The following is a copy-paste "Resistance Declaration" by Thomas J. Gray on Facebook:
“I take ownership of most,
if not all, ideals listed here...I have left the piece in its entirety (aside
from minor grammatical and format edits, lol) so
all may appreciate it as they discern to be fit:
“Republicans have been whining about the massive protests against the new President. We liberals are being told that we have no right to criticize, since Democrats are just as bad as Republicans. Conservatives say we should just ‘work together’ to fight the problems of this country. Not everybody agrees with this. This is where I stand. Period. I make no apologies to any or all of my FB friends for this. I know some are tired of political postings and rants. FB is (until it gets taken away) a vehicle to express our outrage at how far our country has currently fallen on the humanitarian scale.
“To me, FB is a useful vehicle for my passion and activism. The fevered Ego currently occupying our White House, his power hungry cronies taking positions of authority in his Cabinet and administration, and the majority of Republicans in Congress are a real and active threat to me, my way of life, and all the people I love. And unless you are worth billions of dollars, they are a threat to you and your life, too. So I will Resist and I will be part of the resistance and be proud of it. If you can join in or hang with it, fine. I refuse to ‘play nice’ in the face of what these people are doing. Our country's well-being demands that we stand and resist. Some people (Republicans and Democrats) are saying that we should give #45 a chance, that we should ‘work together’ with him because he won the election and he is ‘everyone's president.’ This is my response:
•I will not say #45's name.
•I will not forget how badly he and so many others treated former President Barack Obama for eight years.
•I will not "work together" to privatize Medicare and cut Social Security and Medicaid.
•I will not "work together" to build a wall.
•I will not "work together" to persecute Muslims.
•I will not "work together" to shut out refugees from countries where we destabilized their governments so that we could [maintain] our oligarchy.
•I will not "work together" to lower taxes on the 1%.
•I will not "work together" to increase taxes on the middle class and poor.
•I will not "work together" to help #45 use the Presidency to line his pockets and those of his cronies.
•I will not "work together" to weaken and demolish environmental protection.
•I will not "work together" to sell American lands, especially National Parks, to companies which then despoil those lands.
•I will not "work together" to enable the killing in any way of whole species of animals just because they are predators, or inconvenient for a few, or because some people want to get their thrills killing them.
•I will not "work together" to remove civil rights from anyone.
•I will not "work together" to waste trillions of dollars on our military when we already have the strongest in the world.
•I will not "work together" to alienate countries that have been our allies for as long as I have been alive.
•I will not "work together" to slash funding for education or to dismantle public education for all.
•I will not "work together" to take basic assistance from people who are at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder.
•I will not "work together" to allow torture and "black op" prison sites.
•I will not "work together" to "take their oil."
•I will not "work together" to get rid of common sense regulations on guns.
•I will not "work together" to eliminate the minimum wage.
•I will not "work together" to support so-called "Right To Work" laws or undermine, weaken or destroy unions in any way.
•I will not "work together" to suppress scientific research, be it on climate change, fracking, or any other issue where a majority of scientists agree that #45 and his supporters are wrong about the facts.
•I will not "work together" to criminalize abortion, jail women for having abortions, or restrict health care for women.
•I will not "work together" to increase the number of nations that have nuclear weapons.
•I will not "work together" to put even more "big money" into politics.
•I will not "work together" to violate the Geneva Convention.
•I will not "work together" to give the Ku Klux Klan, the Nazi Party, and white supremacists a seat at the table, or to normalize their hatred.
•I will not "work together" to deny health care to people who need it.
•I will not "work together" to increase the profits of insurance companies.
•I will not "work together" to deny medical coverage to people on the basis of an alleged or actual "pre-existing condition."
•I will not "work together" to increase voter suppression.
•I
will not "work together" to eliminate or destroy public employees’
defined-benefit pensions.
•I will not "work together" to normalize tyranny.
I will not “work together” to eliminate or reduce ethical oversight at any level of government.
