“The Way is Already” – a protest song from One Day, an EP by my band, The Brooklyn Players Reading Society

I am absolutely thrilled over the facts that we have a new president and a more progressive Senate. I loved watching Kamala Harris’s historical inauguration and Amanda Gorman’s powerful performance. I celebrated the win in Georgia and gleefully toasted a glass to Stacey Abrams. And damn, it felt good.

But y’all, as much as we want him to be, Joe Biden is not our savior. He’s obviously an improvement, but if his track record as an Establishment Democrat means anything, he’s not going to end inhumane deportations, secure reproductive rights, protect transpeople, overhaul our justice system, nor begin the long overdue process of dismantling white supremacy – unless we make him.

It’s on us to hold our new president and Congresspeople accountable. Remember, they work for us. It’s also on us, especially those of us who are white, to work on ourselves, on recognizing and undoing our biases and on committing to a life of actively being antiracist.

But guess what? We don’t have to do this work alone. In fact, we can’t do it alone. It’s time to start collaborating, to come together and organize, act up, disrupt. And what a nice thing it is to be able to use our joy as motivation to keep up the work!

Not sure how to get started? Here’s a list of suggestions for you:

• Follow ResistBot to stay informed of easy actions that only require a few minutes of your time.
• Make a donation to and/or volunteer for a social justice organization that focuses on supporting immigrants and BIPOC (see a short list below).
• Organize your own protest – if 8-year-old Nolan Davis can, you can, too!
• Use this tool to find out what district you live in and who represents you so that you can start making calls and sending tweets.
• Join the Working Families Party, “the party of the multiracial working class, fighting for a nation that cares for all of us,” to learn ways to organize with like-minded folk to impact policy change and more.
• Make the choice every day to be an antiracist (see list below for additional resources).
• Visit this great “Take-Action” site from RAICES to see other ways to make an impact, from simple acts like signing petitions all the way through guidebooks on organizing your own events.
• Listen to our song “The Way is Already” to get amped up and ready to act.

Photo: Martin Luther King Jr. quote on a Pride Flag, available for sale by hburrell