— Stacey (@singaporestacey) January 22, 2017
It was worse than we thought. Much, much worse. On January 21st, like millions of people around the world we took to the streets to walk in the Women's March. San Francisco was the last city to walk. The sun went down and the rain poured but we followed an energetic hopeful crowd into the night and were filled with awe. The power of many is a great elixir for the tired, the scared and the unheard. I tried out Facebook live and streamed in my friends and family, my sister-in-law who was visiting came with us. It was a powerful day. But it was just one day.
Executive order after executive order from the Tweeter-in-chief has assaulted the nation with more catastrophic humans rights issues than any of us have the bandwidth to fully comprehend. My god, do I freak out about my rights as a women or the continuing abuses on the front lines of the DAPL protests? Oh wait there's more. The Affordable Care Act is on the chopping block leaving millions to suffer. Climate change disappeared from the government website and gag orders were signed limiting the free speech of government scientists and now THE MUSLIM BAN IS REAL. I just can't process the horror of reading that Syrian refugees who went through the most rigorous vetting process imaginable and traveled all the way to the US were then held. Some deported on arrival but many just in limbo. The cruelty of this defies any logic. It's like a cat playing with its prey for amusement.
I wanted to run down to SFO and join in with my fellow horrified humans but I read a little blurb about who should and who shouldn't go to these airport protests. There in black and white the words "permanent residents and visa holders, do not put yourself in harm's way" and then I realized that's me. I'd be in harm's way. My status does make my opinions less safe. If protestors are arrested or even questioned at some point anyone with a mere Green Card as their anchor to this tumultuous land might have it stripped away. I have to find another way to help. I've signed stuff, I donate to the ACLU (and so can you here https://www.aclu.org/action) and now we wait for someone else to fight for us on this one.
Ahead of us, we have more peaceful marches and some opportunities to be in the numbers. I have more love for Canada right now than I know what to do with. I am so proud of the way these ridiculous issues are being dealt with at home - except for the pipeline seriously Canada get a grip on that one -- but I still care too much about California to walk away. This is our home now. We stay, we fight as long as we can.
