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Tufts University President’s Statement of Solidarity with our Undocumented Students
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This is Not Normal: Next Steps for the Trump Years
I am posting this again as my friends and I regroup following the American Anthropological Association’s yearly conference, and the Thanksgiving holidays. I was fortunate to spend time with wonderful people, and was asked some thought-and-action-provoking questions. These questions help me plan some form of action each week, which counters the despair many of us are feeling.
What is your gift? What is your piece? Who supports you in this work?
And the reminder: this incoming administration is not normal.
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Second Annual Fletcher Gender Conference, featuring Michael Kimmel
This conference is open to the public, and we would love to see you there.
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Being an ally: Our next moves and the people we love
Let each of us plan our next moves. There is too much at stake to remain silent now. I draw strength every day from my friends and colleagues who share a commitment to human dignity and decency. And let me say it: I am a relatively privileged white woman with a PhD. Trump and his kind will not come for me first— they will turn first on the targets Trump enumerated throughout his campaign. People of color, Muslims, members of the LGBTQ communities, undocumented workers, asylum seekers— they are on the frontlines of the forthcoming assault. So let us be the best allies we can. If the Trump administration registers Muslims, then state you are a Muslim. If the right to same sex marriage is repealed, then register as gay every time you must state your status. If asked your (binary) gender, check the box for Other. They will not come for us first, so we must be the buffer for what comes next. People we love are in danger.
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A resource to support the LGBTQ people we love
This can also be adapted to your local hotlines and email addresses.
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Show your solidarity in ways both big and small
One former student who is Muslim let me know how much it mattered to her in the aftermath of 9/11 to have people — friends and strangers — reach out to make sure she was alright and to offer a safe place if she needed it. As she wrote, “When suddenly you are judged for just being who you are, having kind people around you makes the world of difference.” Be that difference in someone’s life.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/safety-pin-trump-brexit_us_58251b53e4b0c4b63b0c11a9?
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Another tool for educators
Here is another tool. This can be adapted to your school or university. It reclaims public space as a site of peaceful association, and can help our students who feel particularly threatened right now. One colleague, with the support of her provost, has made a version with her Lehman College logo and they are posting these across campus. For professors and schoolteachers, you can hang this on your door. Our students need reassurance now.
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Another step we can take: Claiming public space
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Who this election emboldens
“While Kimberly Theidon, a professor of humanitarian studies at Tufts University, took her dogs for a walk on Wednesday morning, she thought about the numerous times guys have driven by and shouted “some disgusting version of ‘great tits.’”
“This morning I blinked back tears, realizing those guys are even more emboldened as a result of this election,” Theidon said. “Yet another generation of young women will grow up having been made to feel that their bodies are somehow public property, and they will also keep putting one foot in front of another and not say a word for fear the car will circle back around a second time.”
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I am taking a deep breath and then on to action. Here are some ideas….
