 John, As of today, there are only 100 days until the general election this November. I’m joining millions across the nation to make this the loudest, most disruptive 100 days the government has ever experienced. Sign up for a Sunrise call on Wednesday, July 29 at 8pm EDT / 5pm PDT to learn more and join us. In the early morning light of Juneteenth, I stood with a group of brave people outside Mitch McConnell’s house to make some noise, inspired by the Wide Awake movement of the 1860s. Tension was high. It’s not a joke to show up on the doorstep of a major politician, especially Mitch McConnell’s, not when cops are disappearing people off the streets of places like Portland when they don’t like what they see. Cop cars circled around us. We were nervous. But we had to do it. I felt for George Floyd. That knee on his neck was just another example of the million ways the government steals our breath. That, and unchecked corporate pollution ravaging Black communities so intensely that our children are twice as likely as white kids to develop asthma. Busting down our doors without any warning, then shooting us dead when we try to defend our homes, like they did to Breonna Taylor. I know what it feels like to struggle for air. I know what it’s like to have my sleep punctuated by fear and worry. Mitch needed to feel that, too. So, though we were nervous, we made noise. We sang. We shouted. We held up signs and we stood strong. And the energy grew. Cars honked in support as they passed. Mitch’s own neighbor came out and joined us. She yelled, “It’s your future too, Mitch!” Local papers applauded us. I learned that people were ready to listen to us. Many of them shared our worries. They just needed someone to take that first step, to put a voice to it, and they were ready to be at our sides. So for the next 100 days, we’re going to do it again. And again. And again. Our government has failed us, and we are done asking nicely for change. We’re going to make noise outside their houses, we’re going to interrupt their speeches, we’re going to make life a waking nightmare for the architects of this broken, exploitative system that keeps us in poverty, in hunger, in fear. And when those hundred days are done, on election day November 3rd, any politician who isn’t with us will be replaced. No justice, no sleep. We are wide awake. Derik |