To the editor:
An open letter to the world
Cc: UN, NATO, EU, G20, AU, ASEAN+6, APEC, OAS
My fellow earthlings, thank you for letting me intrude on your day, your private and public concerns that have nothing directly to do with the shaggy insanity that now romps amuck in the U.S., but some of you are surely turning a worried and maybe puzzled side-eye to us. “Whaaat?” you may be thinking. It is just unfortunately true that when the U.S. goes cruelly and stupidly nuts, our siblings across the world have reason to be troubled.
So, this note is an apology, and contrarily a SODDI plea and solemn pledge. I just want you to know that tens of millions of us are awake and alarmed. As my grandmother-in-law would say, we have “jerked ready.”
First, I am an 80-year-old woman who has been politically active since the civil rights movement of the 1960s and the peace movement overlapping with it, so I am aware of my country’s oppressive behaviors domestically and internationally. I cannot say, as I hear some folks saying in dismay now, that the phenomenon of the Donald Trump regime, with its lawlessness, lies, and hatreds, is not what America is, not what we stand for. I know that it is, in part, exactly what we are.
Our current crisis did not arrive from nowhere. I have written to friends that Trump “is a piece of flotsam that beached up in an unfortunate perfect storm. Perhaps he or someone like him would have landed in the sand no matter what; he was available.” Both here in the U.S. and across the world authoritarian forces are gaining ground. In my country, racist, ethnophobic, and other reactionary responses to change have been grumbling their discontent at least since the Reagan era of the 1980s. I am sorry that those of us on the side of pluralism and benign government did not find ways to communicate more effectively with the Americans who were and are fearful and resentful, and that, in general, we did not find smarter ways to engage in the struggle decades ago—or even as recently as the last national election. I am sorry that many of us are still stumbling around a bit dazed. That may be understandable, but it is not excusable. For one thing, more of us could have and should have paid better attention to how other countries, faced with threats of tyranny, have coped better and kept or recovered democracy. I do most sincerely apologize.
What I have just written, however, doesn’t say it all. America has been oppressive. We have also promoted freedom and justice. When I was much younger, I thought I wanted a sweeping structural change in American government and a radical cultural shift. As for sweeping structural change, I no longer think that is a good idea. There are built-in problems for which reform would be difficult but not impossible. We need to get rid of the Electoral College, for instance (we’re working on it). Still, the Constitution allows for a good deal of good change. And there have been good changes. My mother was born before women could vote. I was a young adult before the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Act were passed. I was in my 50s before I could legally marry my wife. Human rights have gained ground. As for radical cultural shift, social inclusion grows as demographics change and communities assert themselves; but there is strong regressive backlash. So, there are two conflicting shifts going on. We’ll see what happens. The struggle clearly associates with support for or resistance to the Trump regime.
The challenge now is to find the will to work tirelessly to rescue America even at great personal risk; that is, we need courage. Unfortunately, too many influential agents from the judiciary, the legislature, journalism, academia, the legal profession, and industry have turned out to be cowards. Please know this about many of the rest of us: we are determined not to be. So here is my SODDI plea: Some Other Dude Did It.
We did not choose Donald Trump, and we despise his administration’s actions. All over the country, ordinary people are standing up. We do not accept, in 2025, the deportation of hundreds of men to an El Salvadoran horror prison without due process of law — that is, illegally. We will not tolerate a continued roundup and internment of international students. We are not going to allow an end to birthright citizenship. These are only a few of the injustices and stupidities that trouble us. We see Trump’s brazenness growing almost daily, and we are in the streets about it.
People are writing and calling their representatives to let them know that we know that things are not right. People are having town halls to bring their Congress members to account, whether the politicians show up or not. This month more than 1400 communities — smallest rural towns to biggest cities –– demonstrated against the lawlessness, cruelty, and witlessness of the Trump regime.
I was in Athens, Ohio with hundreds of other protesters from the Appalachian part of the state. I am sure some people are now secretly sheltering others from ICE in various states. I expect that soon some activists will be putting their bodies in the way of abductions or standing on the runways in front of deportation planes.
We’re going to keep it up. We must. We will. I will, I promise you.
Sincerely,
Birch Moonwoman
and Athens County friends in accord:
Carol Blythe
Carol Beale
Peggy Gish
John Howard
Debra Spangler
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