In these hard days of naked brutality, it’s easy to feel like we’re sprinting just to stay upright. The pace of authoritarianism isn’t just fast; it’s dizzying. It wants us to stumble. To lose our grounding. To get used to the smoke, the noise, the constant edge of dread.

But here’s a quiet truth: it’s a sign of your humanity that it feels awful.

It means the sickness hasn’t set in. That your body, your spirit, your gut knows this isn’t normal. That we’re still capable of discerning dignity from decay. That our hearts haven’t adapted to the chaos—and that’s worth holding onto.

Pain can be a compass. Grief, a refusal. Discomfort, a sign of integrity.

Authoritarianism thrives on numbing us. The regime doesn’t just want obedience—it wants us to stop noticing what we’ve lost and not vision how society can treat each other.

So if you feel exhausted, raw, heart-heavy—you’re not broken. You’re alive.

My friends have observed ways in which my own unobserved grief has taken its toll: ways I numb out or over-work rather than feel the pain of this moment. So I’m rededicating myself to grieve — knowing there are far worse things than being heart-broken.

The point is not to outrun the storm. The point is to plant your feet, link arms, and say: I still see what’s true.

There is a lot care for our neighbors

Over the past months, we’ve birthed a crew of anti-authoritarian trainers called Freedom Trainers who have trained nearly 50,000 people in noncooperation. Why? Because Trump’s expanding police state depends on quiet compliance. We’re saying no.

(I’ll write more sometime on this project — honestly we’ve been sprinting so fast on this. This Wednesday, we’re leading a training for folks coming out of the No Kings actions: One Million Rising: Strategic Non-Cooperation to Fight Authoritarianism. Come join us for what may be the single largest noncooperation training in US history!)

Just looking at the expanding ICE police state, we’ve seen a lot of tremendous bravery showing noncooperation is very much alive: from Dodgers staff keeping ICE off stadium grounds, which came from Nezza singing the anthem in Spanish and others who pressured Dodgers, to resilient Angelenos confronting agents face-to-face. 

ICE attorney Adam Boyd just resigned, calling the policies “morally indefensible.” Others are doing an even more brave thing — and staying (or even getting hired) in ICE to resist, slowing down the machine.

In Camarillo, CA, protestors blockaded ICE from raiding a farm. The standoff lasted 9 hours—tear gas, rubber bullets, until eventually busloads of farmworkers were taken away witnessed by sobbing children. This should never be normal. (You can donate to support local farmworker families impacted by this.) 

The police violence is not convincing. Gallup just reported 79% of US Americans now record high support for immigration. Why? Because the violent kidnapping of our neighbors is exposing what many of us have known: undocumented people are embedded in our communities, they are family members, school coaches, and cherished friends. 

We must keep going. Join an “Adopt a Day Labor Corner” training. Pressure hotels to cancel ICE contracts. Build human chains. Get training for your community. Keep pushing.

Authoritarianism wants to shock us into silence, into being frozen. But we still feel the pain—because we haven’t gone numb. That hurt is a compass. Let’s follow it to a place of greater liberation and love.

Warmly,

– Choose Democracy