[Image description: A cute grey-striped cat, standing next to what looks like a blue curtain, looking upward. Image by Daga_Roszkowska on pixabay]
Hi everyone. Before we get started on today’s topic, happy Pride! To all my colleagues who are lesbian, gay, (fellow) bisexual, trans, genderfluid, intersex, nonbinary, queer, asexual, questioning, or any combination of the above and other identities, you’re awesome. Thank you for being who you are. Please take time to celebrate you and the joy you bring to this world.
A few months ago, right after the elections, I met with a couple of board members of a progressive family foundation. It was a nice change of pace. In a world where the default is foundations deciding strategies and nonprofits are forced to apply for funding if they aligned, this foundation was trying to figure out how to transfer strategy-setting and decision-making authority to communities most affected by injustice. This is especially important now, when this administration is aiming to inflict as much harm and cruelty as it could to them.
[Image description: Some stairs with colorful art surrounding them. The steps have bold red letters in Spanish that say “engrandece al mundo. Hazlo bello. Y cuando te hayas ido, deja que la tierra te extraño,” which roughly translates to “Make the world greater. Make it beautiful. And when you’re gone, let the earth miss you.” Photo by Sifan Liu on Unsplash.]
Hi everyone, if you’re free on June 5th at 10am Pacific Time, my friend and colleague, Ananda Valenzuela, will be leading a FREE virtual workshop called “Exploring Power Dyamics and Principled Accountability.” It’ll be bilingual in English and Spanish. Register here.
Last week, I attended a production of “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/ When the Rainbow is Enuf” by Ntozake Shange, directed by Michelle N. Matlock. If you’re in the Seattle/Tacoma area, check it out; it plays until June 8th.
Led by an all-women-of-color cast, the interwoven pieces combine poetry, monologues, singing, and dancing, vividly illuminating the challenges women of color—especially Black women—face, while highlighting their strength, joy, and unbreakable spirit. I hadn’t heard of it before and went mainly to support a friend who was one of the performers. I left with a reminder of how powerful and instrumental the arts are for society—especially during these horrible times.
[Image description: A dandelion growing out of some dried, cracked mud. Image by klimkin on Pixabay]
Hi everyone, happy AANHPI (Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander) month. If you’re free this Wednesday May 21st at 9am Pacific Time, here’s a great free virtual panel featuring Asian women entrepreneurs discussing the intersection of business and social justice.
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I hope you are hanging in there despite the daily bouts of chaos and cruelty. With everything going on, it’s easy and understandable to fall into despair. But we need to remind ourselves that amazing things are happening daily. There are stories of hope, community, and resistance. Good people are fighting back against injustice every day. Here are a few good things that have taken place recently. Thank you to colleagues and to Zann Zsuzsannika (on Facebook), who let me know of them:
Omaha Nebraska has its first Black mayor, as Democratic candidate John Ewing Jr. defeating a transphobic three-term Republican candidate. He won by double digits.
In Montana, 17 Republicans crossed party lines to join Democrats in defeating a horrible Anti-Trans bill that would have criminalize gender-affirming care for transgender youth, including classifying doctors, nurses, and parents as felons.
In New York, Governor Kathy Hochul signs a bill that would force fossil fuel companies to pay for the damage they cause to the environment.
Salt Lake City and Boise leaders, in response to Republicans passing laws to prohibit the Pride flag from being flown on government property, creatively found ways to fly the flags anyway, by redesigning the flags and voting them in as official flags. Brilliant.
I am sure there are plenty more good news. Please list any additional ones I missed in the comment section. Let’s remind ourselves that good people are fighting against cruelty and injustice every day, and are winning!
[A grey, white, and orange kitten, standing at a window, staring outside. Image by g3gg0 on Pixabay]
Hi everyone, before we get started, our friends at the National Council of Nonprofits are sounding the alarm about the Republicans’ proposed tax bill, which the hope to pass by summer. If it passes, it will be very bad for our sector and the people we serve. It includes allowing authority for Trump and his minions to revoke nonprofit status from any organization it doesn’t like, expand taxes on private foundations to make up for tax cuts on the corporations and wealthy individuals, cut funding for Medicaid and SNAP, among other horrible things. Please see NCN’s website for more information and actions we need to be taking. Let’s get ready for this battle.
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Over the past few months, you’ve probably heard the term Overton Window being tossed around. It’s a term coined by Joseph P. Overton, senior VP of the conservative think tank the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. I recommend this really great 7-minute clip on it, but basically it’s the range of ideas and policies that are politically acceptable to the general population at any given time. For instance, a few decades ago, marriage equality was unthinkable, and even popular Democratic presidents still opposed it. Now, the Window has widened to include LGBTQ rights so it’s not too controversial for politicians, even conservative ones, to say they support it.
I’m bringing it up because the right-wing, under Trump, has been masterful at shifting this Window on a variety of issues, to terrifying results. They propose a steady stream of abhorrent ideas, which then makes less loathsome ones seem reasonable by comparison. For instance, when they talk about sending US citizens to concentration camps in El Salvador without due process, it trains the public to think that sending non-US citizens to these camps without due process less horrifying in comparison (when it absolutely is still very horrifying).
[Image description: A hyena, which looks kind of like a dog, with golden fur, staring at the camera. This image has nothing to do with the post, except that I think this hyena, using random chance to make decisions, would be more qualified than most of our executive branch. Image by tommileew on Pixabay]
I’m glad to see the pushback against the concept of Imposter Syndrome, since it often places the burdens on individuals who are often already marginalized to examine themselves and change their behavior, instead of forcing systems to stop being so inequitable.
