Must-Reads, Resources, and Some Thoughts Sustaining Ourselves

Must-Reads

From ICE watch programs to a bleak reproductive rights preview, here are some of the most important articles I’ve read this week.

• How Chicago’s Immigrant Rights Groups Plan to Hold the Line on Sanctuary Policies by Pascal Sabino. “Antonio Guttierez, co-founder of the group Organized Communities Against Deportation, says his group has worked with the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights to set up 18 hyper-local rapid response networks that send volunteers to investigate tips about ICE activity.”
• ICE Watch Programs Can Protect Immigrants in Your Neighborhood — Here’s What to Know by Nikki Marín Baena. “In every case we worked on, when the agents realized they were being watched, they abandoned their stakeout.”
• Trump’s Executive Orders Are Full of Deadlines. We’re Tracking Them by Shawn Musgrave. “Tucked inside many of the orders are homework assignments for the Trump administration with hard deadlines … The first Trump administration blew past many of these deadlines, so The Intercept is once again compiling them. As we wade into Trump 2.0, we’ll see if the administration can keep up with the paperwork.”
• Another Way Out: In Fighting Fascism, We Must Choose Our Fights Wisely by William C. Anderson. “Bitter unity isn’t the answer; it’s often disastrous, too, but we have to answer something. Who is fed, housed, given health care, safety, and security by what we’re fighting about? Does the fight we’re in lead to a change that can alter people’s lives for the better or advance us toward a revolutionary shift?”
• The Spreadsheet Brigade That's Keeping LA's Rental Market From Exploding by Alissa Walker. “About 75 volunteers are currently working on the project: sorting through submissions, offering free legal support, and calling the city to make reports. Kirk has an entire tech team that built a web scraper for Zillow and is working on creating visualizations of the data.”
• I Know What Trump Means for Our Planet. I Still Choose Hope by Aaron Regunberg. “The fact is, we exist. We’re here, we’re alive, and as long as that’s the case, the future can still be worse or better depending on our actions. Every minute we continue to breathe, to get up, to raise our kids, we are choosing hope—hope that it’s better to keep existing than to not, to keep breathing than to not, to keep getting up than to not.”
• I Protested Trump’s First Inauguration. But I’m Not Marching Against Him Today by Natasha Lennard. “We find ourselves in a grimly defensive position. The task is urgent to build resilient communities, including rapid-response networks to defend neighbors and colleagues from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids, or ensuring the wide circulation and accessibility of abortion pills and hormones.”
• Wildfire Smoke is Always Toxic. LA’s is Even Worse by Zoya Teirstein. “Zhu and her colleagues have been collecting samples of wildfire smoke in neighborhoods near the fires. It’ll be months before that data is fully analyzed, but Zhu suspects she will find a dangerous mix of chemicals, including, potentially, asbestos and lead — materials used in many buildings constructed before the 1970s.”
• Here’s Your (Bleak) 2025 Reproductive Rights Preview by Kylie Cheung. “As states where abortion remains legal attempt to shore up their protections for reproductive rights under Trump, abortion-banned states are doing everything they can to trap residents under their laws.”
• Schools Using AI Emulation of Anne Frank That Urges Kids Not to Blame Anyone for Holocaust by Joe Wilkins. “Unfortunately for humanity, a Utah-based tech startup called SchoolAI has summoned up an AI-generated version of Frank that feels like both an affront to her memory and a grim sign of things to come in the world of education.”
• Palestinians Return to Israeli-Seized Gaza Neighborhoods and Find Only Rubble by Sharon Zhang. “Israeli forces have destroyed over 90 percent of homes in Gaza amid the genocide, causing damages that experts say will take tens of billions of dollars and decades, if not hundreds of years, to recover from; the UN has estimated that just clearing out unexploded bombs could take 14 years.”

ICYMI

This week, I wrote about what Trump’s opening volleys mean for trans people and undocumented immigrants, and how we should orient ourselves in this moment of shock and awe politics. If you’re looking for some guidance about how to navigate this moment, you might want to check out this piece.

Immigration Detention 101 Training

On January 29, Detention Watch Network is hosting a virtual Detention 101 Training. Participants will explore “the nuts and bolts of the immigration detention system and its role in facilitating and driving deportations.” The training will describe how the detention system operates and how people are funneled into the immigration detention system. Participants will also develop a stronger understanding of the system’s weaknesses and how it can be fought. You can register here.

