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I'll bet you are. This might help? MoJo Reader, Some of you are tired—from a lifetime of oppres
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I'll bet you are. This might help?
[Mother Jones](
MoJo Reader,
Some of you are tiredâfrom a lifetime of oppression, discrimination, and racism. Some of you are tired from fighting these forces. Some of you are worn with worry and responsibility for othersâchildren, older folks, people who depend on you. Some of you are ground down with the demands of jobs that seem overwhelming, or that could evaporate at any minute, or that no longer seem accessible at all. Some of you are bone-tired from all these things together, plus myriad other concerns and fears that I can't even imagine.
And all of youâevery last one that I've ever heard fromâare tired from seeing, every day, assaults on democratic values, core institutions of social good, and plain common decency. You are tired of bracing yourselves every day for another embarrassment or another turn of the screw of authoritarianism. You were tired of this [eight months in](, and you are off-the-scale fatigued now, especially when the effects are so brutally apparent in the success of a virus that capitalizes on all our failures as a society and a government.
So instead of the fundraising appeal that I was supposed to send today (yes, we still need to raise $90,000 [in donations]( by the end of this month), I wanted to just acknowledge that.
And I wanted to acknowledge this, too: So many of you are taking action. And as you do, many of you are finding that this moment is not like others. You are finding that there is genuine change happening. There are people being elected to office who would not have had a chance a few years ago, powered by huge grassroots support. Maxims that seemed unshakeable even months agoâsuch as "police budgets can only ever go up"âare out the window. Statues that set off painfully drawn-out debates only two years ago are toppling overnight. And every one of us is being challenged to consider what we've done, what we've failed to do, and how we can be a better part of change.
That's big. And here's a small story that, to me, signals how big. There's a little town in northern Minnesota where I used to spend a lot of time and still have many friends. Settled originally by Scandinavian immigrants, this area was always a stronghold of unions and the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, but in recent years that allegiance faded amid demagoguery appealing to racial and cultural divisions. Obama carried the county with almost 60 percent in 2012; in 2016 Donald Trump came within a couple points of winning there.
But in the past few weeks, there have been Black Lives Matter demonstrations in the town. There is no stoplight, so the protesters set up at an intersection of a couple of country roads. In a community with 195 people, more than two dozen have been showing up.
The first weekend, there were a lot of honks of support. But there were also middle-finger gestures, and a guy who yelled from his truck, "Go home!"
The second weekend, that truck showed up again.
At this point, when I tell this story to people who don't know small communities, they often brace for something involving the gun rack in the back. But no. The truck swung to a stop, the guy got out, and he said, "I was out of line the other day."
Something has begun. It's going to be tiring, disappointing, terrifying at times. But it is here and it is necessary.
Thatâs why I'm so inspired by seeing our team show up every day committed to doing their job despite the hardships of covering crisis after crisis. I hope you'll [help them do it with a donation today so we can raise the final $90,000 we're aiming for by next Tuesday's deadline](.
The urgency of the moment won't cease then. There is no endpoint to exposing abuses of power and injustice or pushing for transparency and accountability. That, too, makes me grateful that our community of readers have the same commitment that our team here does.
When we started our [big fundraising campaign]( in May, I shared how scary it felt to be asking for an outpouring of support at a moment like this, and I'm encouraged that so many of our readers have stepped up. If you're able to right now, [please consider joining your fellow readers with a donation to help our team rise to the challenge](.
Thanks for readingâand know that whether or not you can give today, I'm grateful that you're part of the Mother Jones community. You help sustain every one of us here.
[Monika]
Monika Bauerlein, CEO
Mother Jones
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