Mrs. Geist? I Want to Help.

On Tuesday morning, I figured I’d spend Wednesday watching videos of little girls and very old ladies learning that Hillary won and happy-crying. Instead, I spent most of yesterday on my couch, heaving body-wracking sobs of anger and sorrow and frustration at a country that elected a man who’s gleefully embraced racist, misogynist, xenophobic, homophobic, ableist, Islamaphobic (and probably some other terrible -isms or -phobics I’m forgetting) policies. I’m a second-generation American on both sides of my family. I was raised to love this country, to believe in its inherent goodness. And certainly, a lot has happened in my lifetime to test that, but until Tuesday night, my faith was never truly shook.

I am still feeling a lot of despondence. And if you’re still in a place of mourning, that is perfectly okay. This election feels to many of us, in a very real way, like a death. And in some ways it is — a death of hope or faith. Take your time. Do what you gotta do. (For me, that was eating a third of a family-sized pan of brownies and watching several hours of TLC reality shows, but you know, follow your own arrow.)

Trump was elected from a place of fear — fear of the unknown, fear of new elements, fear of the end of white supremacy and the patriarchy — and it’s really tempting to respond to that with our own fear. But I believe with all my heart that the most powerful rejoinder to fear is hope. It’s much harder to react with hope than it is with fear, but it’s necessary work.

Now, hope doesn’t mean just passively sitting around lightly wishing for good vibes. It means, to be honest, a lot of fucking work to do everything we can to make this country better: protesting, volunteering, donating, fundraising. Making our voices heard and not letting the Democratic party sink to the level of the Republicans because if there’s one positive message from Tuesday, it’s that traditional party politics aren’t as effective as a group of citizens committed to change. Starting NOW to get strong candidates elected in the midterms and 2020. As much as we hate it, figuring out what points of connection we do have with Trump voters and how we can coalition with them on the issues we do agree on, while continuing to strongly repudiate them on the issues we don’t.

Hillary Clinton won the popular vote and that’s not even including the upsetting numbers of people who were disenfranchised from voting. The numbers are on our side, we just have to do the work. And in a practical way, here’s what that means.

Your Time and Money:

This is a relatively easy thing to start with. Give money (at whatever level you can) or time (at whatever level you can) to an organization that shares your values, one that works in an area you’re nervous about in the Trump administration. Here are a few to get you started, organized by concern (lots of credit here to Jezebel and Racked’s great lists, from which I got many-most of these suggestions) (also, standard disclaimer that this list is not 100% comprehensive and you might not agree with every single thing every single group does — again, follow your own arrow):

“I’m worried Donald Trump is going to destroy our constitution.” Obviously, the big gun here is the American Civil Liberties Union. But also, look at the Center for Constitutional Rights, the Freedom From Religion Foundation and Americans United for the Separation of Church and State.

“I’m worried about the treatment of immigrants in our country.” There are a TON of great organizations working in this space! Border Angels advocates for human rights, specifically along the US/Mexican border, as does the Border Action Network. The Coalition for Humane and Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, Community Refugee and Immigration Services, the Tennessee Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition, Esperanza Immigrant Rights Project, the New York City Immigration Coalition, and the Safe Passage Project are all local organizations that do good. A few organizations dealing with all kinds of immigration are the National Immigration Law Center, the National Immigration Forum, the American Immigration Council, OneAmerica, the Urban Justice Center, the Immigrant Defense Project, the International Rescue Committee, Define American, Or if you want to focus on kids, there’s The Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights, CARA Pro Bono, KIND (Kids in Need of Defense), International Social Service, and HIAS. Tahirih Justice Center and GirlForward focus on the needs of immigrant women and girls. TheDream.US gives scholarships to DREAMers. Immigration Equality focuses on the rights of LGBTQI immigrants.

“I’m freaked out about the treatment of people of color.” Again, there are a lot of options here. If you’re looking at specific groups, there’s the NAACP (please don’t forget about their local chapters and their Legal Defense Fund in addition to the national organization), the Native American Rights Fund, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, the League of United Latin American Citizens, and, of course, Black Lives Matter. The Catalyst Project, Showing Up for Racial Justice do work around white privilege. The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and the Southern Poverty Law Center (I know some people have issues with them, but they’re still doing a lot of good work) are important in the legal space. Assanta’s Daughters organizes young Black women and girls.

“I’m very concerned that things will be bad for religious minorities.” The ADL and Council on American-Islamic Relations both have their downsides, but also do a lot of good work. The Muslim Public Affairs Council and MPower are smaller but important organizations for Muslims. I cannot believe that we have to talk about anti-Semitism right now, but the Simon Wiesenthal Center and the AMCHA Initiative are very involved on that front (though I’ll caution that you have to put up with some pro-Zionism — if anyone knows of an organization working on anti-Semitism where that’s not true, please let me know).

“I’m scared about what a Trump/Pence administration looks like for LGBTQI Americans.” There’s the big three: GLAAD, the Human Rights Campaign, and Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, but your local LGBTQI center could probably use a donation — check out a list here. The National Center for Lesbian Rights and Lambda Legal do work on behalf of all queer people and the Sylvia Rivera Law Project provides aid to low-income and POC trans and intersex people. Black and Pink and LGBT Books to Prisoners are doing work with LGBTQI prisoners. Trans Lifeline and the Trevor Project provide invaluable helplines and It Gets Better does a lot with LGBTQI young people.

