From Neil Young to Jesus: Resistance has a Big Tent

Oh Alabama

Can I see you and shake your hand

Make friends down in Alabama

I’m from a new land

I come to you and

See all this ruin

What are you doing?

Alabama, you have the rest of the union

To help you along

From “Alabama” from Harvest by Neil Young (released in 1972)

When the first chords of any Neil Young guitar lick—as recognizable as my mother’s voice—hit my ear, I perk up immediately.  In the middle of a show at the Narrows from their strong new album, Duende, a member of the Band of Heathens said, “This is for Jeff Sessions,” and ripped into “Alabama,” Neil Young’s lament about southern racism.   After the raucous applause which included a yell of “Fuck Trump,” to hearty crowd affirmation, the lead singer grinned.  And then he said, “Music is about bringing people together, not splitting them apart.”

I had a similar experience attending a live performance of The Moth at the Zeiterion Theatre last week.  It seemed like everyone I knew, from my mother-in-law to my yoga teacher to my colleagues to my students knew about this radio show/podcast except for me.  When I asked what it was about, they just said, “It’s so great!”  It turns out that the Moth is comprised of stories.  The host opened the show by noting that stories were for everyone, even in this acrimonious time.  Five people came onto the stage and shared 10 minute personal narratives of varying humor and pathos.   Even though Donald Trump played a major part in one of the stories, the point was not to praise or to denigrate; but simply to tell the story in which he was a character.

These experiences, along with listening to some of my favorite music this week (Avett Brothers, Frank Turner, Wailin’ Jennys, Mavis Staples and of course Hamilton), helped me understand and embrace the role I want to take in this divisive and scary time:  that of someone who brings people together.  I am not a moderate in my political beliefs: my lefthandedness and my leftist priorities are in harmony.  That said, I think it’s time to widen the tent. 

 It troubles me to make this kind of space in some ways.  For example, I never thought I would be cheering on billionaire Eli Broad, a pariah to public educators, except in his vocal opposition to Betsy DeVos.  I also wonder about those folks against abortion who name themselves as feminists.  Do we have to turn in our leftist credentials to include them in an anti-Trump movement?  It’s fine for us to question each other in ways to get each other to think, as in the women of color noting and critiquing the whiteness of the women’s march.  Where were white women in the Black Lives Matter movement, they ask?  I supported that, but I also felt a little queasy seeing it written across a white girl’s stomach at the Newport Folk Festival two years ago.  I have spoken to many white middle class women who don’t quite know what to do.  We don’t want to be colonialist, and we are not sure how to be activists and not speak for oppressed people instead of with them.   I hope this larger resistance will create space for all of us to feel comfortable talking and listening to each other. 

In this larger tent of resistance, I think of Jesus with the loaves and fishes, expanding who can be nourished.  We need the ranters who seem to be at the forefront right now, but we also need strategists and spaceholders.  How can we cultivate unlikely allies such as Eli Broad, anti-abortion feminists and radical people of color?  How about moderate conservatives in Congress who have been afraid to stand up to this administration and their leadership?  Do we all not at least agree that we want Trump and Pence out of the Oval Office?  Even as there may not be compromises on certain issues, I hope that inclusivity and peace can be the hallmarks of this resistance. 

Let’s remember:

-We are the majority.

-We want love and justice for all people.

-Politicians want votes and corporations want our business. 

That is, we have immense power.  Let’s use it.  Together.