Hi Sylvia,

We are saddened, angered, and defiant. It’s okay to feel grief, anger, and sadness. It’s okay to feel what you feel.

As Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, we must protect and support one another — and we must continue to support our Muslim, Black, Latinx and Indigenous communities.  

We will continue to organize against the forces of xenophobia, Islamophobia, anti-Black racism and misogyny that made today possible. This election doesn’t change the fact that we’ll continue to love, support, embrace, and nourish each other. We will create bolder, love deeper, and work harder to dismantle systems of oppression.

Despite fear and hate winning at the top of the ballot, we celebrate the fact that the number of women of color quadrupled in the Senate.¹

• Mazie Hirono is the first and only Asian American woman senator from Hawaii.
• Tammy Duckworth is the first Thai American Senator-elect of Illinois.
• Kamala Harris is the first Indian and Jamaican American Senator-elect of California.
• Catherine Cortez Masto is the first Latina Senator-elect of Nevada, and Nevada’s first woman senator.

And more good news:

• Pramila Jayapal, a Washington State Senator, is the first Indian-American woman elected to Congress.
• lhan Omar is the first Somali-American Muslim woman legislator in Minnesota.

And even more AAPI wins.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/updates-asian-american-pacific-islander-races-watch-election-night-n680511?link_id=0&can_id=743833921d6a7143fe0d877926dd4ad5&source=email-resilience-and-resistance&email_referrer=resilience-and-resistance___131602&email_subject=unstoppable

In Florida, Arizona, Virginia, and North Carolina, Asian Americans roughly doubled in early voting compared to the 2012 election. In Georgia, we tripled.

Social movements have never been about one election or one candidate. It’s about us. It’s about the deep connection and commitment we build together while fighting for a better future — a future that finally acknowledges that Black Lives Matter, that Indigenous folks deserve the right to water and sacred sites more than companies deserve the “right” to drill for oil, and ends the deportations that rip immigrant families apart.

We will continue to build with our communities and across other communities of color.

We will participate in actions led by organizations that are bettering our communities, locally and nationally.

We will organize for a world where our humanity is fully present and a world that allows people of color, Black, Indigenous, LGBTQ folks to thrive and not just to survive. As Grace Lee Boggs said: „People are aware that they cannot continue in the same old way, but are immobilized because they cannot imagine an alternative. We need a vision that recognizes that we are at one of the great turning points in human history when the survival of our planet and the restoration of our humanity require a great sea change in our ecological, economic, political, and spiritual values.“

Hold on tight to that vision of the world we want to create. To support 18MR’s work in service of that vision, please consider donating here.

http://action.18mr.org/donate/?link_id=1&can_id=743833921d6a7143fe0d877926dd4ad5&source=email-resilience-and-resistance&email_referrer=resilience-and-resistance___131602&email_subject=unstoppable

Together, we are unstoppable.

In solidarity always,

Oanh-Nhi, Diane, Taz, Cayden, and Mark

1. One small sign of progress: the number of women of color in the Senate quadrupled, VOX, 11/8/16