Shel Horowitz: Feds won't help us, but citizen action will

Glenn Carstens-Peters/StockSnap

Vietnam War protesters march down Fifth Avenue near to 81st Street in New York City on April 27, 1968, The war was eventually ended under Republican President Richard Nixon, who had prosecuted it ruthlessly.

Vietnam War protesters march down Fifth Avenue near to 81st Street in New York City on April 27, 1968, The war was eventually ended under Republican President Richard Nixon, who had prosecuted it ruthlessly. AP

Women Strike for Peace demonstrators sit in the street at the intersection of Executive and Pennsylvania Avenues outside the White House in Washington D.C., Sept. 20, 1967. Police lined up to limit the number of Vietnam War protesters to 100, while the rest, after some scuffling and pushing, sat down in the street. (AP Photo)

Women Strike for Peace demonstrators sit in the street at the intersection of Executive and Pennsylvania Avenues outside the White House in Washington D.C., Sept. 20, 1967. Police lined up to limit the number of Vietnam War protesters to 100, while the rest, after some scuffling and pushing, sat down in the street. (AP Photo) —AP

Published: 01-23-2025 8:05 AM

Jack Tulloss’ letter, “Violence as wallpaper” [Jan. 17], makes many good points. But the author is wrong to suggest that “domestic transformation is out of the question.”

It won’t come from the feds, though. It will come from grassroots activists in groups like Indivisible, Standing Together, Movement Voter Project, Clamshell Alliance, and hundreds of others. It will come from enlightened state governments like Massachusetts doing what they can to protect us from Donald Trump’s fascism. It will come in the courtrooms with help from ACLU, Earthjustice, Public Citizen, etc.

And it will come (nonviolently) in the streets, on social media, in letters and op-eds, and in Zoom rooms.

This is how change happens in repressive times. A few among hundreds of examples: The civil rights movement had its biggest victories under a Republican army general and a white southerner from Texas. The women’s and environmental movements started flexing their power under Nixon. Immigration justice movements gained national prominence in the first Trump term. Nonviolent movements around the world overthrew South African apartheid, brought down repressive communist governments in Europe, and ended the Vietnam War in the U.S.

We will not give up and we will not cooperate with our own oppression or the oppression of others. Find a group and get involved!

Shel Horowitz

Hadley

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