How We Started
When Donald Trump won the election in 2016, the Sunday after he was declared a winner, approximately 250 people assembled at the Leon County Library to “Resist Trump”. We didn’t quite know what resistance would look like, but we were 250 people who knew we needed to resist.
There was no “indivisible” at the time but MoveOn was our only support and they were protest through demonstration oriented, so that is what we did. Marianne Ryan and I started making lists and plans and held meetings and sent emails. Resistance grew, other groups formed. We banded together to protest in the streets.
Within a few months, people want to learn more about the issues and the plans. We rented a room and Resist Trump became what I called the “educational” component of local Resistance. Gwen Graham, Ion Sancho, Anna Eskamani, Rick Wilson, and professors in communications, history and political science talked to us. Local politicians became part of our group. We set up a huge contact list for US Congress contacts and shared information with anyone who asked questions and wanted to learn about issues.
Was that information “out there” already? Yes, of course it was. People didn’t just want the information. They wanted to gather and talk and vent and sometimes even cry!
Everyone’s efforts across the country got us through the first four years. It was over, he was gone. But as we all know, he wasn’t!
He is back with vengeance and his army is more prepared, more vicious and sincerely out to destroy our democracy. They had four years to build their plans.
Resist Trump along the way-did see the need to pivot a bit and try to plan for the future. We renamed ourselves Resist TRUMPism because it was apparent it was a cult that would not go away, but for the first couple Trump-free years we never expected him to return.
How It’s Going…..
Now Resist TRUMPism is rebranding itself as LEON COUNTY INDIVISIBLE, in order to make our name welcoming to ALL activists who are alarmed by what is happening to our country under the second Trump administration. In this fight, we must ALL stand together as Americans to defend our country against the relentless assault on our democracy. No matter how you voted in prior elections, this moment calls for UNITY in order to preserve what actually makes our country GREAT – the Constitution, Rule of Law, and free and fair elections. If you are appalled by the ongoing destruction of our once-great country, we invite you to join with us to stand up for American values.
There are many people who have been betrayed by Trump – people who were promised a “Golden Age” of America, but instead are assaulted daily by news of the wholesale destruction of our government to enrich a small but powerful oligarchy. This is NOT what they voted for! The assaults on healthcare, veterans, students, small business owners, immigrants, and anyone who cannot line Trump’s pocket are accelerating – we must UNITE AND FIGHT to stop the rapid erosion of our civil liberties, before it is too late.
How We Win, from Indivisible National
Defeating a multi-decade right-wing takeover of American government ain’t easy. But we’re here to win, and we have a plan. Here’s how we’re doing it:
We Are Indivisible. Our opponents depend on a divide and conquer strategy, so we treat an attack on one like an attack on all. We show up for each other, and particularly for those facing the brunt of rightwing ideologues’ attacks – often immigrants, people of color, and low-income people. We share a vision: a real democracy, of, by, and for everyone. LEON COUNTY IS INDIVISIBLE!
Strong Leaders, Strong Groups, Strong Movement. We build and sustain our movement’s power by helping individuals take leadership. They grow and lead local Indivisible groups, take independent action, and coordinate with their fellow local leaders. As a movement, our power comes from coordinated national campaigns where we act together, indivisible.
Inside/Outside Strategy. We understand systems of power – like how Congress operates – and we work inside them to get results. That complements our outside strategy of locally-based constituent pressure to demand elected leaders, regardless of political party, work for our democracy.
A Virtuous Cycle of Advocacy and Elections. We show up to advocate for policy wins in off-years and get out the vote in election years. These efforts reinforce each other to ensure our democracy works for all of us and that the people in power do too – or we will replace them with electeds who will.
How You Get Involved
This website is designed to be an activism resource for busy people. The news is a constant firehose of atrocities that makes it hard to see everything this administration is destroying. To make it easier to keep up, we collect important news stories every day and post them on our Bulletin Board. We have collected information for contacting your electeds on the Legislators page so you don’t have to scramble around trying to find an email address or phone number when you are good and mad about the latest outrageous action. Other ways to make your voice heard can be found under Activism for Busy People. We collect information about activism actions and events in our area to make it easy for you to see what is going on at a glance – if you are planning an event, please email webmaster@leoncountyindivisible.com with the details and we’ll get it added to the calendar.
This website is a community resource and we invite your comments and suggestions for additional content that you would find helpful in this fight.. We look forward to hearing from you and meeting with you at our events. We invite you to join us in the fight to save our democracy – together, LEON COUNTY IS INDIVISIBLE.