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Hammer Fall
The power of the people is greater than any branch of government but it is a blunt and temperamental instrument. It cannot be fully mustered or deployed in a day. Movements are like a force of nature or the weather; a disturbance in the political atmosphere that we must be wise enough to navigate.
Boston Pride x No Kings Recap
On Saturday, June 14, over 2100 No Kings protests took place throughout the country, with dozens in Massachusetts alone. In Boston, we had a unique opportunity to combine Boston Pride with No Kings. Over 1 million people came together to embrace peaceful unity in the face of tyranny, to uplift our LGBTQIA+ community above hateful rhetoric, and to speak in a single voice proclaiming that Americans reject the dictatorial aspirations of a would-be king.
Here To Stay
I breathe deep and tap into years of psychological training from the world’s best mental health professionals, living my best life in a warzone where anything with a Pride flag on it is a target for hateful bigots. I tell myself that we will always be out there, they’ll tear us up, mock my trans siblings when they jump to their deaths, and still it will not be enough to make me disappear. We will grow bolder and find ways to resist their totalitarian systems. This is what it means to me when I say we are here to stay.
Why should I join the 6/9 protest?
Know that we're in the same boat. We're struggling, too, and we struggled ourselves in deciding whether we should take the drastic step of skipping out on other obligations ourselves, much less ask it of you. Here's why we ultimately decided that things have gotten so dire that we're risking more than we ever have to attend this rally, and why we ask you to consider the same.
Who Owns The Future?
I fear the task has fallen to our generation to build something new, and if so, it will be a defining struggle. It will be hard, but all we need to do is tell the truth. In a time of deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.
I've Been to 4 Months of Protests and Trump Shows No Signs of Stopping: Now What?
The road ahead is long but not endless. Each of us will inevitably face situations that make us angry, anxious, or afraid. We’ll question if we’re doing the right thing, or if we’re the right people to be doing it. We’ll question whether there’s anything we can do to solve a problem that just seems to get worse and worse. But by taking action in ways other than through protest, we can anchor ourselves and strengthen our resolve.
Mass 50501 community reflections on ICE detentions
Who must be taken for your life to change? For the subtle fear in the back of your mind to break though? Today, we come together to share some of our reactions to the ICE kidnappings and the dismantling of our rights.
Eternal Vigilance is the Price of Liberty
When writing about current events, historians often reference a “before time” to help provide context for a recent crisis. But there is no “before time” in U.S. history to draw upon for what we face today. What we’re living through is unprecedented, and the actions we’re taking have no blueprint written in that history.
A Republic In The Rain
I am tired, cold, soaking from the rain, and feeling older than my age. My legs and knees are in pain because a chain of 80 hour weeks stretches behind me, and I haven’t allowed sufficient time for rest and recovery.
The American Dream: Dollars over Democracy?
From the Massachusetts Bay Company to Google, corporations have helped shape America and our vision of what it means to be successful. Yet as corporations amass power and wealth, their influence grows beyond the economy, seeping into the political foundations of America itself.
Redeeming Democracy
In order to convince the apathetic to engage with what is happening before it becomes completely irreversible and sinister, we must remove the uncertainty and offer them a vision of the future to fill the void.
How Propaganda Destroys Unity in The United States
I still remember sitting in our “computer room” as an adolescent, listening to the shrieking sounds of our desktop modem connecting to AOL, feeling like I was about to have the world at my fingertips. Back then, the internet was mostly a garble of Netscape web pages filled with dancing pixelated GIFs and seedy chat rooms where everyone was greeted by “a/s/l?”
April 19, 1775 - Commemorating the Start of the American Revolution
It’s April 19, 1975—the 200th anniversary of the start of the American Revolution. The Vietnam War is still ongoing. Gerald Ford is president, and the country is trying to heal from the Watergate scandal.
The Marathon Is My Resistance
I spent the Christmas before the 127th Boston Marathon at a funeral. I stood outside on the red dirt, breathing in the cold morning air of Zuni, New Mexico. I kept looking into the dancing flames of the fire the men were tending for an answer. Any answer. Inside the house, my niece’s cousin, Jada Gonzales, lay wrapped in blankets.
How I Got to April 5th
I helped organize the April 5th Hands Off! protest in Boston. A month ago, I’d never been to a protest in my life. Let me tell you a story about how I got here.
We are Massachusetts
We are Mass 50501, the local chapter of the national decentralized movement with a mission to preserve democracy, reform our institutions, and give voice to the voiceless.