When I joined the NAACP conference earlier this summer, I was asked a question I’ve gotten many times since the election: what should folks do to push back in this moment?

So here are the steps to fighting an authoritarian government:

1. Get your Constitution, John — and if you don’t have one, run, don’t walk to get one. Everyone needs to be intimately familiar with the rights they’re afforded and the powers delegated to each branch of Congress as Trump and the GOP do everything they can to dismantle the Constitution.
2. Start meeting your legislators in person — whether it’s a town hall, a requested meeting in their offices, or you show up to an event, we should be using every opportunity to tell legislators about the negative impacts of the cuts to health care, food assistance, and the safety nets we rely on to live.

They can’t run from us or ignore us forever, John. We have more power than we realize, even in this moment. But it’s up to us to use it.

The power in our communities can drive change, but we have to be willing and ready to have the conversations. 

Thank you for standing with me,

Lauren Underwood