Working Class Love Notes #8: Never Stop Resisting

A conversation with Dr. Angela Y. Davis for the road ahead

Jan 30, 2025

”You never stop resisting - even under the most dire circumstances - you continue to resist.” — Dr. Angela Y. Davis

My friends, we are in it. We are a month into 2025, a few weeks out from Inauguration Day, and things are as unsettling, chaotic, and as bad as we feared. To only name a few things that have happened so far: Elon Musk gave a Nazi salute from the inaugural stage, a long list of cruel executive orders have been unleashed, DEI programs have been attacked, the January 6th insurrectionists have been pardoned, plus mass deportations, the confirmation of white nationalist Pete Hegseth as secretary of defense, the federal funding freeze and its reversal, and on and on and on.

The chaos is the point. This MAGA strategy is spearheaded by Stephen Miller and it’s designed to “flood” us, to sow fear, create instability, and overwhelm us in hopes that we will be too immobilized, too burnt out, and too confused to fight back. We can’t let that happen.

My heart is breaking. I feel angry, scared, and overwhelmed on a regular basis, sometimes all of it in a single day. But, I’m also doing my best to find moments of joy, to snuggle with my pets, to laugh at memes on group texts, and to enjoy art. I’m trying to focus on my organizing lane, the things I can control and be where I’m most needed. I’m connecting with my people as often as I can. I hope you are, too.

I’m also looking to the wisdom of others who have been in this work longer, who have faced authoritarian threats, those who have stayed in this struggle for decades. I have my ears, eyes, and heart all the way open to learn from them as much as I can.

Fortunately, on January 16th, just days before the inauguration, I got to be in conversation with someone I have deeply admired since I was a young college student, someone who shaped my politics, who helped make me a feminist, and who inspired me, a young Appalachian, to want to be a revolutionary: Dr. Angela Y. Davis.

You can watch the recording from the Showing Up for Racial Justice webinar with Dr. Davis here (or embedded above). I can’t recommend it enough. Maybe turn it on next time you feel overwhelmed? It steadied me. I bet it’ll do the same for you.

Wisdom from Dr. Davis:

I’m carrying a few quotes from Dr. Davis with me. I’ve been thinking about them daily, using them as a guide, holding them close and letting them light the way.

On the importance of not abandoning anyone or any cause because it’s labeled “too radical” or “too controversial” in order to build a broad coalition to fight fascism:

“Oftentimes we assume that if we want to come together, unite, build alliances, coalitions - that we have to find the lowest common denominator and start with what we all agree on. But I think that misleads us in many ways. It’s oftentimes precisely our differences that bring a richness to our efforts to unify.” — Dr. Angela Y. Davis

She encouraged us to remember that we are part of a big, powerful movement. We are part of a lineage, a historical struggle, that started long before this moment and that will continue into the future. We are also part of a global movement for justice that goes beyond our country with millions of people in this fight for freedom with us even if we don’t see them.

”In order for us to engage in that kind of long struggle, we have to imagine ourselves as much bigger than we think we are.”

When I asked her how we stay in this for the long haul, she reminded us to look to Palestinians for inspiration.

”You never stop resisting - even under the most dire circumstances - you continue to resist.” — Dr. Angela Y. Davis

Let’s take these words to heart: May we never stop resisting. No matter what they throw at us, we fight back, we organize, we stick together. We won’t let them win.