Add Your Name to the Open Letter: Stand Up to Donald Trump’s Violence & Bigotry

Please join this call to action by adding your name in the form on this page to sign this open letter.

To our brothers and sisters:

This is a five-alarm fire for our democracy.

A hate-peddling bigot who openly incites violence is the likely presidential nominee of one of our nation's two major parties. It is alarming and dangerous.

Donald Trump’s candidacy is a threat to the America we love, and we must respond to him and what he is stoking as such—with a nonviolent movement grounded in love and community that ensures that he never comes anywhere near the White House, and perhaps even more importantly, makes clear to every other politician and every person in the United States that racist demagoguery is a dead-end political strategy that most Americans reject.

We do that by being ourselves—by demonstrating the kind of resilient, diverse, prosperous nation that we must build for the sake of our lives, our families, and the potential of our country.

That’s why today we are calling for a massive nonviolent mobilization of working people, students, immigrants, children of immigrants, great-great-grandchildren of immigrants, people of color and white people, the unemployed and under-employed, people of faith, retirees, veterans, women, and men—anyone who opposes bigotry and hate and loves freedom and justice—to stand up to Trump's bullying and bigotry.

Please join us, today, by adding your name or organization to this open letter.

Racism, sexism, misogyny, and xenophobia are the currency of Donald Trump's campaign.  Perhaps most troubling, Trump has repeatedly incited and praised violence against those whom he belittles and with whom he disagrees. He has shown little respect for the Constitution and the pluralistic values that define our nation at its best.

He peddles the same right-wing agenda holding back working families and their communities: low wages, massive tax cuts for the wealthy, mass incarceration, denial of climate change, unraveling protections for workers’ rights, attacks on immigrants, including undocumented immigrants, attacks on LGBTQ rights, and more.

If Trump all but locks up the Republican nomination Tuesday night, he’ll no doubt change his tune for the general election; he’s a master propagandist. We must not forget that this is who Trump is:

"Maybe he should have been roughed up."

"I'd like to punch him in the face."

"Knock the crap out of 'em, would you? Seriously. Okay? Just knock the hell — I promise you, I will pay for the legal fees. I promise. I promise."

He longs for the "old days" when dissenters would be "carried out on stretchers."

Trump's campaign has assaulted journalists. He has stoked anti-Muslim racism by lying about September 11 and calling for the closing of U.S. borders to one quarter of the world’s people based on religion. He has slandered Mexican Americans and immigrants, denigrated women, and insulted people with disabilities. And the list goes on.

We can not allow this hate-baiter anywhere near the White House, and we will not accept the legitimization of hateful, bullying, and authoritarian politics. This is about more than an election; this is about the tide of history. Who will write it: Donald Trump, or us?

If the Republican Party nominates Donald Trump for president—and the odds are it will—there's every reason to believe he has a serious shot at winning the general election. We cannot afford to underestimate him until it's too late, as many Republicans now regret having done during the primaries. If we wait to see how things shake out to make our plans, it’ll be too late and November will come sooner than anyone thinks.

We call for:

• Non-violent mobilization and organizing. What could this look like in your community? 500 families rallying against hate at the high school football stadium, or 50,000 marching in the streets of your city for love and against hate. Door to door conversations about the values that make our democracy thrive. Teach-ins on the importance of confronting hate. Letters to the editor. Vigorous social media presence. Prayer vigils. Yes, yes, and yes.
  
  
• Asking every media outlet, corporation, and office-holder—from the school board on up to Congress—"Will you condemn Trump’s racism, misogyny and xenophobia?" No one’s off the hook. Decades of dog-whistle politics from political, corporate, and media  elites rigging institutions and the economy in their favor at most people's expense have fertilized the ground that Trump is now tilling for his own gain.
  
  
• A voting renaissance. We know that a majority of Americans reject hate-baiting and racism—if we vote, we stop Trump, and we show that our country is better than this. We can do that while building an even more powerful progressive majority. We need to build a massive volunteer effort to door-knock, phone bank and have real conversations with voters of color, new U.S. citizens, women, Muslim-Americans, working class voters and white voters. It’s that simple.

We have seen the power of movement through the courageous acts of the Dreamers, the Movement for Black Lives, workers fighting for $15 and a union, people fighting for gender equality and against anti-women legislation sweeping the land, and more. If we stand together in this moment across movements and build together we will not only stop Trump, but continue to create a country that protects and respects the dignity and humanity of all people and allows us all to prosper and thrive.

Please, join this call to action as though our democracy and our lives depend on it. They do.

Signed (Affiliations are shown for informational purposes only and do not imply endorsement by the organization)

Anna Galland & Ilya Sheyman, MoveOn.org
Ana Maria Archila, Center for Popular Democracy Action
Deepak Bhargava, Center for Community Change Action
May Boeve, 350 Action  
Michael Brune, Sierra Club
Rea Carey, National LGBTQ Task Force Action Fund
Judith Browne Dianis, Advancement Project
Alexandra Flores-Quilty, United States Students Association
Cristina Jimenez, United We Dream Action
George Goehl, National People's Action Campaign
Sarita Gupta, Jobs With Justice
Ilyse Hogue, NARAL Pro-Choice America
Annie Leonard, Greenpeace USA
Heather McGhee, Demos Action
Ai-jen Poo, Domestic Worker Legacy Fund
Rashad Robinson, ColorOfChange
Angelica Salas, CHIRLA Action Fund
Linda Sarsour, MPowerChange.org
Eveline Shen, Forward Together
Service Employees International Union (SEIU)
Miya Yoshitani, APEN Action

