We Are Not Powerless
Leaning into your skills and interests will be crucial for the next four+ years.
It was midway through my junior year of college when I realized that I wanted to add a history degree to my majors of English and Psychology. While I had plenty of time left to actually have that as a third major, I did not want to give up some flexibility in my schedule to do that. Unfortunately, my college did not offer a minor in history at the time; I elected at that point to just take the history courses I liked with the professor who constantly challenged me to be a better thinker, writer, and lover of the historical record–and ultimately, she encouraged and supported me in going into librarianship after undergrad.^ I took several courses with her, all of which centered around the power of capturing, recording, and championing the quieter histories and those of the average citizen.
The interest in history had me struggling to decide what path to take in librarianship. I took several courses in the world of archives and was supported and encouraged by one of the best archivists and archives educators out there. I used my two years in library school to try out everything possible, which included a job working in the renowned Briscoe Center helping archive local historical papers from across the state of Texas and a job helping a major digital archiving project for a major faith organization (it was here I learned that there were strands of Christianity that were early forerunners, supporters, and champions of queer folks–but that same branch has split in recent years over these very issues). But much as I enjoyed the history part of archives, it was the working one-on-one with people in public libraries that took me down that path.
Those experiences, though, are precisely why I find it crucial to document and archive information. We cannot know history if that history is not preserved.
In 2021, after a friend told me about how she was harassed and berated by an individual mad that It’s Perfectly Normal was on shelves in her public library–something which was filmed and documented and spread across right-wing groups seeking cheap clicks and internet stardom–it struck me how urgent documenting the current wave of book censorship truly was. I’d been writing about it since leaving libraries and beginning my job at Book Riot, but it had never been so abundant. I could keep up with a story or two a year; I could keep up with a story or two a week as that started to happen in 2020 and 2021. I could not, however, keep up with five or ten stories a week…which then blossomed into dozens and dozens of dozens of stories every week.
What I could do, though, was document those stories in a weekly digest. I could dive deep into some of the stories. I could tease out themes and trends.
It wasn’t long into the decision to start the weekly roundup of book censorship news that I saw someone on social media asking if anyone was documenting the titles of books being targeted. When Dr. Tasslyn Magnusson saw no one was, she stepped into that role. She, too, could document and track and while doing those things would not solve the problem, it was something important. It had the same importance as sharing the weekly stories. It was creating a historical record.
Tasslyn and I connected quickly and realized that our work was not only in harmony, but incredibly beneficial for one another. She could send me stories she saw, and I could provide her my links every week for review so she didn’t have to do all of the research for titles that was already being done. Given how Google sold out to its investors and elected to “do the right thing” for them and not users, our individual work helped uncover more for each of us as we collaborated.
That connection we made mattered, and it bloomed. We made more connections individually, then collaboratively. She’s put me in touch with folks who I’ve been able to document stories from, while I’ve put her in touch with folks who want to build ground-level anti-book censorship coalitions. We’ve had plenty of days where our DMs or texts are but a string of profanities. There’ve also been plenty of days where we’ve been able to celebrate with folks who have had bad policies overturned or who saw books returned to shelves.
As we stare down at least four more years of historical erasure, of denial, of gaslighting the American people, of violence and indecency toward the most vulnerable, and toward not just rising but unabashed fascism, these skills matter. Documenting information matters. Connecting with people and connecting people to other good people matters. My plan is to carry on, doing both with even more verve and energy than I’ve already expended. I run near burnout more days than not, but I’d rather live that edge and practice extensive self-care to carry on because my daughter deserves to live in a world where information and truth aren’t privileges and aren’t at the whims of a political agenda bent on ensuring they tell the story. Your sons, daughters, and nonbinary children deserve the same; you in whatever expression of yourself is your truth deserve the same because none of this is solely about the role you play in someone else’s story. It’s about you telling your own.
Mental health challenges right now are already off the charts. This is not only about to get worse, but the precarious “systems” in place to care for our mental health in America are going to have even less funding, less support, and less infrastructure to help those who need it–and those who need it includes any and everyone, not just the people living on the right side of history and policy.
But one really important way we can care for our mental wellness and do good in our communities is to find our strengths and lean into them as much as possible, with whatever reserves still exist in our tank.
Maybe you’re good at organizing events and can cultivate a regular progressive parenting meetup in a local facility that offers free or inexpensive room rentals (look at your public library!). Maybe you’re good at working with people and can find an organization that helps those in your community who are in need and give your time or skills. Think not just things like serving meals on holidays but also utilizing social media to spread the word about the organization and what it does–in other words, giving yourself the designation of ambassador for a cause and ensuring you share the good they’re doing in the world and where/how other people can get involved.
