Greetings everyone,
I’m your Lady LIberty, coming to you from the front lines of Concord Center.
A week ago Friday eve, we held a candlelight vigil to share the great shock and sorrow of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsbergs passing. Sunday, we held Rally for Ruth, to remind ourselves or her mission, legacy, and the need for us to carry the torch she so honorably passed to us.
Today, 200 or so residents from the greater Concord area gathered in Monument Square so out-of-town MAGA demonstrators would not have an open field in our home for their lies and hate. It was painful to experience their vitriol, but we stood our sacred ground, in solidarity, as a community committed to the values of truth, inclusion, justice, and democracy.
I know we are all terrified, overwhelmed, and exhausted. I get it. As a dear activist friend said the other day, “We’ll rest when we’re dead.” For now, our democracy has a heartbeat; our planet is hanging on by a threat; and it’s up to us to deliver the CPR. We are the cavalry we’ve been waiting for.
We’re in this moment of truth — a truly dark hour — that calls for courage and resolve from all of us. I’m reminded of the climactic scenes in the movie, Dunkirk. All those soldiers stranded and under assault in Normandy, and Chuchill’s hail-Mary play was to send out a passionate plea for anyone within hearing who had a boat to get in it, sail to France, and bring them home alive. And they went — in tugboats, yachts, lifeboats. They went. Civilians — men, women, teens. They went, not knowing what they would face. But they answered the call.
At another dark historical moment, the folks in their homes and farms around Concord who heard that the Redcoats were marching on Concord grabbed what they had and gathered together to resist. Few of them could have suspected that their actions that day would lead to the birth of a new, democratic nation. But they answered the call to stand against tyranny.
We’re living in another dark moment of truth. Most people don’t understand how high the stakes are, how much our country and way of life would be threatened by a second Trump term and continued GOP control of the Senate. But those of us who do understand that this election is one between authoritarianism and democracy, chaos and competence, corruption and honor, oppression and justice must answer the call to save the American experiment.
I have terror about the future — but faith in us. I trust that we will do all we can do — with the resources of friends, family, time, and treasure — to save our democracy and our planet in the days ahead. I am so proud today and every day to stand with you. Thank you for being my community of intrepid activists.
~ Kate Kavanagh, CI founder
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