“You either with me or against me.”

I woke up one morning this past week after a rough night of sleep. My dreams were filled with visions of America’s southern border. My dreams were filled with the sounds of children’s cries. My dreams were filled with the stone faces of people in expensive suits and dresses and uniforms explaining how this was somehow preferable to treating those migrating from Central America with humanity and care.

I listened to a meditation called “Let it be” to try and make enough peace in my head to get out the door and go to work a functioning human being. By the end of those 14 minutes, though, only one thought was blaring in big block letters at the front of my mind:

“Don’t Let it Be!”

So, this week, I’m grateful for those of us who won’t let it be. Thank you to those who protest loudly in our border towns and our capital cities. Thank you to the journalists telling the stories that our government agencies don’t want to be told. Thank you to those who refuse to make oppression easy or comfortable for those that wish it so.

I’ve thought about this excerpt from The Holocaust, the French, and the Jews that a French Historian friend of Shana‘s tweeted

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. As the government moves to institutionalize repression, they rely on all of us tacitly enabling it. If we don’t, their jobs become much harder. 75% of French Jews survived the Holocaust, largely because people just didn’t play along. pic.twitter.com/Vufqe3CMht

— lh (@laurenaissance) June 21, 2018

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Don’t let anyone tell you that being nice is more important than being moral. Don’t let anyone tell you that how you stand up must be in the streets. The point is to not roll over in any way you can.

For all those not letting it be, I’m grateful.

And I’m with you.