Hi you,
It’s a hard time in the United States right now, though it’s also always been so.
I’m sharing a short video essay I was moved to record after appearing on MS NOW’s Primetime Weekend last night. I was supposed to talk about the record-breaking film that is Sinners, and I am ready at any time to discuss that revolutionary and liberatory blues opera.
But because this country keeps taking the hard route by failing to take the lessons of its own history, I was invited to comment on the latest assault by the federal government on the very premise of our form of self-government. Sigh.
This post will be long, so let me offer you a guide to what’s inside
Resources on what we can do now
Lightly edited transcript of the video above for those who prefer reading to watching/listening
Full segments from MS NOW last night in which I appeared with Sarah Longwell
Amazing comedic moment we could all use right now
Some Resources
James Baldwin to Angela Davis
I’m deeply frustrated as much as I am inspired. If folks had just listened to Black people and Indigenous people, we wouldn’t be here. I’m not shaming, I’m naming and including myself. For example, I just learned about The Dakota 38, a mass hanging of Indigenous people approved by President Lincoln in Minnesota in 1962. At the same time we will only get out of here (again) if we start listening and applying the lessons.
What inspires me about the Minnesotan response is their embodiment of the spirit of liberation that has always run through the people who have been most discarded by this nation.
So I return to Baldwin. From France, in 1970, he wrote this letter to Angela Davis as she was being persecuted. It’s worth reading in full but here is the section I’m choosing to highlight with bold emphasis added by me:
The enormous revolution in Black consciousness which has occurred in your generation, my dear sister, means the beginning or the end of America. Some of us, white and Black, know how great a price has already been paid to bring into existence a new consciousness, a new people, an unprecedented nation. If we know, and do nothing, we are worse than the murderers hired in our name.
If we know, then we must fight for your life as though it were our own—which it is—and render impassable with our bodies the corridor to the gas chamber. For, if they take you in the morning, they will be coming for us that night.
Therefore: peace.
What are the actions
Protect Your Mind and Spirit
We are being subjected to psychological and emotional assaults. It is not healthy to watch murder videos, and we cannot remain in a constant state of agitation and remain healthy. So grab your oxygen mask, and breathe.
touch grass. get outside and breathe air. make a snow angel. with someone else
listen to music. make music. dance. laugh. play games.
eat good food. real food. not just for fuel but for pleasure.
meditate. daydream. wander.
it’s essential to take a break from vigilance. joy in community is key. you’re not betraying the movement. you’re ensuring its continuity.
Build Local Networks
No one is coming to save us. We save ourselves. The neighborhood is the primary place where we can build resilience to survive this onslaught and design the better version of ourselves that comes next.
How To Build Mutual Aid Networks - from American Friends Service Committee. Go Quakers!
Guide to Creating Neighborhood Resilience for disasters (of all kinds)
States At The Core has put together this resource guide (PDF) on documenting and responding to ICE
Stand with Minnesota and the Twin Cities
They are putting themselves in the way to prevent the machinery of state violence from crushing us all.
You can support this GoFundMe for Liam Adrian Cornejo Ramos, the 5 year old who has been kidnapped and rendered to Texas. I have verified this link with humans.
Also support this GoFundMe. I have verified with humans. Safe Haven was created to help individuals released from ICE detention centers who are often discharged with no phone, ID, transportation, or resources. Many are released into freezing weather after experiencing severe trauma. We provide immediate support, warmth, transportation, and connection to resources so no one is left alone at the gate.
Tune in to The Minnesota Star Tribune. There’s lots of misinformation flying around and it’s important to support local, actual journalism.
Added @ 13:15 CT on 26 Jan 2026. Post by Letters To Stakeholders
Defend Dissent
The federal government is attempting to criminalize dissent by labeling any criticism as terrorism. This is something Indigenous and Black people know. The department charged with “managing” relations with Indigenous nations was housed in the Department of War for decades. The weaponization of state surveillance on Black communities via COINTELPRO is legendary.
Today I urge folks to remember that dissent is duty. Check out DefendDissent.com, see the pattern that connects book banning, university attacks, ICE raids, and state murder. ‘
At 8pm ET Tonight the ACLU is hosting an online training on how to observe and document ICE.
Defund Fascism
I referenced this Instagram post from The Nation magazine which focuses on ending corporate collaboration with the regime:
Imagine A Brighter Future with Knowledge of our Past
A great video to ground us:
It’s our 250th birthday in the USA, and there’s a powerful history of a life-affirming, justice-infused democracy that existed before colonization. The principles of that democracy are guiding lights for the current moment of darkness. Check out this post for more context on the role of remembering Indigenous democracy in this moment
There’s always more. Please comment with additional resources whether it’s quality explanations of what is happening or guides for what we can all do to support the birth of a better democracy. Our greatest enemy is not the state but despair and overwhelm. The greatest antidote to that is action with others.
I’m Coming to New Hampshire
I also wanna let you know I’m doing a live, IRL show Feb 7 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire at the Music Hall. I’ll be talking about the good future we can create even out of the madness of today that we’re experiencing in democracy, tech, and climate. Come through!
