This is our America, damn it.
In this political moment, it’s up to us young progressives to stand the fuck up and fight against fascism in our own home.
On June 30 the Florida Department of Transportation issued a mandate that all “non-standard surface markings, signage, and signals that do not directly contribute to traffic safety or control”, including the three rainbow crosswalks in Gainesville installed in 2019 be removed. In an act of LGBTQ+ visibility, myself and a hundred others marched across the crosswalks. We sang through the streets, “we’re here, we’re queer, we won’t disappear!”
As I write this I’m sitting in my favorite local coffee shop accompanied by this month’s edition of The Iguana— a progressive newsletter and calendar published since 1986. Nothing gets me quite as fired up as reading about the social tragedies in my community and across the so-called Land of the Free.
Every single edition of this brilliant grassroots-powered bulletin provides references, updates, and resources that connect, inspire, and ultimately empower us as a city to build better futures. Knowledge is power. I feel powerful here in this booth with this newspaper.
Among the published gifts was a recommendation to read Robert Reich’s Substack. I checked it out and was not disappointed. In his recent post “The Future of the Democratic Party (if it has a future)”, shouts out progressive Democrats who are leading the Good Fight— like Zohran Mamdani running for NYC mayor on a platform of free public transportation and child-care, and Graham Platner who is seeking to unseat Republican Susan Collins. His advocacy reminded me of an important concept I’ve been mulling on since I learned of Deja Foxx over in Tuscon.
If you don’t know, Deja Foxx is a Gen Z activist and digital strategist who ran for Congress in Arizona. Her keen social media skills won her campaign over 1 million dollars in a matter of a few months. While she came in second, her drive is revealing a blueprint for fundraising that is both interesting and optimistic.
We are a hyper-local generation. We are really adept at flexing between online and local communities. We have a pretty good sense for what actually matters. We have a lot of passion, intelligence, and relatable chaotic energy on our side. I’m taking the lessons from Foxx and this recent post from Reich as signs that we need to mobilize wiser, and use our tools to our advantage. The way we escape doom-scrolling is through boon-creating— to make content like @ilana (Ilana Glazer) who uses their platform to speak directly to politicians about pertinent issues.
I’m writing this to speak to you like Steve Burns from Blue’s Clues talks to us (IYKYK) — directly, acknowledging your innate wisdom and abilities to be the person you wanna be. Every single day more immigrants are ripped from their families, the planet gets warmer, more trash goes to the landfills, more indigenous land is stolen, and families are less & less supported. It’s okay to have the occasional hopeless day, but we can’t let pessimism affect our momentum.
What can we do? Obviously vote this November. If you can, vote in-person. But there are other cooler, stronger ways to advocate. I volunteer with my local Pride Center who provide queer resources for transitioning and homeless individuals, among other initiatives aimed at visibility and health. I’m working with the Climate Cafe of Gainesville who facilitate conversations about the climate crisis and pull together environmental community events. I try to put my dollars where they count. But ultimately, it’s going to take all of us calling on politicians to stand up to Trump and put an end to the oligarchy taking over every aspect of our lives. Echoing The Charter, the Attention Economy seeks to siphon our consciousness and data for profit, but more than that, oligarchs threaten to steal our very future.
History is being written. Which side are you on?
