WHEN HATE IS SO LOUD WE CANNOT AFFORD TO WHISPER

We have heard from them. Now they must hear from us.

Michael Loccisano

All our lives we were taught we’re the “the land of the free.” We’d say things like, “It’s a free country” - reminding ourselves and others that individual freedoms could not be abridged here.

At least for now, those days are over. ICE has become the President’s private gestapo (I’m Jewish, and no that’s not hyperbole), its powers to traumatize and terrorize innocent people increasing every day. What’s happening now is not “sorta like”, but rather in many ways exactly like the 1930’s in Germany.

In the latest effort to infringe on our Constitutionally given rights as free citizens, ICE claims they should not have to have a warrant to enter someone’s home! That represents a profound transgression against the rights of a free people.

“But what can we do?” people asked pleadingly, millions of times a day all over the country. Among other things, it’s hard to believe that the Supreme Court is allowing this to happen. That will go down in history as one of the most shameful wrongs in our nation’s history. It’s up to We the People now to save our democracy.

And we will get through this. The spirit of the American people will rise up and defeat the monstrous, fascist threat in our midst. How exactly that will happen, I do not know. But as a young man I met in DC one day said to me, “America is stronger than anything they try to do to us.” I feel those words deep within myself, and I hope you do too. We should take the effort to save our democracy as a personal mission - not just someone else’s job - and we must all be very busy this year. With the midterms coming up in November, we need to do everything possible to support the organizations that are dedicated to protecting our elections.

I remember Gandhi’s comment that the leader of the Indian Independence movement was the “small still voice within.” Each of us, if we listen deeply to our hearts, will be guided where to go, what to do, and how to best serve at this time. We can be an army of love, devoted to our country, not about to acquiesce or accommodate ourselves to the totalitarian forces in our midst. Sometimes our work will be silent and invisible, at other times it will be actions in the outside world. When hate is loud, we cannot afford to whisper. We have heard from them. And now they must hear from us.

The people behind all this are serious, and we must be very serious too. They find democracy inconvenient to their purposes, and we find their efforts abhorrent to ours. After the President’s speech in Davos today, world leaders expressed the grim assessment that America can no longer be considered a trustworthy ally of other democratic nations. The ground has shifted, not just here but around the world.

Whatever is yours to do, today and on any given day, just do it. Saving our country is a full time job, invoking a shift in our consciousness about who we are and what is ours to do. Know that millions of Americans are showing up in whatever way we can, and we are having a cumulative effect. Definitely call your Congressperson and Senators: (202) 224-3121. Tell them how you feel; those calls do makes a difference.

And remember the Silent Minute every day - 6pmPT/9pmET! Pray and meditate for the protection and blessing of our country and its Constitution. Spread the word however you can.

Remember: we got this. We have it in us to become the people we need to be, to light up this darkened hour.