By Jace Woodrum
As is expected from a reality TV star turned U.S. president, Donald Trump dominates the news cycle, social media feeds and (for many of us) our minds.
The chaos and sensory overload are part of the strategy, cultivating the sense that he can’t be stopped as he disregards judges’ orders and flouts the Constitution. President Trump’s policies and actions are eroding the rule of law, threatening our democracy and creating a Constitutional crisis.
As the executive director of the ACLU of South Carolina, I travel around the state talking with South Carolinians who are shocked and scared by what they see from the Trump administration. They see the president going after people’s rights and freedoms in ways that remind them of fascist regimes — and they ask me again and again, “What are we supposed to do? Tell me, what can I do?”
I tell them there are three things to do in this moment:
One, don’t abandon hope.
President Trump will not give in or back down unless he is forced. That’s why the ACLU has taken more than 100 legal actions to fight back against his current administration. (We filed 434 legal actions during his first administration.) While we must recognize that incredible harm has come to so many, we must also acknowledge that the protection of the constitution remains.
Trump’s executive order to end birthright citizenship? His attempt to restrict access to gender-affirming health care for transgender people under 19? His threats to cut funding to schools if they engage in diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives? All have been blocked by the courts. Trump’s flagrant misuse of the Alien Enemies Act to skirt due process and deport Americans to an El Salvadoran prison was even blocked by a judge that he appointed in his first term.
These rulings aren’t permanent and they don’t mean we rest. But they do buoy our hope and strengthen our resolve to keep pressing the courts to hold the President accountable to the law.
Two, don’t relinquish power.
Like most of us, I am not an attorney so it’s hard to see my role in the national picture when the fight for the future of our representative democracy seems to be happening in courtrooms. But we have power and it lives right here in South Carolina.
Everything that is happening at the national level is flowing down to the states. Trump’s executive order attempting to get rid of DEI in schools? Our S.C. superintendent of education did a copy and paste here. Trump’s attempt to deport immigrants without due process? He’s going to demand your local police department’s help.
The good news? You have more power than you realize. You can join us at state Board of Education meetings, at the Statehouse or in your local community to fight against the same fascist policies that are dominating the headlines. And here, your voice can really make a difference. Engaged activists have protected the teaching of Black history in schools, expanded housing rights at the county level and staved off some of the most egregious state-level legislative attacks on the rights of LGBTQ+ people.
As author Alice Walker said, “The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.”
Three, stick up for your neighbors.
Marginalized communities are facing draconian attacks like we’ve never seen before. Transgender people make up 1.6% of the population, but right-wing politicians spend an inordinate amount of time hurting them. Immigrants are so frightened about being arrested and sent off to an El Salvadoran prison that they’re not leaving their homes. Black Americans are watching the dismantling of civil rights protections that they’ve bled and died to secure.
When the government turns its back on people, we must open our hearts. You can bring groceries to your immigrant neighbor or offer to fix their broken taillight. You can push for your employer to keep prioritizing diversity, equity and inclusion, even as the political winds shift. You can speak up when your coworker tells an anti-transgender joke, offer support to a transgender young person, or spread facts — not misinformation — about trans folks on your social media.
What matters is that we take care of people, even when they’re different from us and especially when they’re living through this moment in history.
We’re just over 100 days into the second Trump administration and we have a long way to go before it’s over. But the fight of our lives isn’t in Washington, D.C. It’s here at home – and we need you in it.
Jace Woodrum is executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of South Carolina.
