Find courage here

When you open the checklist—the labor of more than three dozen people around the country—pause a moment. Take a deep breath and remember that our subscribers are in every state around the nation and share the same values as you. Americans using our Checklist in Spain, England, Mexico, and even Fiji say this publication is a lifeline, a connection to community and purpose.

Friend, if you are under the illusion that you are just one person who wants things to be better in our nation, think again. You are among many. You are among thousands. Your voice blends with countless others to remind the powerful and well-connected that their power has its limits. Our persistent, non-violent insistence reminds those in power that they are still accountable to the people. To us.

In this Checklist, we speak up not just for ourselves, but alongside the many people and families and communities already being crushed by this administration and by the systems that put them in power. We are people of conscience. We know that the lives of our immigrant and trans and Muslim neighbors matter. Those of our Black and disabled and houseless neighbors have inherent value. No one is above another. We also believe that leadership is a privilege. Power must not be wielded to crush anyone, but used in ways that are just and humane and, yes, even compassionate.

Even though it is challenging to not know what the future holds, we who are speaking up know the risks of choosing silence. We speak up together, rest, and speak up again and again. Even without the guarantee of a specific and certain outcome, even in the face of apparent failure, we know that showing up with and for each other is the only option.

Let us act from our hearts today, mindful that countless hopeful others are doing likewise.

Open the Americans of Conscience Checklist for the week of April 21, 2019.