Unpublished, but not Unsent v4

Dear Editor,

If your readers are worried about Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation to the US Supreme Court, they should be. And if your readers marched in protest on October 17th, 2020, I’d like to thank them for marching for me. It’s been simpler for me to accept what Barrett’s appointment will mean while still fighting mightily to protect the rights we will lose, as best I know how. Every day, EVERY DAY, I think of those six-year-olds shot in Sandy Hook; yet federal protection of the Second Amendment will be strengthened. Every day I think of the words of Maxine Waters as she spoke them at the 2017 Women’s Convention in Detroit:

“Keep your hands off our backs and our goddamn bodies!”

Yet federal protection for reproductive rights will be overturned. I’d like to tell your readers: This is happening on our watch.

Dr. Willie Parker notes:

“Liberals may hear about [anti-abortion] laws enacted elsewhere, in states where they are not likely to live, that require counseling and waiting periods, widened hallways and hospital admitting privileges, and shrug...From the relative safety of the blue states, voters who support abortion rights can be insulated from the devastating impact new [anti-abortion] laws make on women’s lives.”

I’d like to tell your readers: Do not let this happen to you. Barrett’s appointment means we will need to spend the next forty+ years fighting everyday to keep from losing the basic rights our mothers procured for us. If you don’t or can’t remember life before Roe v. Wade, read “The Story of Jane, the Legendary Underground Feminist Abortion Service,” by Laura Kaplan. Roe v. Wade stated that abortion is a medical decision to be made by a woman and her doctor. That’s all it protects, and the right to that decision is what Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and especially Barrett, are going to take away from you.

Unpublished, but not Unsent v2

Dear Editor.

I am angry. I have been angry since Election Day 2016. It’s amazing to me that this anger has ceased to subside; it’s a little like grief in that way, it simply burns true day after day. I’m angry that as a working mom I have to dedicate any spare time to the Resistance, which means, as an introvert, having to spend my Saturday afternoons in anguish, phone banking for Democrats. I am especially angry about the fear that drives my anger to exhibit itself in unexpected ways, like a crying-jag in public. And I am not alone. I can name scores of other women, who, like me, are angry. These women are changed, some (you’d be surprised how many) have quit their jobs to join the Resistance, to lead it. These women have been transformed into activists.

Now you might ask, why does this matter? What has the transformation wrought? I can tell you this, these women are living differently, every spare moment (and just ask a woman how carefully life must be ordered to allow for a spare moment) is spent educating themselves about this current political reality and using the activism tools they have created to fight back, run for office and broaden the progressive, liberal ideals with which they were raised. I am angry, and I know now that I should have been angry LONG before the 2016 election. The interesting thing about this anger is that it has birthed not violence, but generosity and action. It is a wellspring of motivation that these women have used to create communities.

Today when I realized that being in the “Resistance” actually just means taking part in our democracy, my anger suddenly subsided a bit. I’m thankful to have been forced to participate and take action, to fundraise and phonebank for Democratic candidates who will defend progressive politics. Yes, I am still angry that a conservative Supreme Court will overturn Roe v. Wade; but I am grateful, finally, to have learned the hard way the value of taking part. Taking part IS the same as fighting for. And I will never stop, taking part.

I hope you won’t either.