Democracy Out Loud 415: Facing the storm

President Jimmy Carter’s memorial service was moving and powerful. You can watch it at this link if you missed it. It was a reminder to us of what is possible, for our country and for one human life.

Meanwhile, the fires in California have raged on, and the terror and heartbreak of this demonstration of the reality of climate collapse have been exacerbated by Trump’s cruel and unhinged response. While seeing what is possible for a human being and a nation, we are simultaneously reminded of what we are now facing.

Here in North Carolina, Jefferson Griffin’s challenge to the Alison Riggs win in a close election is a huge constitutional crisis that rages on as well. The federal court has, incredibly, sent it to the NC Supreme Court so that hyper-partisan judges can decide on their own membership now that they don’t like who the voters have chosen. Marc Elias of Democracy Docket said in response to Griffin’s challenge, “The NC Republican Party is every bit as lawless as the mob that stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021, they are just doing it in business suits and doing it with legal briefs….It is an effort to undo the results of a free and fair election.”

You can check and see if you are on the list of 60,000 voters that Griffin wants to disenfranchise.

(below, the rally in Raleigh for Alison Riggs last weekend by the NC Democratic Party; photo by Jenny Warburg, used by permission)

Everyone who cares about democracy in our country needs to be alert to what is happening here. “When North Carolina’s state Supreme Court is blocking certification of a state Supreme Court election, the house is on fire,” said Ben Wikler, candidate for Chair of the Democratic National Committee. The legacy media seems to be ignoring this story; Ms. Magazine covered it well, as did the Associated Press, Common Dreams, Politics NC, Popular Information, TruthOut, and of course NC Newsline.

Sign up at this link for a virtual briefing about this situation by the NC Democratic Party on Sunday, January 12, from 7 to 8 pm. Sign up to volunteer and stay informed with ACLU. Consider showing up on the front steps of the NC Supreme Court (2 E Morgan St) on Tuesday, January 14 from 6 am to 11 pm to participate in the reading of all 60,000 names of people who the NC GOP wants to silence. This will be live-streamed on YouTube on this link.

The most important thing to do this week on the federal level is to research Trump’s cabinet nominations, which are all unimaginably bad, and call your Senators. None are qualified for these positions, and all can be seen as frankly dangerous to the health and national security of our country. Check out: Kristi Noem, Homeland Security Secretary, Tulsi Gabbard, Director of National Intelligence, Mehmet Oz, Director of Medicare and Medicaid Services, Matt Whitaker, NATO Ambassador, and (most terrifying of all, and first up), Pete Hegseth, Defense Secretary.

You can find a list of all your elected representatives, national, state and local, at this link.

This would be a good time to clear our inboxes and curate our news. The Media and Democracy Project has compiled lists of independent media; here’s the one for North Carolina. Democracy Out Loud is in the process of developing and curating a list of alternative news sources; you can view it and add to it at this link.

SURJ (Showing Up For Racial Justice) is sponsoring a conversation with Angela Davis geared toward antiracist white people with on Thursday January 16 from 8 to 9 pm. Dr. Davis will draw lessons from past freedom struggles into today and share her assessment of what social movements must be doing under our current political circumstances. You can register at this link.

Over 1,000 of us attended the SURJ national training call this week, “The January 6th Mandate: organizing white people for justice.” We heard from SURJ leaders about white people’s strategic contributions to this moment and historic and modern examples of how ordinary people have resisted authoritarian regimes. Here’s the recording from the call.

There will be a People’s March in DC and other cities including Raleigh on Saturday January 18. You can get more information at this link.

As you know, Inauguration Day and Martin Luther King Jr. Day are both Monday January 20. Here are some suggestions about how to spend the day. On Monday there will be a celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr at John Chavis Memorial Park in Raleigh from 1-3 pm, an evening of remembrance at the Plant in Pittsboro from 6:00 to 7:30 pm. In Durham, meet at Mutual Tower (411 West Chapel Hill St) at 10 am to join the annual march with St Phillips Episcopal Church. From 10:30 to noon also in Durham, meet in Durham Central Park for “Hope is a Song,” a community gathering celebrating Black and LBGTQIA+ elders and dreaming together for a better future.

At 7 pm on Monday January 20, Bishop William Barber is leading a Moral Mass Meeting, “For Such A Time as This,” in Memphis TN which will be live-streamed on the Repairers of the Breach website.

The People’s March is happening in Washington DC on January 18 and various locations including Raleigh. You can get more information at this link.

I highly recommend the Working Families Party mass calls; the next two are Tuesday January 14 and Thursday January 23, both at 8 pm. You can register at this link.

A professor at Duke University has been a leader in the anti-trans movement. You can find out more and learn how to resist at this link.

The Global Nonviolent Action Database is an important resource; it was developed by George Lakey, whose wisdom and experience are truly important now. Gann sent an email from him with articles we might want to read right now.

See also, “10 Ways to be prepared and grounded now that Trump has won” in Waging Nonviolence.

Ruth Ben-Ghiat is a scholar of authoritarianism and she is incredibly generous with her wisdom and time. She hosts a zoom every Friday, which is excellent, and has a Substack account called Lucid.

Everyone is welcome to join us this Tuesday January 14 and every Tuesday from 11:30 am to 12:30 pm (“doors open” around 11:15 am) on zoom. Everyone is also welcome every Thursday at 10 am for our 7 Homecomings guided meditation. If you need the zoom link, email Jewel at DemocracyOutLoud@gmail.com.

I will stop here before my head explodes (maybe yours too). So much gratitude to you for reading this, for being together, hoping for the best, ready for whatever happens, knowing that we are going to be fighting and learning and expanding together, whatever comes.

love, Karen

“We are not simply to bandage the wounds of the victims beneath the wheels of injustice. We are to drive a spoke into the wheel itself.” -Dietrich Bonhoeffer

People in our own country have faced worse things than 2025. North Carolina 1984, from the Gladstone Collection of African American Photographs:

"William Headley, a contraband from a plantation near Raleigh N.C. arrived at Newberne [i.e. New Bern] N.C. on the 20th May 1864 having been six weeks on the road, neither sleeping nor eating in a house during the time. Two others left with him but were caught by the slave holders’ Blood Hounds and either killed or taken back. He was weak and nearly famished when he arrived. His clothes were of many colors and qualities. His cloak consisted of an old cotton grain bag, slit open on one side and raveled which gives the appearance of rich fringe. He appeared perfectly happy and satisfied upon reaching the Union lines and is now one of the best hands working on Fort Chase N.C. June 11, 1864."

Freedom.

It is highly unlikely that this country could have won the civil war against the Confederacy without the help of Harriet Tubman and thousands of escaped and freed slaves.

I’m inspired by “I am willing” by Holly Near, courtesy of Peace Hill, by Cascade UU Fellowship, shared at the end of “Seasons Within” at Peace Hill. Music is important.