I woke up at 4am last night to feed my 9-month old son, Sawyer. After putting him back to sleep I checked Facebook. Huge mistake. Facebook is no longer a safe place to go, and see photos and events and musings, and who else was up at ungodly hours. It is no longer an easy way to feel connected to the human race. Instead, last night I stumbled onto the scariest bomb I’ve seen dropped since Trump was elected President. It was an article about the alt-right using technology and the internet to spew vast amounts of targeted propaganda. It’s likely why Brexit occurred, and why Trump is our president-elect. This vitriol is a strong and growing-ever-stronger network of thousands of websites with over 1.3 million hyperlinks that spread lies and in no uncertain terms state that Jews are evil, women are evil, Muslims are evil, and Hitler was a good guy. I did my own research to see if I could replicate these horrors and they are right there for all to see. Right on page one of Google. You can read the article and replicate the results and it's really scary.

Since the election I’ve been in shock and mourning, like so many other American democrats, feeling like I fell down a wormhole into a dystopian United States. It feels like Biff running Hill Valley in Back to the Future II. When the poor were poorer than ever and Biff, with his weird big blond hair, was in charge and the world was filled with casinos and fear and crime.

But it’s the real world. It’s the real United States. And Trump is the president-elect that the majority of voters voted for. I’m grateful to live in the political bubble of San Francisco, but even here, I don’t feel safe. I’m a woman, and I’m a Jew. And I can’t turn around without seeing signs of this awful virulence stealthily infecting the internet and so many Americans minds.

I keep thinking about my Poppy, my 91 year old grandfather who was a Jewish Prisoner of War in World War II and is still alive and kicking today. He was captured and held in a concentration camp in Germany, in conditions so bad his feet literally froze and have encumbered him ever since. For the last 70 years he’s had this constant physical reminder of the camp and the horrors of a terrible war. I ache for him, thinking about how hard he fought for his country and his people and the liberation of the Jews, and that we are closer today, in 2016, than we have ever been since WWII to another huge war and to losing our place as Jews and women and free people in the world once again.

The part that is even scarier is that it’s not in a country far away and across an ocean. It’s right here. It’s within our borders and propagated by us — by Americans.

We have to resist. Fight back before we lose all of the progress we’ve made over the last 70 years. We have to fight against oppression and for human rights. For women’s health. For religious freedom. For Jews. For Muslims. For blacks. For the LGBTQ community. For gender equality. And yes, for the white men who also feel less safe than they did prior to November 8th.

I am reminded daily of my favorite passage in my childhood Synagogue’s prayer book - “First they came for the Socialists…” a passage by Martin Niemöller, a prominent Protestant pastor who opposed the Nazi regime and spent the last seven years of Nazi rule in a concentration camp.

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

I remember liking this passage because it was a story, and one my child's mind could wrap itself around. Most of the pages were filled with archaic hebrew and prayers and complex language that was way over my head. But this passage made sense and I thought a lot about it during the many mind-numbingly dull hours I spent at Temple. Now I’m grateful to have driven those words into my brain for so many years. It’s our job to resist and fight for human rights.

I am proud to be CEO of Covo, a coworking company that I plan on using as a platform for safety and progress, especially for women, minorities, and the LGBTQ community.

When I am up at night feeding Sawyer I can't help but worry about the country we're going to hand over to him one day soon. If we don't stand up now, no one will be left to stand up for us then.

The rights of anyone anywhere are the responsibility of everyone everywhere.











