisive. It is dangerous. But American democracy is stronger than any one person and its commitment to social justice is steadfast. We will continue to struggle for justice. We will win.
This moment calls for healing and unity. Please join us this Thursday in San Francisco for an evening of poetry, artwork, and music to begin the process of healing this country. And please visit our website to learn about all of the ways you can donate your time and resources to end our profit-driven immigration detention system.
In solidarity,
The CIVIC Team