Transcript of Above Video
Update 13:15 CT on 26 Jan 2026: I changed the transcription service because the first version was trash.
The people in Minnesota are out here fighting for all of us, and they’re doing it with this incredible combination of bravery and restraint, power and peace. And uh, I just want to offer some extended reflections on this. I was recently on Ms Now on the primetime weekend show, and there’s never enough time.
So, uh, here’s some of what I shared and a little bit more behind it. I wanna start with, um, James Baldwin. It, you know, so much of what we are experiencing right now, we have been through before, and, uh, the, the frustrated part of me is like, if you just listen to black folks, we wouldn’t be in this situation.
If you just listen to indigenous folk, we wouldn’t be in this situation. Um, but here we are in this situation, so in some ways. Um, let’s just move forward in other ways. You know, we, let’s remember our history, and Baldwin is really good one for remembering that history. Um, what he wrote to Angela Davis in 1970 is the following.
If we know and do nothing, we are worse than the murderers hired in our name. If we know, then we must fight for your life as if it were our own, which it is. And render impassable with our bodies, the corridor to the gas chamber for if they take you in the morning, they will be coming for us that night.
Therefore, peace. It just seems to me that the people of Minnesota have, if not read this letter, they have embodied its values in so many ways. This is a rich place in our history. Home of the American Indian Movement, the George Floyd organizing that saved the boundary waters effort, which, you know, my America outdoors hat is never far from me.
And I learned that 20% of the fresh, uh, potable water in our national forest comes from boundary waters. Uh, these are the people that gave us prints. Come on, man. And, and they know, they know they are under siege by their own government and they understand the assignment. They understand nobody’s coming to rescue them and save them.
That, that the courts cannot do this. ‘cause we’ve got people who demonstrate they won’t listen to the courts. That Congress has aligned itself with this regime. It’s, it’s very vichy like. So that is a non-starter for now. In the meantime, they’re showing us how to save ourselves and they’re putting their bodies in between the passage to that.
Proverbial metaphorical chamber. They’re standing in front of armored vehicles. They are standing in front of tear gas. They’re standing in front of people who are assaulting an idea and assaulting human beings. And, and you know, I said this on air, but it just, it bears repeating like, immigration law enforcement doesn’t look like tackling.
Elderly people and targeting daycare centers, Medicaid fraud investigation and countermeasures, uh, does not look like murdering a civilian a week. So there is a, there is a great and grotesque lie being foisted upon us. We’ve seen the videos of these murders and the first move is called somebody a terrorist, call him a criminal, call him a suspect.
We know this song, black people have starred in this movie for a very long time. So welcome Arrest of America. Let’s not keep doing this, let’s not keep doing this. Um, there is a, an effort of movement, uh, website all in one is called defend dissent.com. Encourage you to visit it and check it out. There’s, um.
This idea that we are being pushed to believe that dissent is a crime, it is not, and a democracy. Dissent is our duty. So again, just thanks to the people of Minnesota, you get this, you understand what is happening in terms of where we go. I want to elaborate on that a little bit more. Um, I think there’s kind of concentric circles of care and action.
The first is local. The neighborhood is like the, the smallest unit of democracy, actually, I think the individual really is. And we did a whole episode of how to citizen, on how to citizen within your own self, how to practice democracy like in your body. Uh, and then from there, you know, in your, your household, in your building, in your block, in your hood.
So check out the episodes in particular we do with Adrian Marie Brown. Uh, amazing one. Dr. Sam Rader, another really, really good one. And what we’re seeing work on the ground is very local networks of communication, uh, consideration and care. And, and parents are like defending their schools and, and people are, are looking out for their neighbors in a very, very literal sense.
And, and the government is, it’s killing white people. That’s, that’s a very interesting turn of events. I expect, I expect the jack booted thugs to shoot us. I white moms wasn’t in my bingo card. And whiteness is not a protection, it’s not a universal shield, especially when those white people are standing with black and brown people.
Whiteness can be revoked like citizenship. So, uh, appreciation again to Minnesota and for the rest of us, let’s stand with them. Let’s not let their sacrifices be in vain. Let’s not let their model and their playbook go unfulfilled. They are showing us a way of peace and a way of power. Now it’s on, it’s up to us.
It’s up to us to do it. ‘cause this machine, this extractive, colonial, racist, sexist, stupid, wasteful machine is coming for more of us. It is coming for more of us. And that pushed me to the next level here of what, what we’re supposed to be doing. Now, let’s, uh, break the tie between the corporations and, and collaboration with these, uh, extraordinarily dangerous people.
They require the fuel of capital to pursue their dark dreams. We must sever that connection as best we can. Uh, it’s worked with Avelo Airlines. They’re no longer doing these deportation flights. It’s worked with the Minneapolis Hilton. There are other examples that I am not aware of. I’d love to hear, uh, what you are aware of in terms of victories from local businesses refusing to to com to to be complicit, uh, to support this violent fascist attack on the people.
