Tonight, at 9 PM, President Trump will deliver his first State of the Union address to the American people. Many, like Representative John Lewis and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, won’t be in attendance; but instead leaving their absence as a protest against Trump and his unAmerican Administration and their policies.
It is expected that he will tout the passage of the GOP Tax Plan– a tax plan that unilaterally cut taxes for the wealthiest of the wealthy, removed tax deductions for students on tuition interest, and lowered corporate tax rates by nearly a third. Corporations were screaming that the current tax rate was stifling their growth and their ability to adequately pay their employees while simultaneously raking in record profits. Republicans in Congress shouted the virtues of ‘trickle down economics’ and how the lowered corporate tax rate would grow jobs and raise wages. Yet, not even a week after the bill was signed into law, corporation after corporation announced overnight layoffs. Hundreds of thousands were left unemployed.
Yesterday, Trump announced that he wouldn’t enforce sanctions against Russia; sanctions that an overwhelming, bi-partisan majority of US Representatives and US Senators voted in favor of. On the same day, Trump fired the Deputy Director of the FBI, Andrew McCabe. All of this after Special Council, Robert Mueller, subpoenaed former White House Chief Strategist, Steve Bannon regarding matters of Russia’s interference in the 2016 Election.
Many are worried as they watch the heads of each department of government, from the EPA to HUD, dismantle the very workings of the organization.
Yet in this these dark times, what we can offer each other are the beacons of hope from our resistance. That is our display of patriotism. Though we are overwhelmed by the 24-hour news cycle announcing the latest news of despair, environmental collapse, corporate greed, inhumane treatment, and murder; we can find inspiration in each other. After all, we didn’t stand alone as we rallied at the Women’s March, at the March for Science, when we protested the repeal of net neutrality, or stood in solidarity shouting that “black lives matter!” This is America and may we never forget it.
Ruth Taylor Read, the founder and Chair of Women Matter Northeast Tennessee, spoke at the Women’s March 2.0 Tri-Cities to remind everyone why we were marching and rallying across the nation and across the world.
“One year ago, women across America, black women, Native women, poor women, immigrant women, disabled women, Muslim women, lesbian queer and trans women came together at the conclusion of one of the most divisive elections in American history, an election that ended with the presidency of a man who has openly, on many occasions, made comments denigrating women, insulting people of color, mimicking the disabled, and dismissing us all as nothing more than inconsequential.”
We are not inconsequential. Trump’s mistake was that he underestimated our level of patriotism and our commitment to each other and the values we hold to be true rooted firmly in the United States Constitution. A document that begins with the words: “We, the people.” It is “We” who are America and not the person who sits in the Oval Office. “We” will take back our country and continuously strive for a more perfect union. “We” will prevail.
“This coming America must be for our daughters as well as our sons, for those who were insulted, for those who were mimicked, for those made unwelcome, and it will be a more secure and prosperous nation for the justice it has given to all its citizens.” ~ Ruth Taylor Read
