(I offered these remarks at an 11/4 Every Vote Count rally in Northampton.)
You are beautiful.
Thank you to Debby Pastrich-Klemer and all who organized today. Thank you to MoveOn, Indivisible, Movement Voter Project, 413 Staying Connected, and our sprawling family.
Thank you to every single one of you who dedicated yourself to races across the nation.
Thank you to organizers who have been resisting Trump’s racism and xenophobia for more than five and a half years.
***
But — all this said — today is not about Donald Trump or his very predictable lies and attempts to undermine our democracy.
Trump can say whatever he wants. The people will have the last word.
Today is about a Democracy rising. An expansion of voting rights. Historic voter turnout. Voters showing up for each other and our shared future.
Voters who waited hours. Voters who planted lawn signs in their yards, put bumper stickers on their cars, wore buttons — where it was dangerous to do so.
Election workers who are still in the trenches of counting millions of votes.
Because every vote counts. Every vote matters.
Today is about community. Resilience.
Today is about remembering core values: Fairness, equity, the rule of law, compassion. Justice justice justice. And the peace that will come.
Today is about our political power. Our muscle.
Hold this vision. It will see us through.
***
In 2016, when Trump won, we were stunned. Even though we said it was possible. Even though we united against Trump’s hate, we lost.
A staggering gut punch.
Four years later, we’re stronger. Sharper. Resolute. We understand that the chasm of inequities that gave rise to Trump existed long before 2016. We know that Trump is a symptom of the pain we feel as a nation. Not only the cause.
And so this morning we woke early and continued the painstaking work at the local and state level — to protect the human and civil rights of the people of MA. To pass the ROE act. To pass the Family Work and Mobility Act. To reform policing, to advance health equity. To help workers and main street businesses. To fund education, human services, food security and on and on.
And we continue tonight in Northampton and in hundreds of communities across the nation. And we will stay in the streets for as long as it takes. To get the results and protect the results.
United in our painstaking work of building anew. Determined to forge a nation with honor and dignity for all. A place where everyone. Every single person. Can thrive.
Grateful to be together with you. Now and in the days ahead.