Maybe you’re a writer or a person who loves to speak and you make it your responsibility to spent an hour every month writing the local paper and local city/county/municipal boards about the things you’re seeing in the community that are good and the things that need to be changed. Tell the library board you find a rad queer book on a book display in the library you wouldn’t have discovered otherwise. Ask your local city council during their public comments if they have a library card and why they should if they do not. Go to the school board and tell them how you loved hearing the school marching band at a local parade.
If you’re a creative, keep making your art, but don’t do it in a vacuum. Share it. Your work does not need to be good or meaningful or literary or whatever other imaginary distinction you believe you need to achieve before you share. Sharing is resisting. Sharing is a reminder that creation and expression matter and that it doesn’t need to mean something to everyone to mean something period.
We have power with our dollars, too. Create a guide to small businesses in your community that need support and those which are operated by marginalized people. But don’t stop with creating and sharing that information. Actually show up and put your money into those places. Know of businesses in the area which have been pro-Trump? Make a list and work to ensure that people who don’t want to support that are able to do just that.* This can have an added benefit for people in your community looking for a job–they may find working for a company that supported Trump wouldn’t offer them the kind of experience they need or deserve.
Maybe you set your sights on getting involved in a local nonprofit board for an animal shelter or grocery store coop. Perhaps you see a need in your community to build a PFLAG chapter or you see that the next mayoral race is uncontested and you have the capacity to run as a write-in candidate. Can’t get involved in a local race? You can spend time building a cheatsheet with all of the candidates for each position in your community to help voters make smart choices.** You likely know how difficult information is to find right now. That is not going to get easier.+
Each of these little things are not little at all. They’re commitments to making the world we are in and the world we are about to enter a little bit less awful. They’re also a way of planting your feet into the ground of history, ensuring that what is happening isn’t forgotten or ignored. That it is happening, it is being recorded, and that you did not sit back and simply allow disappointment to flourish.
We feel our feelings before we create our actions. Right now and in the weeks and months to come, we may find ourselves needing to be in our feelings for a long time. Anyone who suggests otherwise or who insists on looking at the bright side contributes to the ongoing mental health crisis, even if that’s not their intention. American culture is deeply against feeling feelings and this is especially true when it comes to grief. The grief you may be experiencing in the wake of the election needs to be felt in full, physically, mentally, and emotionally, before anything else. Though this is who we are as a country and it is who we have been as a country throughout history, that does not mean we do not have to mourn what could have been. It does not mean we do not get to mourn the loss of hope and the reality that so many of us and so many of our loved ones are in serious danger.
But in the wake of those feelings, you will find yourself again. You cannot rush the process, but when you get there, you’ll know.
That’s when you spend time looking at what you’re good at, what you like to do, and you get to work.
In an era where the American flag has become a symbol of hate, greed, bigotry, and intimidation, here’s your reminder that the flag belongs to each and every one of us. I’ll be here documenting that, and I hope you’ll allow me to help you make connections that ensure we can build stronger, community-centered networks for good for every person–not just the people who are already in power.
Notes
^You can read her book Long Past Slavery.
*A word of caution: choosing to financially boycott entire states for their role in the election is not the move. There are thousands of people in deep red states who worked to do their part in stopping the results of this election who have no ability to leave. They still deserve to have a viable life in those states, even under authoritarian regimes. Moreover, many of the deep red states are such because of voter disenfranchisement and gerrymandering by the right to keep themselves in power. Spend consciously, of course, but know there are consequences to everyone in those decisions. The key word here is “financially,” by the way. There are plenty of legitimate reasons, including safety concerns, for choosing not to travel to or engage in certain business.
**My state will be having spring elections of huge consequence for public libraries and public schools next year. One thing I am doing is documenting just that–who is running for these positions, where do they stand on the issues, and why you should/should not vote for them to oversee two of our most powerful shared democratic institutions. If you’re in Illinois and want to share any information about your municipal school and library board elections for 2025, I not only want to know, I want to make that information as widely available as possible.
+ If you have a proclivity for pettiness, might I suggest keeping a document of the cost of gas and groceries every week for the next four years? We were promised how much lower those would go, even with 20% tariffs. (Maybe you even make some “I did that” magnets with Trump on them to affix in the same places stickers of the same ilk appeared over the last four years–magnets are much easier to remove than stickers but have the same effect).