How we’re feeling after the midterms

November 6th’s midterms were a very big deal—an increasingly big deal, as races are still being counted and called.

Thanks to years of tireless organizing to bring millions of voters to the polls, women and people of color had historic victories. Our country elected our first two Native American women (Congress members Sharice Davids and Deb Haaland), our first two Muslim American women (Congress members Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar), our first openly gay man elected governor (Jared Polis) among so many other firsts.

But it wasn’t the transformation many of us hoped for. Racism dominated many aspects of this election. Too many candidates led with hateful and inflammatory rhetoric, we saw widespread voter suppression in Black, Latinx and Native American communities, and large percentages of white people voting against strong Black candidates.

So, after the election, we should absolutely celebrate our huge victories, and then rededicate ourselves to the work that is at the heart of Hand in Hand’s mission, organizing to build strong, interdependent caring communities, that are built on the foundation of knowing that our own dignity is bound up in each other’s.

At Hand in Hand, we will continue organizing to beat back white nationalism, violence and hatred, while building communities grounded in interdependence, because we know that nobody on this planet survives without support.

As the administration continues to inflame fear of the Central American people escaping violent war in their countries to seek asylum in Mexico and the US, we, at Hand in Hand, remain clear that we need to to defend the humanity and rights of immigrants and refugees. Supporting immigrants is in our shared interest as well — those of us who employ domestic workers know the significant role immigrants play in this country.

So please join us in celebrating our victories, and then committing to the next phase of action! Please pledge your support to uphold our democracy and to show up for immigrants and refugees!

Our next chance to vote for a major change in course won’t come for another two years — so let’s get busy today.