Solidarity Summit

There is something devastating about the rise of Donald Trump. But I'm of the school of thought that he is just making explicit what has too long been implicit. I would rather deal with the truth
as it is thrown in our face than parse through the facade of coded language that shapes politics on the right. The problem is not Trump, the problem is the culture and economic conditions that give him resonance with so many other souls. But that's a subject for another post.

I spent "Super Tuesday" facilitating the third "Solidarity Summit," a series of convenings bringing together American - Arabs, Asians, South Asians, Latinos, Black folks and Muslims of a diversity of backgrounds. These leaders are organizers and activists, policy advocates and social media personalities, part of new and emergent movements as well as representatives from legacy organizations. To me they are already legendary. They are the people who give shape to history.

Our times call for despair. But they also call for action. There are few things more hopeful than being with strategic leaders who are building authentic relationships with each other, defining solidarity, imagining new experiments in movement, bringing our communities together.

If the media is your main source of information then Tuesday March 1st can easily be understood as a dark day in American history. But if you are paying attention, if you are getting to know your neighbors, if you are reaching across boundaries of race and ethnicity, then you will also notice that something else is happening - free people coming together.

There were tears at the summit. These leaders are also parents, they have to explain to their children why it is that Trump's supporters hate them. Some are children of refugees, their parents came to this country precisely because they believed that what is happening right now is something that would never happen here. Many of them are tired, they are burnt out by the weight of their labor, many of their hearts have been broken too often. But they show up. And they turn to one another. They reveal of themselves to each other, opening up, daring to be vulnerable. They dare to hope, and connect, and make meaning, they are daring to dream
together.

This is the work of resistance.