Immigration Know Your Rights Resource

Muslims for Just Futures has launched a new set of Immigration Know Your Rights Resources. These resources include printable posters, information about immigrant rights prior to an arrest, tips about what to do after a raid, and more. These resources are available in multiple languages. 

Learn How to Start a Reading Group

As I’ve previously discussed, this is a good time to gather in small groups for political education, fundraising efforts, and conversations about what to do next. One way to bring people together around issues that matter is to start a reading group. If you would like to form a reading group to discuss an important text (like some of the books Kim Kelly highlighted in her piece, We Only Have Ourselves: The How-Tos and DOs and DON’Ts of Mutual Aid, this week), political educator David Kaib will be hosting reading group trainings in the coming months. You can sign up to learn more here.

Support the Black Zine Fair

I am a big fan of zines. In these times, when surveillance and repression may compromise our ability to share important information online, the creation and proliferation of zines for political education feel especially important. We are too reliant on digital communication. Everyone should learn how to make zines and support the thriving culture of zine-making, which we all have so much to learn from. The Black Zine Fair is a free event that celebrates Black, independent publishers in New York City. The event includes workshops and exhibitions, and a deep dive into zine-making, publishing, and DIY practices — all through the lens of Black culture. To make the event happen, organizers need to raise another $9,000. You can support their efforts here.

Buy Girl Scout Cookies From Trans Youth

Erin Reed has published her annual list of trans youth who are selling girl scout cookies. This is a great time to support trans youth, and as Erin writes, “Your purchases do more than satisfy cravings—you’re sending trans kids to summer camps” and “making it possible for them to embark on incredible adventures.” If you want to participate, be sure to buy cookies from young people who haven’t reached their sales goals yet. And while you’re at it, be sure to sign up for Erin’s newsletter, Erin In The Morning. Her reporting on trans issues is essential.

Final Thoughts

On Friday, I spent some time talking to a group of students, many of whom were rattled by Trump’s opening attacks on immigrants, trans people, the environment, and the healthcare system. The students talked about the institutional impacts of  Trump’s edicts and how they might protect vulnerable people in these times. The subject of hope held a key place in the discussion. I was heartened to hear that my book with Mariame Kaba, Let This Radicalize You, had helped some of the students develop a practice of hope, which was helping them to navigate these times. We talked about Joanna Macy’s description of active hope as something we do, as opposed to something we have. For me and Mariame, hope is a daily practice. It is the work of moving toward the horizon of justice, as we see it, in whatever ways we are able. It is about deciding what values we want to see expressed in the world and figuring out how to enact them in our current conditions. However small our efforts may feel, in comparison to what we are up against, we can live in our values and move toward the world we want. We can live in hope.

This approach will not work for everyone in all contexts. One young person expressed that they cannot fathom the practice of active hope within some areas of politics, such as policy work. They noted that this system is doing what it was designed to do and that they simply cannot apply these ideas to such a construct. I shared a different perspective, in that I have seen people save lives, empty cages, and create more justice and safety within the realm of policy work. So, for me, active hope applies in this context. The daily maneuvers made in the realm of policy work will not be enough, but they can inch us toward justice and enable more of us to survive to fight another day. However, I respect where the student was coming from. It is not their duty to invest any hope in the workings of this system. They are doing important work that must continue, and however they manage to show up for that work, whether it’s with active hope or some other form of dogged determination, I am grateful for them and for the thought-work and empathy that propels them. 

This is a time to examine our needs and to make sure we are meeting them. What fuels us? If you are someone who needs to move from a place of hope – which many people are – do you have a practice of hope? Do you treat hope as a discipline, as Mariame would say? Hope is not going to fall from the sky in these times. We will have to create and share it through our personal and collective efforts. What nourishes you, and are you getting enough of it? 

We have a long fight ahead of us. Catastrophe and preemptive surrender abound. The landscape will not be encouraging. We will have to create our own oases and sanctuaries. We will have to make our own light and offer ourselves and others moments of joy and relief. These efforts will sustain us as human beings, and help us hold onto our humanity, as dominant forces attempt to strip us of our values and our decency. 

As we wade into these hard times, I encourage you to think about what will sustain you. Fortify yourself and your people. If you are part of a community of action, talk with them about sustainability. What will people need in order to help them stay engaged? From the practical to the spiritual, take people’s needs seriously and think about what you can build together. We need strong solidarity networks and support systems in these times. Let’s develop the practices and build the infrastructure we need to stay in the fight.

Much love,

Kelly

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