RALLY’s Hot Take: One Year Later, The #Resistance is Alive and Well
By Kacey Bonner, Aarti Chandorkar, Chris Taylor & Sommer Yesenofski
Year One of Trump’s presidency has stoked the flames of vicious, shameful movements we’d all thought and hoped were dying: Neo-Nazism, the so-called alt right, Trumpism, or plainly put, hate. The first year of this unprecedented, inexcusable presidency has also stoked the flames of a culture of resistance to the hate, and in that we find hope, inspiration, and motivation.
Communities are coming together to demand equity, celebrities are speaking out to demand inclusion, corporations are using the power of their brands to demand justice, and billionaires are directing funds to protect those under fire (we see you, Jeff Bezos). We’re seeing an exciting spirit of resistance, the likes of which we have not seen since the civil rights movement. As we anticipate the second annual Women’s March, we’re calling on our collective memory of the fight for civil rights and the past year to reflect on what the resistance has done right: create powerful symbols that unite us, bring the movement to unlikely but strategic platforms, and put those most marginalized by the culture of hate in the lead.
Our RALLY Hot Takes:
1.Effective resistance relies on symbolism. In this moment, revered symbols of our past, things like the Black Power fist and MLK’s universally recognizable visage, are serving alongside new symbols like NFL players taking a knee, pink pussy hats, black clothing on the red carpet, and lifting up DREAMers, to advance social justice narratives and build a culture of active resistance. Movements need symbolism for cohesion, as easy entry points, as rallying cries, and to connect ideas and concepts across perspectives. Today’s resistance is getting this right all over the place, and we’re inspired by it.
2.Platforms for resistance are everywhere, especially where you least expect it. Our work demands we leverage existing platforms: social media, earned media, public events, etc. We see the resistance leveraging these platforms and more, and sharing them in complex, important, and sometimes unprecedented ways. But true cultural shifts have always required the audacity to be bold in public and cause discomfort. When we can repurpose spaces that represent the comfort, privilege and power imbalance of the status quo, like pageant winners calling for gender equity or John Carlos and Tommie Smith raising their fists at the 1968 Olympics, we shine the brightest spotlight on injustice. From Patagonia retail stores to red carpet shows, the resistance has stormed these unlikely stages in the past year, bringing discomfort, awareness, solidarity, and the demand for change to every corner of our culture.
3.Put the most marginalized in leadership. We need to create spaces for conversations that are inclusive of all the different communities affected by an issue. And more than creating space, stepping back so that those most marginalized by the status quo are in the lead is the only way for the resistance to produce progressive, lasting change. While there is more work to do in this arena — so much more work to do — the past year gave us a few stunning examples of what inclusive and intersectional campaigns can and should look like. The #MeToo movement, founded by Tarana Burke, a Black woman, consciously paved pathways for women of all demographics to share their experiences. At the 2018 Golden Globes, #MeToo found allies in the proponents of the Time’s Up initiative. Predominantly white, wealthy, influential women used their red carpet interviews to shift focus to the work of their plus-ones — all advocates representing women of color and low-income women who are most deeply affected by gender inequality and sexual harassment. Similar to the relationship of Cesar Chavez and Dr. King, this demonstration of allegiance was a powerful gesture; a message sent to all women that said, “We see you. We hear you. You matter.”
The silver lining of living in these times, with this president, is that while we work toward policy and political wins, we are marking significant cultural victories. As we plan our weekends around protests such as this Saturday’s Women’s March, and seek moral leadership from City Halls to the celebrity of Hollywood, there is a sense that there is no going back. No going back to the days of #OscarsSoWhite, no going back to excluding our DREAMers and undocumented neighbors, no going back to silencing victims of sexual assault.
This weekend when we hit the streets with hundreds of thousands of fellow members of the resistance, we look forward to collectively declaring a commitment to justice for women, for the LGBTQ+ community, for the undocumented, for Black lives, for those most impacted by climate change, for indigenous peoples, for victims of sexual assault — for all. None of us win unless all of us win; the only way forward is together.
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RALLY is an issue-driven communications firm that takes on sticky political and social problems and finds ways to push them forward.