“Oh god, what if this turns into a police state?” Here are some great groups working on police reform, prison reform, and surveillance issues: the Brennan Center for Justice, the Osbourne Association, Campaign Zero, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and Critical Resistance. And as always, the Innocence Project continues to be very important.

“We elected a dude who bragged about sexual assault. I’m scared for women.” A few different issues here. In terms of reproductive rights, there’s obviously Planned Parenthood and NARAL, but also the Center for Reproductive Rights, the Reproductive Health Access Project, the National Network of Abortion Funds, and the National Abortion Federation. In terms of domestic violence, check out the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, Day One, Sanctuary for Families, and, of course, your local domestic violence shelter. If you’re concerned that the election of a legit sexual predator isn’t a good sign for how sexual violence will be handled, look into RAINN and the National Sexual Violence Resource Center (both of which are also great places to find and donate to your local rape crisis center). For general women’s issues stuff, there’s the National Organization for Women, the YWCA, the National Women’s Law Center, and the National Council of Jewish Women. If you’re just so, so, so sad we’re not getting a female president just yet, please consider donating to Emily’s List and/or She Should Run. Finally, if you’re feeling hopeless for the younger generation of girls, please consider the Girl Scouts, Girls for Gender Equality, the Girls Rock Camp Alliance, or Girls on the Run.

Vote With Your Money

Support businesses owned and operated by women, people of color, LGBTQI folks, disabled folks, religious minorities, and immigrants. Don’t support businesses owned by people who endorsed Trump (this includes MillersCoors, Jenny Craig, NASCAR, and Yuengling (sorry). Don’t stay at a Trump property. Don’t buy Ivanka’s shit, even if those shoes are cute (gotta give credit where it’s due).

Get Ready for 2018

In less than two years, every single seat in the House of Representatives, 36 governorships, and 33 Senate seats will be up for election. I don’t want to lie to you: the numbers here are not incredibly favorable for Democrats. But if the Republicans could do the Contract with America shit in ’94 and the Tea Party in ’10, we can organize for the midterms this year. Here’s what we’re looking at. Pick a few and start following NOW. Give money and support to challengers to the Republicans and incumbent Democrats. Or better yet, run yourself if you’re a resident!

Gubernatorial Elections with No Incumbent: Alabama (Current R); California (Current D); Colorado (Current D); Florida (Current R); Georgia (Current R); Idaho (Current R); Kansas (Current R); Maine (Current R); Michigan (Current R); Minnesota (Current D); Nevada (Current R); New Mexico (Current R); Ohio (Current R); Oklahoma (Current R); South Carolina (Current R); South Dakota (Current R); Tennessee (Current R); Wyoming (Current R).

Gubernatorial Elections with Republican Incumbents: Arizona (Doug Ducey); Arkansas (Asa Hutchinson), Illinois (Bruce Rauner); Iowa (Terry Branstad); Maryland (Larry Hogan); Massachusetts (Charlie Baker); Nebraska (Pat Ricketts); Texas (Greg Abbott); Wisconsin (Scott Walker).

Gubernatorial Elections with Democratic Incumbents: Alaska (Bill Walker — technically independent, but ran with a Dem lieutenant governor); Connecticut (Dan Malloy); Hawaii (David Ige); New York (Andrew Cuomo); Pennsylvania (Tom Wolf); Rhode Island (Gina Raimondo).

Senate Elections with Republican Incumbents: Arizona (Jeff Flake); Mississippi (Roger Wicker); Nebraska (Deb Fischer); Nevada (Dean Heller); Tennessee (Bob Corker); Texas (Ted Cruz); Utah (Orrin Hatch); Wyoming (John Barrasso).

Senate Elections with Democratic Incumbents: California (Dianne Feinstein); Connecticut (Chris Murphy); Delaware (Tom Carper); Florida (Bill Nelson); Hawaii (Mazie Hirono); Indiana (Joe Donnelly); Maine (Agnus King — independent, but caucuses with Democrats); Maryland (Ben Cardin); Massachusetts (Elizabeth Warren); Michigan (Debbie Stabenow); Minnesota (Amy Klobuchar); Missouri (Claire McCaskill); Montana (Jon Tester); New Jersey (Bob Menendez); New Mexico (Martin Heinrich); New York (Kirsten Gillibrand); North Dakota (Heidi Heitkamp); Ohio (Sherrod Brown); Pennsylvania (Bob Casey Jr.); Rhode Island (Sheldon Whitehouse); Vermont (Bernie Sanders — independent, but caucuses with Democrats); Virginia (Tim Kaine); Washington (Maria Cantwell); West Virginia (Joe Manchin); Wisconsin (Tammy Baldwin).

Just Do Your Best

Be kind. Stay hydrated. Take action in all the ways you are able. Look outside your own world. I’m not saying “befriend a Trump person and hear what they have to say!” because fuck that. But do think about the diversity of perspectives with which you surround yourself — I think we tend to confuse sharing a great, firey John Oliver video with all our liberal Facebook friends with actually getting out there and trying to change hearts and minds and laws. Actually get out there. Challenge prejudice wherever you find it.

Despite the events of this week, I still believe in America. I still believe in the American people. I believe this country is already great — we just have to work to keep it that way.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this piece misidentified Home Depot and PayPal as companies whose owners endorsed Trump. Neither endorser is still affiliated with those companies.