•I will not "work together" with anyone who is, or admires, tyrants and dictators.
•I will not "work together" with #45 or anyone who supports him, because I will not allow one man to feed upon the fears of the populace, blaming minorities for their condition or their inability to thrive. ~This is the line, and I am drawing it.~
•I will stand for honesty, love, and respect for all living beings.
•I will use my voice and my hands to reach out to the uninformed and to anyone who will LISTEN for what's really so dangerous about #45, his friends and the Big Lie they spin to the world: That "winning," "being great again," "rich," or even "beautiful" is anything more than nothing...when others are sacrificed to glorify its existence.
•I will not "work together" to normalize tyranny.
I will not “work together” to eliminate or reduce ethical oversight at any level of government.
•I will not "work together" with anyone who is, or admires, tyrants and dictators.
•I will not "work together" with #45 or anyone who supports him, because I will not allow one man to feed upon the fears of the populace, blaming minorities for their condition or their inability to thrive. ~This is the line, and I am drawing it.~
•I will stand for honesty, love, and respect for all living beings.
•I will use my voice and my hands to reach out to the uninformed and to anyone who will LISTEN for what's really so dangerous about #45, his friends and the Big Lie they spin to the world: That "winning," "being great again," "rich," or even "beautiful" is anything more than nothing...when others are sacrificed to glorify its existence.
"PS: If you agree, please copy and re-post (we understand this results in larger numbers of people seeing a post), and if you can, sign your name below ours. Also, if we have left anything out, feel free to add it to this list.
"Consider this an opportunity to make a declaration of commitment in becoming part of The Resistance."
Signed:
Patricia Rollins Trosclair
Andrea Dora Zysk
George Georgakis
John Christopher
John Bowles
Patrick St.Louis
Carla Patrick
Darnell Bender
Vickie Davis
JMichael Carter
Janice Frazier-Scott
Rev. ELaura James Reid
Jeanette Bouknight
Rev. Dollie Howell Pankey
Gerald Butler
Carolyn McDougle
Vaughn Chatman
Adrienne Brown
Gary Trousdale
Steven E GordonIsis Nocturne
Debi Murray
Maureen O. Betita
Mona Enderli
Fernie James Tamblin
Myrna Dodgion
Alan Locklear
Tom Wilmore
Jackie Evans
Donna Endres
Lora Fountain
Roberta Gregory
Heather A Mayhew
Stevo Wehr
Nathan Stivers
Jen RaLee
Joan Holden
Leigh Lutz
Deborah Kirkpatrick
Linda Levy
Tom Rue
Nancy Hoffmann-Allison
Beejay McCabe
Michael James Myers
Edward T. Spire
Rupert Chapman
Dawn R. Dunbar
Robin Wilson
Monique Boutot
Laura Brown
Susan Aptaker
Steve Katz
Bonnie Wolk
Risa Guttman-Kornwitz
Angela Gora
Butch Norman
Sharon Tolman
Sue Zislis
Maurice Hirsch
Satch Dobrey
Jim Krapf
Don Starwalt
Deb Johansen
Daniel Anderson
Bob Gill
Susan Kaveny
Teresa Kennedy
"Aurora" Ellen Harris
Catherine Martinez
Ken Previti
Glen
Brown
Glen:
ReplyDeleteI am the author of this piece, which Patricia Rollins Trosclair plagiarized by removing my name and signing it as though she had written it. I wrote and posted it on my FB page on Jan. 28; she subsequently saw it, added some poorly written sentences, and published it as though it was hers. It is not. Here is my original:
Some people are saying that we should give Donald Trump a chance, that we should "work together" with him because he won the election and "he is everyone's president." This is my response:
I will not "work together" to build a wall.
I will not "work together" to persecute Muslims.
I will not "work together" to shut out refugees from countries where we destabilized their governments, no matter how bad they might have been, so that we could have something more agreeable to our Oligarchy.
I will not "work together" to lower taxes on the 1%.
