Mijente members from across the country share their reflections on the past four years and formal end of the Trump administration, reminding us that our organizing has always been about our communities first and foremost; not about a President or any politician who is coming to save us. Today we re-affirm that our best defense, our best strategies for building power lie in our connection and commitment to each other.
As one of the most horrific chapters our immigrant communities have faced in the U.S. comes to a close (notice I choose the word “close” and not “end”), I believe the hardest times are about to begin. Most people in this country believe change comes from the top, and that makes our job–the job to push for long-lasting change–more difficult. These coming years will be a test for all of us who have worked tirelessly for decades to be treated respectfully and to be able to create a new world where we don’t have to apologize for existing. I say bring it on! We are ready to keep the fight going, and win!
– Maru Mora Villalpando
In 2017 I joined Mijente, and it was the first political space I had been to in months, where the discussion wasn’t centered on resisting Trump, but rather about building our political home; and to embrace tactics and strategies working without the state, against the state, and within the state.
Through Mijente I learned to think about engaging in electoral work as an intervention, not a solution. That we needed to prioritize the decriminalization of BIPOC, of immigrants, of poor folks, in all the ways.
Over the last four years our movements built our analysis, our base, our organizing muscles, our abilities to heal ourselves and each other. The end of the 45th presidency leaves a growing movement fueled by hatred and lies. It’s a trail, but that movement is not winning, the Freedom side is.
– Vanessa Snow
Our movement has the opportunity and duty to set the tone for the next four years through our actions in the first 100 days of this administration. I am reflecting about that space in the middle where water meets land; it is muddy but softer and could be shaped. That is how this moment feels to me right now. It is unclear and not perfect, but we can shape it to be exactly what we need it to be to win for all of our communities. It is up to all of us not the people in the White House alone. We got us here by choosing each other, let’s take us to the next level by working together and growing our power from the bottom up and to the left, siempre.
– Neidi Dominguez
Transformative change for working class people, women, and people of color is never obtained in this country because of a President. Like the waves come to shore, they have been moved by a deep ocean of conscious, caring, loving people who organized and united in the common struggle for dignity & justice. This truth is as real as the law of gravity. Let us face these the next four years as our ancestors have done before us: not focused on the power from above, but building with each other the power from below.
Join Mijente, or join another organization, or build your own, but get in movement.