Dear John,

It is truly a painful time on the clock of the world, to quote activist and organizer Grace Lee Boggs. I know that what we’re witnessing now has happened before, and I do not want to rub salt in our wounds or offer a tone-deaf message of hope. I am, however, refusing to be in despair.

The new regime has put corporate billionaires in the driver's seat and is running a clear, defined strategy to overwhelm us as a means to achieve their broader goal of economic extraction and the dismantlement of the constitutional republic.

In the past few weeks we’ve seen attacks on immigrants, trans and gender non-conforming folks, Black folks and people of color, women, working people, federal agencies, public education, healthcare, our climate, and more. The current Administration’s merging with corporate power has never been more obvious: billionaires like Elon Musk have been handed the highest levels of access and control over the inner workings of our government, while tech corporations are eagerly jumping aboard the administration’s hateful rhetoric, anti-diversity policies, and imperialistic mandates.

Our challenge now is to move beyond single issue fights, to understand that the battle we face requires a much wider lens, and to enact a multiplicity of strategies. We must also be extremely clear about the cruel and intentional irony of this moment: it is Black History Month and our federal government has launched an unapologetic attack on Black and brown people in this country. Diversity, equity, and inclusion programs are under attack, cultural heritage months are being scrubbed from calendars, entire histories and discussions of race are being erased from public school curricula, and DEI-linked federal workers are being targeted for mass firings. In many ways, we are living through unprecedented times. And yet, there are profound lessons we can and must draw from our past: on how to fight when our constitutional rights are suppressed, how to persist through persecution and attacks at multiple levels, and the importance of intersectional consciousness and action.

Our most common remembrances of the Civil Rights Movement (called the Freedom Movement by its participants) are through the haze of corporate and polite society sanitization of its radical economic and racial justice aims. What is often left out of the history of the Black Freedom Struggles of the 40s, 50s, and 60s was the deep commitment to collectivism and the understanding of the interconnection between race, the economy, and democracy. These analyses have been central to the US labor movement and Black liberation, two forces that are critical for pushing back against the corporate plunder of our communities, especially now.

The vast majority of Americans are feeling the pain of corporate greed: skyrocketing rents, groceries, and healthcare; working more and more hours for less; living with polluted air and water caused by crumbling environmental regulations. This economic suffering is real, but our communities are being fed harmful and divisive narratives that turn us against each other instead of uniting against the forces that exploit us. And as a result, too many people have found solace in the myth of white supremacy, anti-immigrant policies, and anti-trans legislation—believing that these are viable solutions to their problems.

As a national network and as part of a broader movement towards justice, our job is to help more people recognize that corporate greed is the true cause of our shared economic woes, while demonstrating that there are credible paths to the things we all want and need to thrive. It’s a big task, and it requires us to operate on many fronts:

We must inoculate against scapegoating, challenging it when it happens and not allowing it to fester. If our base blames immigrants, trans folks, and other working people while the wealthy get away with extracting more from our communities, we all lose.
We need to significantly increase the number of people who have experience coming together in multiracial coalitions to fight for the things we all need — across race, class, gender, geography, and sectors. And we need to point people’s attention to the task at hand: challenging and vanquishing corporate dominance over our economy and our democracy. This is how we will win concrete improvements to people’s lives.
Finally, we must offer a credible yet visionary alternative to cynicism and scapegoating, showing how government rooted in the common good, truly driven by and for the people, can be a vehicle for our collective freedom and wellbeing.

There is so much to do in our communities, in halls of power, online, and in the streets to bring people together, challenge corporate power, resist the racist attacks we are witnessing on multiple fronts, and imagine something better for all of us.

I’ve been an organizer for decades, and I don’t think one can be an organizer without believing that people naturally gravitate towards solidarity. That is what I’m holding on to as we build towards a future that people long before us also envisioned: one where everyday people can work and live in safety and dignity.