6/17/2025's Action Guide

Democrats Want to Defeat Republicans and Republicans Want Democrats Dead

Welcome!

Cheers to those of you who joined a protest, donated to a bail fund, checked in on a friend, or whatever you did this past week to show solidarity and take action against authoritarianism. This work is not without risk. It is our opinion that inaction only delays and magnifies risk. You cannot make yourself small enough to escape the fist of fascism. We’re not asking you to join the black bloc, but instead to find some way to do what you can with what you have, wherever you are.

As we mentioned in our 4/22/2025 guide, 3.5% protest participation is not magic. No Kings Day had a great turnout. You wouldn’t know it from watching the main media sites, but millions of Americans from big cities to small towns got out there. They made signs, made speeches, made friends, and most importantly they united with their fellow citizens against the erosion of democracy.

Personally, I have to hold back my gut reaction to cringe when people say the No Kings Day protest is their first protest. I look at them and think, hmmm, Vietnam wasn’t enough for you? Iraq? You decided to stay home for BLM? However, as we saw floating online recently, being annoyed is the price you pay for community. To me, the Diaper Don, Orange Cheeto, “if Kamala won we’d be at brunch”, “even the introverts are here” rhetoric is cringe. But you know what? I am not the arbiter of what makes for effective protest signs. I am not the main audience. If a funny sign, cute pets, memes, or seeing centrist people engage makes people resist authoritarian drift, I can just say nothing. I can let people have their silly signs. I can save my quips for the group chat. I don’t need to go into the comments and criticize people for taking action. It seems like it’s the people that criticize the most that do the least. “That’s not the way I would have done it”--then motherfucker, you do it! You don’t want police at your protest? Great, you figure out a way to organize thousands of people. We need all of us to do something, even if imperfect.

We don’t RSVP to protests. However, lots of people wouldn’t show up if they didn’t get the reminder text or email, if they didn’t feel like they already had a foot in the door or a friendly face to see. It’s not the radical left (that’s us, the radical left) that need convincing. These gateways aren’t for us. But people need a first step. They don’t go from RBG and Kamala merch to DSA members overnight. We must keep up the momentum and let people into the movement.

Topic #1: Democrats Want to Defeat Republicans and Republicans Want Democrats Dead

In the early hours of Saturday morning before the No Kings protests, Vance Boelter assassinated Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman (DFL) and her husband. This was the fourth stop on his killing spree, as he had attempted to murder State Senator John Hoffman (DFL) and his wife earlier in the night and had a hitlist with over 45 elected officials (including Governor Tim Walz and Rep. Ilhan Omar) in his abandoned police cruiser.

This is indicative of a terrifying trend occurring in the United States. Since 9/11, far-right attackers have been responsible for the majority of domestic terrorism incidents. A GAO report (post-2001) found 73% of deadly extremist episodes stemmed from far-right ideologies.

With the rise of protests against ICE raids, right wingers have adopted the rhetoric of calling them “riots.” However, only around 6% of left-wing protests experienced spikes in vandalism or looting, whereas right-wing demonstrations saw violence in about 14% of cases. The left fights for human rights, to keep families from being brutally ripped apart, to uphold due process, and to bring soup to their family, whereas the right call for Mike Pence to be hung.

When MAGA flags are being flown in tandem with Confederate flags, or when the Ku Klux Klan endorses MAGA, you would think that’d be enough for Trump supporters to rethink their position. It’s not. Discrimination and denying equal human rights for all is not a deal breaker for them.

The Uprising Tide is a group of PEOPLE (not bots) that stared down another Trump presidential term and didn’t want to repeat the inaction, the hopelessness, and the attention sink of the first term. This time, buoyed by billionaires and right-wing ghouls, we expected that Trump and his toadies would enrich themselves, modeling themselves after dictators and authoritarians and attempt to usher in a libertarian nightmare.

