BRIEF: Hands off!
Big thought, small step, deep breath — for April 4, 2025
BIG THOUGHT
Come together
When we talked to messaging guru Anat Shenker-Osorio yesterday, one of the final questions was about messaging for tomorrow’s “Hands Off!” nationwide day of action. The folks who asked had in mind messaging at the event — what to put on signs and banners, songs and chants — but Shenker-Osorio gave a very different kind of response, and it’s one worth thinking about and acting on today, and maybe every day, because it captures a basic truth about how movements gets built. Getting out in the street and making your voice heard doesn’t necessarily come naturally to people. It’s a learned behavior.
So the first message is not the message that you write on a sign. The first message is: How many people who have never been to a protest are you personally asking? So that is the first thing that I want to tell you.
We just have new data back that shows an inordinate number of people who at least claim that they would participate say the reason that they haven't is because they haven't been asked to do so.
Organizing simply means asking people to do so.
So, before you make your sign, figure out who your buddies are that you're asking to come. That's really important.
It’s even more important when you consider another point that came up during the discussion: most people, across the ideological spectrum, want similar things from life. Getting people on your side isn’t a question of getting them to think something so much as it is of getting them to feel something. You don’t need to bore people with details to get through — in fact, that can be counterproductive, even alienating.
It’s the difference between saying, “We should have universal paid family leave because studies have shown that universal paid family leave is actually good for our economy, and it promotes child-parent bonding. And also the studies have, you know…”
And saying, “This is America. You should be there the first time your newborn smiles.”
Sometimes you need the details, but more often than not, that comes later. Offering a hand, extending an invitation, calling in — those are the things that make people feel, and more importantly, they make people feel like they belong. When we talk about emotion being the battleground of politics — and we’ve done that a lot in this newsletter — we’re not dismissing that as something bad. At the most basic level, this is what we’re talking about — offering a way into community. Do it together!
SMALL STEP
“Hands Off!” together
Tomorrow’s the day to get out there. The nationwide “Hands Off!” rallies are shaping up to be the biggest coordinated day of protests against the Trump-Musk administration so far, and they’ll be even bigger if you and yours are involved. Make your voices heard, together, and let the Trump-Musk regime know that America isn’t theirs to take.
Make a plan to attend an event in your hometown, make your sign, and most importantly, ask friends, neighbors, and family to join in, especially those who’ve never participated in a protest before. As we just discussed, bringing new people in is the entire point.
DEEP BREATH
More fight songs
Earlier in the week, we started making a playlist together, and it’s just kept on growing (we’ve dropped almost 150 tunes into the mix already). It’s a perfect soundtrack for this weekend, or any situation where you plan to get into good trouble. Keep the suggestions coming (they’ve been surprising and wonderful), and we’ll continue to add to this.
A programming note: More Live conversations!
Join us next week for two great live discussions. On Tuesday, April 8, at 11:00 a.m. Eastern, we’ll be speaking with the author, documentarian, and political commentator Joy-Ann Reid, and on Thursday, April 10, at 12:30 p.m. Eastern, the philosopher and author Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò will join us. We hope to see you for both!
To join and watch, download the Substack app (click on the button below) and turn on notifications — you’ll get an alert that we’re live and you can watch from your iOS or Android mobile device. And if you haven’t already, subscribe to The Ink to access full videos of past conversations and to join the chat during our live events.
Retired communication and journalism prof here. Your show with Anat yesterday was one of the best discussions I’ve seen/heard in recent memory that actually helps people meet this moment. Thank you, more please!
Thank you for the playlist, your wise words and intelligent guests. I am a child of the 60s who marched against Vietnam and applauded Woodward and Bernstein as they took down an evil President. For decades, America has been too complacent. We woke up too late but it’s encouraging to see people willing to fight. We can’t be scared or they will win. We all need to be Cory Bookers in a way that makes us just a tad uncomfortable. Thanks again for not being afraid to tell the truth.