Dear Resister,
You are part of a great tradition.
A half century ago, the very first Resist donors pledged support because they knew the Vietnam War was immoral. Through the Civil Rights Movement, Women's Movement, and every struggle against entrenched power and wealth since, Resist donors like you have been at the center of the action.
Today your role in U.S. history - and your importance to the movements you support through your gift to Resist - is as great as it ever has been.
Your participation in Resist has made the groundswell resistance to a president who is the very embodiment of immoral authority possible. Thank you.
Here are just a few of Resist's nearly 6,000 activist groups that have provoked and inspired progressive change through the years, thanks to you and your honored predecessors.
Made History:
For civil rights, Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) played a major role in the sit-ins, freedom rides, and organized voter registration drives in the South during the 1960s. Resist is proud to have helped with early funding.
For workers' rights, United Farm Workers used early backing from Resist donors to lead a series of strikes that have benefited workers to this day. Dozens of UFW union contract victories are now protecting thousands of farm workers, and championing reforms for issues from pesticides to immigration.
For LGBTQ rights, Gay Liberation Front was born in 1969, when the New York City police raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar. This time, the crowd fought back. Their broad political platform denounced persecution of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer people. Resist donors were behind them all the way.
For ecological justice, Student Environmental Action Coalition (SEAC) was critical in propelling the environmental movement from the fringes in the 1990s to center stage today. The young people of SEAC knew this was literally the fight for our future - and so did Resist donors who supported them.
Making History:
People's Justice for Community Control and Police Accountability is a dynamic force for police reform in New York City's Black, Latino/a and Asian communities.
Fuerza Unida was founded in 1990 by over 600 mostly women garment workers who led hunger strikes, boycotts, and a legal battle when the devastating effects of "Free Trade" began to emerge. Today, they continue to provide tools for economic empowerment and cultural healing for workers across the Texas-Mexico borderlands.
Green Mountain Crossroads connects rural and small-town LGBTQ people throughout Northern New England. They provide legal aid to help prepare documents that reflect gender, if different from the one assigned at birth.
Nimiipuu Protecting the Environment began organizing to protect Indigenous traditional rights and lands. After taking on Exxon Mobil in 2013 by their tribal members they began networking with First Nations friends to take on Tar Sands oil extraction.
Remember, politicians didn't end the Vietnam War or pass civil rights legislation because they wanted to - concerned individuals like you pressured them to do so.
Let's continue to make history, together.
Saif Rahman
Resist Co-Director
P.S. Resist's original leaders were eternally optimistic, willing to butt heads with the American war machine in 1967 to help change the course of history - and we did. That same optimism - backed with the serious, diligent grassroots organizing that you help support - will propel us through these daunting times, as they have before. Your tax-deducible gift to Resist is a demonstration of your optimism, too. Please help launch Resist into our next 50 years of victories for justice and liberation. Our nation needs us - and we need you. Thank you. You make Resist's work possible.
