Dear Racial Justice Organizers, 

As we rise to the outcome of the U.S. Presidential Election, we continue to have hope. Some rise in disbelief, some rise knowing it was inevitable, and some rise wondering… why? 

What we know for sure is that we have been prepared for this moment.  This is a moment that we can clearly see that an individual solution will not fix a systemic problem. One party or individual’s victory cannot fix a system that, as Ron Chisom says, “Ain’t a do right system”. 

If the victory of Donald Trump and the Republican Party wakes up more of us to the realities and historical patterns of systemic racism and motivates and inspires us to be more effective, then it is a victory in the long run for all of humanity. 

We will remain vigilant, we will remain hopeful and we will remember that when we fight, when we organize, when we understand race and racism in America, when we are guided by our principles, We Win.  As stated by our own late great Maya Angelou:

….You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I’ll/ we will rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I’ve got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history’s shame
I/we rise
Up from a past that’s rooted in pain
I/we rise
I’m /we are a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling we bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I/we rise
Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear
I/we rise
Bringing the gifts that our ancestors gave,
I am/ are the dream and the hope of the slave.
I/we rise
I/we rise
I/we rise

In solidarity, love, and hope,
Kimberley, Mia, Nicole, Okaikor, Shani, Tamiquia, TaShara, Tiphanie, & Trish

PISAB’s National Organizers & Staff