What The Hell America!

Action is the antidote to despair.

I find this statement by the legendary activist/songwriter, Joan Baez, to be particularly relevant and inspiring in this time when it’s so easy to fall into despair. When I am engaged in activism—the purposeful resistance to the many push backs on rights and freedoms—I push aside despair and reclaim the hope that comes with action.

And it’s time for action! Time to stop the handwringing and worse, the silence, about what is happening in the U.S. that is having an impact everywhere in the world.

Last week, Baez spoke out, stopping the Everybody’s Live With John Mulaney show to deliver a passionate message.

“You said I could say anything I want out here,” Baez said to Mulaney. “We’re all here to be silly and have fun, and as long as we recognize the fact that our democracy is going up in flames… we’re being run by a bunch of really incompetent billionaires.”

Baez has been a much respected voice of activism for nearly seven generations, and once again, I am inspired by her and by the many others calling us to speak out, stand up, and show up. The threats to our rights and to our democracy are growing more dangerous every day, and as I write in my book: “Dangerous times call for dangerous women.”

I had the privilege (and responsibility) last week to convene again a curated cohort of global women leaders to shape a new movement of movements to address the nature and climate crisis. This year Connected Women Leaders welcomed leaders to the Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Center from 11 countries, aged 22 to 82, all movement makers committed to creating new collective strategies that will lead to the changes so urgently needed to sustain a habitable planet and build an even more hospitable home for generations to come.

Being in community with these intelligent, compassionate and, yes, dangerous women, in the natural beauty of the Bellagio campus, and emerging with a shared commitment to connect our various communities with new actionable directives, to unify around strategic imperatives and to mobilize a new collective force for change—I felt my energy rejuvenated and my activist spirit reignited.

Just as I felt this surge of positivity from this experience of sisterhood and solidarity, I am also detecting an awakening, a re-emergence of resistance to the systematic takedown of the very principles on which we build communities and sustain democratic governments.

We can’t protect what we love if we are not willing to stand up to those who destroy it.

Some of you have likely read historian Timothy Snyder’s On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons From the Twentieth Century. Lesson 1?

Over the past six weeks (and even before Trump took office), we’ve witnessed a lot of obeying in advance. From ABC News choosing to settle a lawsuit brought by Trump that many legal experts thought it could win to big companies like Target, Walmart, Meta, Amazon and a slew of other companies (even PBS!) announcing that they would phase out DEI initiatives, there’s a lot of obeying in advance going on.

And it’s time to call them out and stand up for what we love and value.

Like the freedom of the press—one of the most important means for protecting a democracy.

So let’s celebrate Julie Pace, of the Associated Press for not obeying in advance. One of Trump’s Day One executive orders decreed that the Gulf of Mexico be renamed the Gulf of America. I’m sad to say that Google and Apple updated their maps. But the AP resisted, refusing to do it.

“In their stories, at least for the first reference, they continue to use ‘Gulf of Mexico,’ while acknowledging the Trump preference when appropriate,” notes Margaret Sullivan in her excellent American Crisis Substack. They also didn’t update the entry in the AP Stylebook, the bible of many journalists around the world.

Even in the face of the Trump administration’s retribution, barring AP reporters and photographers from the pool of journalists who cover the president and from attending certain events inside the White House, the AP has not backed down. In fact, the AP is suing on First Amendment grounds.

In an interview on ABC News, Pace said: “This is about whether the government can control the language that we use, that ordinary people can use, and it’s about whether the government can retaliate against you if you don’t use the language that they prefer.”

You probably heard about the Feb. 28 economic blackout in which American consumers were encouraged not to spend any money anywhere for one day. The data on the success of the day is still coming in, but the effort has inspired more boycotts of specific retailers.

Remember that Target decision to end various DEI programs at the company? Last week was the beginning of a 40-day Target boycott. Organizers are asking supporters not to shop at the company’s stores during Lent, “to protest the discount retailer’s decision to end some of its diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives,” reports the AP.

It started in Georgia. “The Rev. Jamal Bryant, senior pastor of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church near Atlanta, organized the ‘Target Fast’… along with other faith and civil rights leaders. A website for participants points to the spending power of Black Americans and described the boycott as ‘a spiritual act of resistance.’”

Supporters of the Target boycott—and of a week-long boycott of Amazon, which ended last Friday—say they want to send a signal to companies that have stepped away from DEI that they won’t let them get away with abandoning the initiatives. 

“I want to be part of the solution, not part of the problem,” Sheila Jackson, an environmental underwriter who lives in Virginia, told USA Today. “As African Americans, we need to make these people realize that our dollars do count. They don’t respect our dollars.”

Another protest saw thousands of people across the country and the world Stand Up for Science in response to layoffs and funding cuts ordered by the Trump administration at the EPA, NOAA and other agencies. It was started by five PhD and grad students commiserating on Bluesky about the impact of DOGE cuts on science. “When [the organizers] first spoke to Science, the official account of Stand Up for Science on Bluesky had a couple thousand followers. Today, the account has more than 50,000,” reports Science magazine.

Tesla Takedown. Another effort to protest against Elon Musk and his DOGE effort to shrink the government by firing workers, cutting budgets and decimating entire agencies, is happening in growing protests at Tesla dealerships across the country. The company’s stock has plummeted and, judging by the fact that Trump announced on Truth Social that he wanted to buy a Tesla and on Wednesday filmed what amounted to a “bizarre” Tesla commercial outside the White House, it’s working.

It’s early days, but these actions speak to the fact that many, many Americans do not support this administration and are finding ways to speak out and stand up against it.

If you’re interested in learning about some of the actions taking place and getting involved, I encourage you to visit targetfast.org, standupforscience2025.org and the Tesla Takedown website. Another group making noise with protests around the country is 50501. Find upcoming protests in your area. Follow me on Bluesky, Instagram, LinkedIn and UP for more frequent updates. 

And believe me, even though it feels a little dangerous, it’s time to take action.

You’ll feel less despair and definitely more hope.

Onward!