That’s got nothing to do with immigration enforcement or fraud reduction. Also fraud reduction. Really, the, the grifter in chief, $1.4 billion. Come on, man. Like we we’re not stupid. We be thinking. So next, let’s, let’s slow down this connection to corporations and to business and, and then with leaders. I wanna see leaders follow business leaders.
Uh, first off, no more White House screenings of propaganda, fluff films on a day of state sanctioned terrorism. Tim Cook, the fuck are you doing? Like I’ve, these people are living in a bubble and it’s dangerous for us all, and it’s time to wake up. It’s time to wake up. You cannot do that anymore, and we must have a higher standard.
I, I’m not waiting for folks to behave better, but I’m watching and I hope you are too, and we must make our decisions accordingly. We must use that as information to choose where we put our attention and our time, and our loyalty and our money. Enough of that, miss me with that. Cultural leaders keep stepping up the NBA.
Players association did something in that regard. Today with a a statement, political leaders catch up, take a risk, get creative, encourage people to connect with each other, and build information networks and supply networks and resiliency networks. It is not enough to ask us to wait for a chance to vote.
It is not enough. To submit bills that will not be heard or taken seriously. We must slow this machine down. We must build parallel and new and different and better systems. We must acknowledge that something heinous and horrible is coming to an end and is dying, and we must accelerate the birth of what replaces it and make sure it is our vision and our imagination powering it, and not the techno fascists and, and fricking Jared Kushner and whatever.
So yes, that’s some of what comes next. Would love your ideas. Uh, closing thoughts. 250 years ago, some rebels stood up against an empire that was besieging our cities and oppressing people, and, uh, behaving in tyrannical fashion. And the government today of these United States is modeling itself more. On that tyrannical empire, then on, uh, a government by of, and for the people and, and the constitution and, and the values for which it stands.
So that’s information and it’s opportunity. We are in this refounding reset moment, the story we are gonna be living in. And these folks are making it very clear, very clear the story they’re pushing, which is like. Deeper colonization, deeper destruction, deeper racism, deeper kleptocracy and corruption, and flagrant theft.
And I come back to, to the whiteness thing. It’s not a shield, it’s not a universal defense. And they here to take your money and they are willing to take your life. So listen and learn and let’s all of us move together and let’s find our own version of local networks. Let’s find our economic power. Let it let us lead by example and bring formal leaders along with us and share the lessons.
Chicago’s got lessons for us. Los Angeles has lessons for Portland and DC and so many places from this current era have lessons, but also from the Black Lives Matter movement. From people standing for justice in Palestine for civil rights and women’s rights. Like we have been through versions of this before.
This is not a drill. This is not a movie. This is America. But it doesn’t have to be I and these Minnesotans. I’m telling you, man, I spent, I’ve spent time there. I’ve, I’ve made beautiful shows there with America Outdoors. I know amazing people there and they know. Ice, like frozen water, like these are, these people are basically from like the film Frozen.
They are. They are that north, they’re practically Canadian, but without the healthcare and the decent national leadership, which I envy in this moment, but
what they say about ice in the Minnesota is very basic thing. That’s a basic and beautiful thing. They, they just say, it’ll melt. It’ll melt. I remember going there and complaining and like, why don’t y’all, you know, do clean up the streets a little bit? And they were just like, bro, it’ll melt. And that, that’s a, that’s a kind of a long view perspective, and it’s absolutely true.
To quote Lauren Hill after winter must come spring, must come spring the earth. Rotates and we move seasons. We go around that big sun and we channel that light and that heat for a better tomorrow. I don’t know how long this winter is gonna last. A lot of folks been warned about this for a long time, myself included, for a reasonable amount of time.
And here we are and it’s cold. And then Minnesotans are showing us how to literally be in the cold. But metaphorically, we are in the winter. And after that must come spring. So let us also prepare for the spring. Let us have our ideas, our networks, our communities, our resources, better organized to create a country worthy of all the people, liberty and justice for all the people.
We really, we gotta do that. We got to do that. And this is, this is our big chance. This is one of many that we have been given, but this is the one we’re in right now. So there’s always more to be said on this. I encourage you to check out some of my other posts, especially my review of the American Revolution film series, uh, efforts that I’m a part of around, uh, resurfacing, indigenous democracy and some principles from that world.
That are available to us and helpful to us and being demonstrated right now in some of these resilient and resistant moments. And please share what’s working for you in your, in yourself, in your community, uh, and beyond. As we need each other, we are being shown without a shadow of a doubt that we are gonna have to refashion this society.
For all of us, and I’m down to help and amplify and connect and crack stupid jokes along the way with you. I’m Baratunde Thurston, by the way. Um, this is my substack. I don’t know where else I might put this, but you know, baratunde substack.com, call it speakeasy. And uh, I’ll see you soon. We got each other.
Peace.
The TV Parts
Here’s the first of the two segments I joined on MS NOW’s Primetime Weekend show Sunday Night Jan 25, 2026. In this one, Sarah Longwell from The Bulwark and I talk about the split in the Second Amendment community over the murder of Alex Pretti.
And here’s the second segment where I bring in brother Baldwin.
Now Let’s Laugh
That’s it for now.
Love you.
