Weekend Roundup: Reckoning & ResistanceNaming the Moment, Shaping the Future

March 1, 2025 AMBER SESSOMS

Hey, Collective,

This week’s roundup isn’t just reflection—it’s reckoning.

Early 2025 finds us in a familiar battle: the resurgence of Trump’s authoritarian grip, the counterforce of resistance, the soul of this country caught in the struggle. Again. The weight of history presses down—the déjà vu of injustice, the hoarding of power, the unrelenting demand for freedom. But exhaustion is a privilege we cannot afford.

We bear witness once more. The madness—the repetition, the recklessness, the reckoning—threatens to consume, but we press forward. Not out of naïveté, but because despair is too costly. This week unfolded like an American parable: the strong-arming of allies, the gutting of the social safety net, the war on truth—all masquerading as governance.

The Power of Discovery – Naming What’s Happening

To name a thing is to drag it into the light. So let’s be clear: Trumpism’s return is not about one man. It is the machinery of power tightening its grip—consolidating wealth, erasing histories, and crushing the possibility of a multiracial democracy. The signs are everywhere:

Global Solidarity Dismantled – Trump’s and J.D. Vance’s Oval Office dehumanization of Zelensky was more than theater; it was an allegiance—to Putin, to white nationalism, to transactional humanity. Ukraine came seeking support, left demoralized, and Trump’s coercion made clear: diplomacy is now extortion. This is no more evident than reviving the Monroe Doctrine and the outrageous AI-generated video depicting Trump and Netanyahu sunbathing in a Riviera-style resort called “TRUMP GAZA.”
DOGE Cuts & The Algorithm Smokescreen – Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is gutting federal jobs while AI-driven fraud detection targets the vulnerable, justifying “close to $1 trillion” in Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security cuts. A federal judge calls Trump’s mass firings “illegal,” but the agenda remains: consolidate wealth, strip public services, and manufacture scapegoats—it’s the “welfare queen” archetype rebranded.
The Press Under Siege – The Washington Post pivots to “free markets and personal liberty” as subscribers cancel en masse. Trump locks out journalists who won’t toe the line.
Public Health Sacrificed – A measles outbreak claims a child’s life in Texas, but the FDA cancels flu vaccine meetings while USAID guts funding for polio, HIV, and nutrition programs. Public health is just another casualty of this regime.
Education & DEI Under Attack – The U.S. Department of Education’s anti-DEI complaint site has encouraged some to flood it with real reports of discrimination, turning a tool of oppression into one of resistance. Meanwhile, Defense Department schools strip LGBTQ+ and race-related clubs, silencing students while claiming neutrality.

These are not isolated events—they are strategic. They are meant to overwhelm, distract, and demoralize. But when we name them, we strip them of their power to destabilize us.

Eddie Glaude reminds us: history doesn’t repeat, but it rhymes. Trumpism is not just a shift in policy; it is a deliberate restructuring of power to preserve White supremacy and economic elitism at all costs. James Baldwin understood the madness of witnessing the same injustices, the exhaustion of history’s cruel repetitions. How do we move beyond rage when oppression refuses to break?

Dr. R. Owen Williams of A Native Son insists no cavalry is coming: not Congress, not the courts, not the Constitution. Resistance is our only path.

Power of Discovery Curiosities:

What patterns in history are repeating, and what lessons can I learn?
What narratives am I being asked to accept without question?
What role does art, literature, and storytelling play in helping me discover deeper truths?

The Power of Discernment – Understanding What’s at Stake

Discernment is resolve—the refusal to let exhaustion or distraction dictate our future. It requires seeing beyond the spectacle to the design: a calculated effort to consolidate power, dismantle accountability, and strip resources from the public to serve the elite. Trumpism is not just one man; it is a system imposing this design. We see it—now, what will we do?

Consolidate Power – Through authoritarian diplomacy, targeted press restrictions, and co-opted government agencies, the machinery of Trumpism ensures that decision-making rests in the hands of the few, silencing dissent and imposing a vision of control.
Dismantle Accountability – From the Oval Office to the Department of Education, institutions meant to safeguard rights and uphold democratic ideals are being stripped of oversight. Dehumanizing adversaries, firing watchdogs, and sidelining checks on power all serve to erase transparency.

This is not governance—it is the calculated dismantling of democracy in service of a plutocracy. To see it clearly is to refuse manipulation; to resist, we must move beyond nostalgia for a broken system and build something new. Glaude warns that restoring what never served all is not enough.

Power of Discernment Curiosities:

· How do I disrupt the narrative of inevitability and reclaim my agency?

· What does true accountability look like in a system designed to avoid it?

· Where do I see false equivalencies being used to silence calls for justice?

The Power of Determination – Taking Action in the Face of Injustice

Determination is more than defiance—it is the choice to shape history rather than be shaped by it. Resistance is not only about what we refuse, but what we build in its place. The challenge is not just to disrupt injustice but to sustain the fight for something better.

The Impact of the February 28, 2025, Economic Blackout – The People’s Union USA and John Schwartz led a nationwide halt in consumer spending to protest corporate greed, economic injustice, and DEI rollbacks. Dr. Janice Gassam Asari warned that real change demands long-term disruption and clear demands, while Dr. Aldon Morris saw it as a test of public mobilization, much like the early days of the Montgomery Bus Boycott. The question is not whether the action made a statement—but whether the momentum will last. Without sustained pressure, clear goals, and organized infrastructure, corporations will simply wait out the outrage.
Grassroots activism is the frontline. Research shows that nonviolent movements involving just 3.5% of a population have led to transformative change. That number is within reach—if we commit to organizing, resisting, and reclaiming power together.
Community is power. Authoritarianism thrives on isolation, banking on the belief that we will feel alone, overwhelmed, and powerless. But history tells us otherwise—when people come together, uplifting each other’s voices and refusing to disengage, movements grow, and systems tremble.

Baldwin understood this well—the machine moves as it does because we have been conditioned to accept our own exploitation. But even a brief disruption reveals the fractures in that foundation. The question is: Will we sustain it?

Glaude reminds us that we are living in a moment of both profound crisis and profound possibility. We are not just watching history unfold—we are shaping it. We have seen movements rise before, watched people fight for justice against impossible odds. Now is our time.

Remember, this administration thrives on our exhaustion. If they can keep us overwhelmed, distracted, and demoralized, they wins. But history belongs to those who refuse to accept oppression as inevitable.

Power of Determination Curiosities:

What forms of resistance feel most sustainable for me?
How can I collectively leverage my economic and political power?
What actions—big or small—can I take to ensure the fight for justice is ongoing?

Closing Reflection: We’ve Been Here Before—And We Know What to Do

This moment is not new. We have seen this before. We have watched power consolidate, watched systems contort themselves to preserve the few at the expense of the many. We have seen fear weaponized, history rewritten, and justice delayed in the name of order. But we have also seen resistance.

We know because those who came before us—who bore the weight of a world designed to break them—refused to be broken. They organized when the powerful declared resistance futile. They built when there was nothing left to stand on. They carried hope not as a feeling, but as a practice. And still, they won. Again and again.

Baldwin, Glaude, and Lithwick remind us that there is no inevitability here—only the choices we make. We are not waiting for a savior. We are the movement. The question is not whether we can fight back—we already know how. The question is: Will we do it again?

In solidarity, action, and love,

Amber

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