...You Are Fueling It
Dear Resister,
We've endured over a year of Trump together, with plenty of fight still in us. Muslims were targeted, young Dreamers faced deportation, white supremacists were emboldened to parade in public, and corporate profit reigned over our environment - and the list goes on...
I write to you, our office is being inundated with more than double the number of requests for grants from progressive activist groups coast to coast that are on fire to make a difference. These groups are often ignored or rejected by mainstream funding sources that attach too many strings to their gifts, or are fearful of "rocking the boat." These communities that you help support depend on us. And you and I depend on them to act as guardians against injustices that are happening constantly beneath the headlines.
I'm writing to thank you for standing with us and to urge you to help us become even stronger in 2018 by donating today.
If we can raise $100,000 by the end of April, we will be able to reward 20 more activist groups with $4,000 grants, and 20 more $1,000 emergency grants for groups responding to the many injustices we all are facing.
As a fellow resister who gets a firsthand look at the satisfying impact of your gifts, I want to tell you about just a few of the injustices you've recently helped progressives overcome.
When a group of anti-Muslim extremists descended on Raleigh, North Carolina, it was our grantee, Muslims for Social Justice, that organized a counter-protest, marching bravely in the face of their opponents to the State Capitol.
Nimiipuu Protecting the Environment is an indigenous group of Resist grantees in Idaho that is daring to take on Exxon-Mobil-and winning. They have organized blockades to physically stop mega-load trucks carrying equipment to mine for oil and tar sands.
Portland Harbor Community Coalition is a group of indigenous, black, immigrant, and houseless people committed to reclaiming the contaminated Willamette River, despite Trump's war on the EPA. Thank you for supporting their never-give-up spirit and self-sufficiency, and that of so many other Resist grantees defending our planet.
These are just a few of the areas in which Resist grantees are fighting and winning. Our grantees are leading the resistance against increasing homophobia, sexism, police violence against black communities, xenophobia against immigrants, and attacks on the rights of workers.
One hundred percent of the funds we distribute to these activists and others come from you and other Resist donors. You help us to step in with the funds they need for bus fare to get to a protest site, local TV and print messages, and other necessary costs. You enable us to link these groups together and increase their strength.
It's been half a century now that we've been undertaking this important work, backed entirely by individuals like you. How can we express our gratitude and admiration? We can only ask that you recognize how important you are in the fight against immoral authority.
Saif Rahman
Co-director, Resist
P.S. Your tax-deductible gift is your vote of confidence that grassroots activism will continue to steer our country towards sanity and justice. We must persist. Please be generous.
----Yesterday's April Fool's Email...No, We Are Not Changing Our Name!
Saif Rahman
4/3/18
Dear Resister,
We hoped you enjoyed our annual April Fool's joke email! (See here if you missed it!)
We live in some serious times and humor has always helped us as a community face them. As George Orwell once said, "every joke is a tiny revolution."
If there was any confusion, we are definitely not changing our name from "Resist" to "Respect!"
Your support will always go to those resisting and building world.
We were named Resist after our founding document, "A Call to Resist Illegitimate Authority" and that legacy will always be in our blood. The only people we respect are those who resist power.
So rest assured, Resist will always remain part of the resistance. What has made us a special foundation for over five decades and the reason we are able to not be swayed or influenced by those in power is because of the community that comprises Resist. All of the money we raise comes from individuals like you and never will we attach any strings to those funds.
Thank you for believing in the work that we do.
To Resisting Illegitimate Authority now and forever!
Resist Staff
P.S. We want to share some of the best responses we received from you!
You made me laugh (early in the morning). Let's keep the resistance.
Good one, you almost had me for the first couple of paragraphs given all the org name changes going on. But once I saw Respect I got the joke. Glad Resist is still Resist!!!!
This is too good. I love you guys.
What a great way to promote Resist! It would not be uncalled for at all to change RESIST to RESPECT!
Resist's gives oppressed communities the ability to fight for and win RESPECT!
Wishing you and all at RESIST a Happy Golden Anniversary, celebrate and wishes for 50 more years!
I was well into your email (but not the P.S.) when I realized the date at which point I started laughing for a prolonged period and my wife asked from across the room what I was laughing about. That has got to be one of the best April Fools Jokes I remember.
I was scared for like 2 seconds... then I laughed! #Respect
This is fabulous! You actually had me fooled at least halfway through. I will be sending in a contribution soon.
Terrific, I plan to send $1000 check made out to Respect. Love the idea.
You slay me, Saif!!!!
LMAO I love y'all this is too funny
Barely awake, yours was the first email I read this morning. First surprised, I read on with growing wonderment about where this was going. Then increasing puzzlement about how you were going to get out of this box you were constructing. And not liking it. It was turning simply unbelievable. But not until you announced the holiday that i did I wake up and pop free! Good job! Congratulations!
Love ya all. Keep up the fight for rights and protection of the people.