Many of us here at The Uprising Tide grew up among right-wing evangelicals. Sexist, racist homophobes who DO NOT believe all humans are created equal (e.g. wives must submit to their husbands re: Ephesians 5:22-24, The Curse of Ham, Sodom and Gomorrah), and believe they are waging a spiritual war against Satan. These hateful impulses justified through religion lead to horrific acts of domestic terrorism. To them, there is no nuance, no good people on both sides, no inherent hypocrisy in their actions (thou shalt not kill). If they get a thought or feeling it is straight from the holy ghost, not from Fox News or Breitbart or OAN, or Focus on the Family. Religious and MAGA cults have fused, and right now we don’t have the time to deprogram these people one by one. You cannot reason with people who believe their God demands your subjugation (paradox of tolerance). You can only outnumber them. Out-organize them. Outlast them. We do not need to match their hate but we must match their conviction. So we won’t waste time begging for consensus from those who think our existence offends God. We will build community with the willing, and defend our people from the rest.

What You Can Do:

• VOTE: If you are eligible in Minnesota, stay tuned for a special election to replace House Speaker Melissa Hortman. It is imperative you get out there and vote. Don’t let these cowards make you live in fear.

• Join the local chapter of a humanitarian, social justice, or political organization. Find a list of suggested organizations in our 3/23/2025 Action Guide.

I don’t know if we can say it better than Patrick O'Neill’s OpEd piece at The Burner:

If you were one of the millions of people who took part in a march this weekend, you should be proud for taking the first step toward openly displaying your disgust and awakening your inner activist. In our hyper-individualist capitalist American culture we’ve been conditioned to be obedient yet disengaged members of society, so this is not a natural state for many of us.

If you are passionate about immigrant rights, join a local organization that is focused on this. If you are passionate about labor rights, join a picket line, if it's housing that has got you most fired up, join a tenants rights union. As a member of the Seattle Democratic Socialists of America I can tell you that in an era of chaos and confusion, nothing has brought me more sanity than solidarity. If you want to engage with the work that needs to be done to reverse centuries of rot within the political systems that govern our lives, you must truly engage with those systems. I don’t know when the liberals will throw their next big march down Pike Street, but I want to encourage you to find an activist home between now and then, find your comrades, find your mission. In solidarity, forever.

Topic #2: Juneteenth and the United States History of Class Warfare

This Thursday we will honor June 19, 1865, or “Juneteenth,” the day that commemorates the end of slavery in the United States, or America’s 2nd Independence Day. 160 years ago, wealthy, white Americans owned, exploited, abused, and sold human beings.

After the Emancipation Proclamation went into effect in 1863, Lynch Law in the South lasted until 1968. In that time, almost 5,000 documented lynchings occurred. The roots of the Jim Crow era began the same years as the Emancipation Proclamation, with state laws being enacted for African American voter restrictions and limits on previous enslaved people’s work compensation. These types of restrictions continued until the Civil Rights Movement when leaders MLK, Malcolm X, Ida B. Wells, and Ella Baker directed a light on the injustice of the “separate yet equal” rhetoric. We believe that American democracy did not truly occur until the 1960s, after the passage of Civil Rights legislation.

Racial prejudice in the United States still continues today; black people are 2.8x more likely to be killed by police than white people. Black people are horrifically murdered by police and vigilante civilians every year (George Floyd, Ryan Gainer, Treyvon Martin, Philando Castile, Daunte Wright, Breonna Taylor) and continue to face injustice and discrimination.

Learn More:

• Read: Southern Horrors and Other Writings: The Anti-Lynching Campaign of Ida B. Wells, 1892-1900

• Read: The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow, Richard Wormser

• Read: Segregated America, Smithsonian Institute

• Read: Jim Crow Laws, National Park Service

What You Can Do:

• Educate yourself—don’t rely on others to teach you. Read works by Black authors. Engage with Black artists. Take the initiative to learn about Black history.

• Donate to or volunteer for organizations such as the NAACP, Black Outside, Inc., Miss Juneteenth USA, and Black Girls Code.

• Support Black-owned businesses.

• Visit a Black history museum.

• Attend Juneteenth events in your community.

Closing Thoughts

Continue to visit 5 Calls and Resist Bot. The horrendous budget bill is not law yet and every day there are new injustices where you should make your voice heard. Don’t let Republicans drag us into another war. Don’t let Democrats do nothing but make speeches until after the mid-terms.