Healing our divides
by Alison Beyea
There are two truths from Election Day that we all must reconcile. Voters turned out in unprecedented numbers to restore and protect our democracy, and to reject the anticivil rights and anti-civil liberties agenda of the current administration. But more than 70 million voters, including a majority of voters in Maine’s Second Congressional District, still marked Donald Trump’s name on their ballots.
The stark divide in our country and state shows that we must remain engaged and committed to the work ahead–to rebuild our democracy and to turn back four years of cruel and targeted assaults on our most vulnerable residents: immigrants, communities of color—especially Black communities, and the LGBTQ community.
We must push to re-establish the rule of law and to ensure that laws are just and compassionate. We have an obligation to do the hard work of bringing our country together and bridging the divides that President Trump and his allies have worked so hard to exploit.
In the winter, we’ll be starting a new legislative session. Alongside our partners and activists, we will keep up the summer’s momentum for racial justice through efforts to enact bail reform and drug decriminalization, alongside other bills. Your ACLU of Maine will keep nurturing the seeds of justice, no matter the political party in power, so that the Constitution’s promise to “we the people” bears fruit for all of us.