What You Should Know About Today’s Pledge of Liberation and Nationwide Sit-Ins

While this year’s Inauguration Day Women’s March was celebrated worldwide, even making history, the struggle certainly isn’t over. That’s why today’s Pledge of Liberation is now sweeping across activist communities while nationwide sit-ins are in action. Here’s what you need to know.

A joint effort by many groups working to keep the country moving forward in progressive ways, the Pledge of Liberation, is asking you to sign in order to “recommit [yourself] to resistance work — and to each other” to “collectively stand for dignity, justice and freedom in the face of attacks on our health care, our identities and our lives.”

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Today, we pledge our allegiance to the collective liberation of all our communities. Six months since Election Day, we call for a nationwide day of action to reaffirm our commitment to each other and our collective liberation in response to this administration’s constant stream of dangerous and discriminatory Executive Orders, and to Congress’ repeated attacks on our health care, our identities, and our lives. We cannot pledge allegiance to an administration that oppresses and harms us. Instead, we pledge allegiance to the liberation of all people. We pledge allegiance to each other. #PledgeOfLiberation • IMAGE DESCRIPTION: White background with blue text, all caps letters reads “We pledge our allegiance to.” Below that, in red text, all caps letters, reads “The collective liberation of all our communities.” The hashtag “Pledge of liberation” appears in the bottom left corner in blue text. The circular Women’s March logo appears in the bottom right corner.

A post shared by Women's March (@womensmarch) on May 8, 2017 at 6:01am PDT

The folks behind the Women’s March explain, “Today, we pledge our allegiance to the collective liberation of all our communities. Six months since Election Day, we call for a nationwide day of action to reaffirm our commitment to each other and our collective liberation in response to this administration’s constant stream of dangerous and discriminatory Executive Orders, and to Congress’ repeated attacks on our health care, our identities, and our lives.”

That’s why they’ve introduced the Pledge of Liberation, saying, “We cannot pledge allegiance to an administration that oppresses and harms us. Instead, we pledge allegiance to the liberation of all people. We pledge allegiance to each other. #PledgeOfLiberation” Inspiring!

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Today’s #SignOfResistance is by @nicolaslampert via @justseeds. On Monday, May 8, along with ACLU People Power, United We Dream, Hollaback!, National Lawyers Guild, The Gathering for Justice, and other national and local partners, we will take our resistance directly to our members of Congress. We will send a clear message that we will rise up, together, against attacks on our health care, our identities, and our religious freedoms. We no longer accept hollow reforms or compromises that help some of our communities but harm others. We will hold demonstrations in solidarity with communities around the country and collectively fight for dignity, justice and freedom. We are all part of one movement, and we are not only stronger and more powerful together—our unity is how we survive as people, organizations, and movements. Just as we pledge our allegiance to each other, we will remind our members of Congress of their allegiance to us—the voters. We ask that this allegiance come in the form of real resistance to this administration’s efforts to divide and harm us. This means, among many things, protecting our health care, voting against attempts to further legalize discrimination and violence, and voting for a federal budget that reflects the values five million people marched for on January 21, 2017. (Link in bio) Sign the #PledgeOfLiberation: bit.ly/PledgeOfLiberation Find a demonstration near you or register your own: bit.ly/PledgeDayOfAction • IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A poster in a pink and black filter from a march in front of the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. A large crowd of people appear holding protest signs. Going vertically down the poster is a column of words written in all caps, white text. The words are “Protest, organize, occupy, walk out, resist, strike, shut it down.”

A post shared by Women's March (@womensmarch) on May 5, 2017 at 10:02am PDT

And that certainly isn’t the only action making waves today. Other folks are stepping up by preparing to sit down. In order to call more attention to their efforts, the Women’s March organizers are carrying out a series of sit-ins at congressional offices across the country. “Our resistance movements are more focused than ever,” the website says, adding, “We know these issues are interrelated. The attacks on queer and trans people, on disabled people, on Black, brown and Indigenous people, on immigrants, on poor people, on Muslim and Jewish people, the attacks on health care and the environment, the rendering of violence against women as a pre-existing condition — these are all one assault on our fundamental rights to live with dignity, autonomy and liberty.” Strong words for a turbulent time, absolutely.

Let’s just remember to keep moving forward together. Because (and it’s so very true), we’re stronger together.

What do you think about the Pledge of Liberation and sit-ins? Let us know @BritandCo!

(h/t Romper; photo via Mario Tama/Getty)