(An appropriate cold open for both the most recent episode of SNL and of this week’s Afternoon Snack).
What a time to be alive, POMEs.
It’s been a really rough week. We’re not going to pretend otherwise. We’d like to shoot the breeze with you about fun stuff we’ve been reading this week, but for the most part, we scrounged through the garbage to bring you some links and articles to chew on as we think about the 2016 election.
There isn’t a way to look at these events that describes the normal course of how things should go. But whatever comes next, we will support one another and we will resist and stand up to bigotry and hate.
If you’re worrying about how to use the next few weeks to keep yourself safer and help others over the next four years, this resource document will help you figure out where to start.
Today in news that is both horrifying but somehow not remotely surprising, Trump has added a white supremacist human garbage fire to his transition team, so, huh. Trump’s lack of preparation for the fact that the presidency is a work-intensive job is less of a relief when you realize that he’s appointing folks like this that will do all the troubling work of actually stripping away 50 years of progressive work and advocacy.
If you have friends and family who supported Trump, or even loved ones who don’t think this election is such a big deal, here is a pretty sobering link to send them about the violence PoC/queer folks/anybody at risk under a Trump presidency have been facing this week.
The funny, kind Jorge Corona writes about being an undocumented immigrant right now — about the DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) program and what it means to the folks relying on it, and about the uncertainty of the future now that the election is over.
Going to the DACA appointment and getting fingerprinted and photographed by immigration officials felt surreal, unsure. It was another part of a juggling act of status that I had been putting on out of necessity every day until then. Tearing open the envelope’s flap and finally pulling out that laminated card was a euphoric moment. It was permission for me to find a job related to my interests and skills. It was permission to travel by plane without fear of being stopped or questioned. It was permission to get a driver’s license in Texas. It was legal permission to be okay.
There’s not much we can say to soothe you in these worrying times. The only thing we can do are amplify voices that empower us all. If nothing else, Leslie Knope believes in us, after all. If you have anything we should mention or plug, or anything to cheer us through all this uncertainty, drop us a line in the comments below! We love you, and we are here for you.
