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Dear Neighbor,
It has taken me a day to gather myself in order to reach out after the election. If, like me, you are one of the 80% of Manhattan voters who voted for Kamala Harris, and particularly if you are one of the thousands who made phone calls or wrote postcards or travelled to swing states to knock on doors, you may be feeling an array of emotions yesterday and today and going forward - grief, anger, fear, numbness, all of the above and more.
There is no question that our nation is entering a dangerous and uncertain time. Although today we still have a presidential administration dedicated to democracy, the rule of law, honest government, and the rights of all Americans, after January 20th, 2025 (which, in a particularly cruel twist of fate, falls on Martin Luther King Day), we will enter a new era where no act of governmental malfeasance is off the table.
But, while we must soberly face the reality of where we are headed, we must also try not to overwhelm ourselves with catastrophic thinking. There may be a lot of bad things coming our way, as individuals and as a city, a state, and a country, but we do ourselves no favors by running ourselves ragged worrying about them in advance – after all, preparing for the future and worrying about it are two different things. We must take the challenges as they come, when and if they come, and not do his work for him by disempowering ourselves through fear and exhaustion.
One reality is that New York State is in a better position than we were in 2016 to protect New Yorkers and model the policies that are necessary to build a better future. When Trump took power last time, the State Senate was in Republican hands. We didn't have the Reproductive Health Act protecting abortion rights, or the CLCPA laying out science-based climate targets, or significant voting rights reforms like Early Voting and no-excuse absentee ballots, or several other policies that the Democratic Majority has passed since 2019.
It goes without saying that the next few years will not be easy. We must allow ourselves to feel all the despair that we may feel, as well as all the moments of joy that will also be part of this time. We must continue to care for ourselves and our communities. And, when we can bring ourselves to do so, we must get up and continue the work. In the words of the Pirkei Avot, one of the great texts of Jewish tradition, "Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world's grief. Do justly, now. Love mercy, now. Walk humbly now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it."
I want to thank the voters of the 28th Senate District for giving me the chance to continue the work in Albany for another term. I commit, as I always have, to representing the needs of my constituents and all New Yorkers to the best of my ability in this critical time. I also want to thank the voters of Manhattan for coming out in overwhelming support of the Equal Rights Amendment, Prop 1, which will now become part of our State Constitution and protect the rights of generations of New Yorkers to come.
I will leave you with this message from Rebecca Solnit, the author of Hope in the Dark and many other works:
They want you to feel powerless and to surrender and to let them trample everything and you are not going to let them. You are not giving up, and neither am I. The fact that we cannot save everything does not mean we cannot save anything and everything we can save is worth saving. You may need to grieve or scream or take time off, but you have a role no matter what, and right now good friends and good principles are worth gathering in. Remember what you love. Remember what loves you. Remember in this tide of hate what love is.
You can be heartbroken or furious or both at once; you can scream in your car or on a cliff; you can also get up tomorrow and water the flowerpots and call someone who's upset and check your equipment for going onward. A lot of us are going to come under direct attack, and a lot of us are going to resist by building solidarity and sanctuary. Gather up your resources, the metaphysical ones that are heart and soul and care, as well as the practical ones.
People kept the faith in the dictatorships of South America in the 1970s and 1980s, in the East Bloc countries and the USSR, women are protesting right now in Iran and people there are writing poetry. There is no alternative to persevering, and that does not require you to feel good. You can keep walking whether it's sunny or raining. Take care of yourself and remember that taking care of something else is an important part of taking care of yourself, because you are interwoven with the ten trillion things in this single garment of destiny that has been stained and torn, but is still being woven and mended and washed.
As always, if you have any questions or need assistance, please email or call my office at [email protected] or 212-490-9535.
Best,
Liz Krueger
State Senator
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