Democrats, ‘get back in the fight.’ That’s what an old friend taught me years ago | Opinion

It is odd to be 73 years old and learn that you don’t recognize the country you love and have always lived in. Beyond odd actually. The good thing, I had thought, about this presidential campaign was that Donald Trump showed so patently and so repeatedly exactly who he is. The horrifying thing is that a majority of Americans signed him up anyway — for a second time. I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to that. At least now all debates about American exceptionalism can be officially ended.

So, like millions of others, I’ll work to challenge the cold acceptance of government-imposed death sentences for women who can’t obtain lifesaving health care because of someone else’s religious conviction; the mass deportation of millions of courageous and selfless parents from distraught nations risking their lives to better the plight of their children; the blatantly unconstitutional use of the U.S. military and department of justice to crush the once and future president’s “enemies from within;” the malicious targeting of marginalized transgender folks, especially teens, to prove that their outcast status is permanent and debilitating; and so much more.

Dark days approach. They’ve been promised to us. And if darkness is all you’ve got, you’ll deliver.

In recent years, we’ve often received more hopeful election news on the federal front than in North Carolina. But not this time.

While all three branches of the federal government might now be captured by the most right-wing casts in our country’s history, Tar Heels elected Josh Stein, Rachel Hunt, Jeff Jackson, Mo Green, Don Davis, an array of other Democratic congressional incumbents and, it appears, cast aside a Republican super-majority in the General Assembly. Tar Heels won’t countenance hate-based extremism in their state leaders, even if they embrace it enthusiastically in a president.

Divided government will be more solidly entrenched in Raleigh next year than it is today. Roy Cooper has taught well how much difference a strong Democratic governor can make in the face of a rapacious legislature. For those at the bottom, it’s also heartening to learn that not all three branches of state government have them in their destructive sights.

The thousands and thousands of Tar Heel Democrats who poured their hearts, their dollars and their hours into the November election did not come home empty handed. Anderson Clayton, state Democratic party chair, is a marvel, as are so many of her colleagues, older and younger. They’ll fight again.

One of my good fortunes in North Carolina has been to have had famed professor and activist Dan Pollitt as a friend as well as mentor. He died fourteen years ago. I miss him every week. Lots of people do. He was a veteran of a thousand battles in the cause of justice.

Once, decades ago, I was scheduled to speak to a large ACLU banquet in Raleigh a few days after a decidedly heartbreaking presidential election. Dan asked to go with me. I told him I didn’t know what to say to the distraught audience. What were we supposed to do?

Dan caught me up short, in his kind way. “What do you mean, what are we supposed to do?” he replied. “We dust ourselves off, gird up our loins and get back in the fight.” In fact, he added, “I’m going to find something for us to demonstrate against tomorrow, and we’ll go down there just to keep in practice.”

Donald Trump never met Dan Pollitt. I’ve always been grateful I did. See you in the streets.

This story was originally published November 9, 2024 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Democrats, ‘get back in the fight.’ That’s what an old friend taught me years ago | Opinion."