I will not "work together" to increase taxes on the middle class and poor.
I will not "work together" to help him line the pockets of himself and his cronies.
I will not "work together" to weaken (or demolish) environmental protection.
I will not "work together" to sell American lands to companies which then despoil those lands.
I will not "work together" to remove civil rights from anyone.
I will not "work together" to waste trillions more on our military when we already have the strongest in the world.
I will not "work together" to alienate countries that have been our allies for as long as I have been alive.
I will not "work together" to slash funding for education.
I will not "work together" to increase the immunity the police already have when they kill people of color (or anyone!) who is unarmed and does not pose any real threat.
I will not "work together" to take basic assistance from people who are at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder.
I will not "work together" to allow torture and "black ops" prison sites.
I will not "work together" to "take their oil."
I will not "work together" to get rid of common sense regulations on guns.
I will not "work together" to eliminate the minimum wage.
I will not "work together" to suppress scientific research, be it on climate change, fracking, or any other issue where a majority of scientists agree that Trump and his supporters are wrong on the facts.
I will not "work together" to criminalize abortion or restrict health care for women.
I will not "work together" to increase the amount of nations that have nuclear weapons.
I will not "work together" to put even more "big money" into politics.
I will not "work together" to violate the Geneva Convention.
I will not "work together" to give the Ku Klux Klan and white supremacists a seat at the table, or to normalize their hatred.
I will not "work together" to deny health care to people who need it.
I will not "work together" to increase the profits of the insurance companies.
I will not "work together" to deny medical coverage to people on the basis of an alleged "pre-existing condition."
I will not "work together" to increase voter suppression.
I will not "work together" to normalize tyranny.
I will not "work together" with anyone who is, or admires, tyrants and dictators.
I will not "work together" with Donald Trump or anyone who supports him, as I view him as an enemy of this nation and the principles on which it was founded.
Signed,
Thomas J. Gray
PS: If you agree, please copy and re-post (I understand that results in larger numbers of people seeing a post), or share -- and if you can, sign your name below mine. Also, if I have left anything out, feel free to add it to this list.
This is the first step in becoming part of The Resistance.
https://www.facebook.com/thomas.j.gray.5
Through just 15 minutes googling I am happy to have found the rightful author of such a beautifully written sentiment to which I completely agree! Thank you Thomas J. Gray
DeletePatricia Rollins Trosclair, I am calling you out for your plagiarism of my essay, "I will not 'work together.'". If anyone else reading it liked my post and disapproves of plagiarism, please re-post it and sign your name below mine so that 1) people will see the original post, and 2) Patricia Rollins Trosclair will learn that it's not nice to steal someone else's writings and then try to pass that off as their own.
ReplyDelete"...How I long now, on behalf of America, for Beckett’s aridity, for Melville’s gloom, for Stéphane’s desire to bear witness, for a sobriety of affect that matches the enormity of the crime. How are we to live in this? How are we to inhabit the principle behind the word “resistance” when the meaning of the word itself has changed so much?
ReplyDelete"Refuse a resistance excised of courage? Refuse the conventional arena and take the fight elsewhere? Refuse to eat with the enemy, refuse to feed the enemy? Refuse to participate in the logic of the crisis, refuse to be reactive to its provocations? Refuse to forget last year’s offenses and last month’s and last week’s? Refuse the news cycle, refuse commentary? Refuse to place newsworthiness above human solidarity? Refuse to be intimidated by pragmatism? Refuse to be judged by cynics? Refuse to be too easily consoled? Refuse to admire mere political survival? Refuse to accept the calculation of the lesser evil? Refuse nostalgia? Refuse the binary of the terrible past and the atrocious present? Refuse to ignore the plight of the imprisoned, the tortured and the deported? Refuse to be mesmerized by shows of power? Refuse the mob? Refuse to play, refuse decorum, refuse accusation, refuse distraction, which is a tolerance of death-dealing by another name? And when told you can’t refuse, refuse that, too?"- Teju Cole