Natalia Abrams, Student Debt Crisis
AFL-CIO
Fred Azcarate, USAction
Dante Barry, Million Hoodies Movement for Justice
Phyllis Bennis, Institute for Policy Studies
Jamie Beran, Bend the Arc
Heather Booth, Democracy Partners
Robert Borosage, Campaign for America's Future
Chris Bowers, Daily Kos
Anna Burger, Gettysburg Project on Civic Engagement
Gregory Cendana, Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance
Charles Chamberlain, Democracy for America
Malkia Cyril, Center for Media Justice
Laura Dawn, ART NOT WAR
David Donnelly, Every Voice
Jodie Evans, CODEPINK
James Gollin, Angelica Foundation
Adam Green and Stephanie Taylor, Progressive Change Campaign Committee
PaKou Her, 18MillionRising.org
Matt Howard, Iraq Veterans Against the War
Rabbi Jill Jacobs, T'ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights
Taj James, Movement Strategy Center
Brad Johnson, Climate Hawks Vote
Michael Keegan, People For the American Way
M Kent, Jews for Racial & Economic Justice
Idit Klein, Keshet
Eddie Kurtz, Courage Campaign
Don Kusler, Americans for Democratic Action
Abby Levine, Jewish Social Justice Roundtable
B Loewe, Mijente
Lupe Lopez, Alliance for Citizenship
Make the Road Action
Matt Nelson, Presente.org
Nick Nyhart, Every Voice Center
Brant Olson, ClimateTruth.org
Edith Sargon and Ben Goldfarb, Wellstone Action
David Segal, Demand Progress
Frank Sharry, America's Voice
Joel Silberman, Democracy Partners
Dara Silverman, Showing Up for Racial Justice
Jon Soltz, VoteVets
Shaunna Thomas, UltraViolet
Jodie Tonita, Social Transformation Project
Randi Weingarten, American Federation of Teachers
Billy Wimsatt, Gamechanger Networks
Winnie Wong, People For Bernie
Brian Young, Action Network
Murshed Zaheed, CREDO

Laura Henzel, BUST Magazine
Annemarie Roche, Boutique Productions
Cate Woolner, Racial Justice Rising
Sally Kohn, writer and television commentator
Maryanne Natale, NASW National Association of Social Workers
Veronica Tessler, Mission Iowa City
Uyen Doan, Center for Popular Democracy
Robbins Hail, Bear Creek Farms
Ann Keirns, First Presbyterian Church of Hayward
Helen Bennett, Moishe Kavod House
Margaret Kassen, Hidden Valley Camp
Valdemar San Miguel, Democracy Spring-Media team
Kip Silverman, MoveFood.org
Mary Martin, B'er Chayim Temple
Todd Gitlin, Columbia University
Johanna Hester, Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance
Linda Belans, The KIPP Foundation
Irene Vilar, Americas for Conservation
Kimberly Kent, SEIUHCILIN
Theresa Sterner, Virginia Commonwealth University
Kristen Zimmerman, Movement Strategy Center
Ellen Prokopow, Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Andover
Margli Auclair, Mt. Diablo Peace & Justice Center
Sherri Jaquays, Lauren Jaquays lgbtq Youth Alliance
Danielle Feris, generative somatics (staff), Jews for Racial & Economic Justice (member)
Rabbi Yanklowitz, Valley Beit Midrash
Tom Swan, CCAG - CT Citizen Action Group
Rabbi Goldberg, Congregation Kol Tzedek
Casey Skoog, Portland State University
Liz Butler, Movement Strategy Center
Maura Minsky, Scenarios USA
Jessica Wender-Shubow, Brookline Educators Union
Caitlyn Duer, Demos
Anne Borrell, The Healing Home
Sara Zebovitz, Habonim Dror North America
Chris Savage, Eclectablog/Savage New Media LLC
Josie Lehrer, Men's Story Project
Matt Leonard, 350.org
Kody Salzburn, Auburn University at Montgomery
Al Markowitz, Partisan Press
Christine Ahn, Women cross Dmz
Merrill Cole, Western Illinois University
Teressa Raiford, Don't Shoot PDX a Community Action Plan
Jodi Lundin, NARAL Pro-Choice Colorado
Evan Feeney, ColorOfChange
Jennifer Fischer, Think Ten Media Group
Jon Henry, Old Furnace Artist Residency
Emily Southard, ClimateTruth.org
Susan Glisson, Winter Institute
Barb Howard, NOW
Shana Berger, Middlesex Community College
Kimberlie McClain, City Garden Montessori
Jill Severson, Buddhist Peace Fellowship
Hillary Brooks, Movement Strategy Center
Meredith Fenton, Fenton Communications
Rachel Dangermond, Transracial Parenting
Wayne Braffman, Kennett Area Democrats
Janet Knoll, Pinestone Ranch Host Home for the disabled
Sharyl Brannon-Abbaspour, Coburg City Councilor
Jonathan Everhart, SEIU-UHW
Daniel Dozier, Smoot Tewes Group
Lorelei Villarosa, Philanthropic Initiative for Racial Equity
Cathy Albisa, National Economic and Social Rights Initiative
Aneesah Peace, Oregon Assembly for Black Affairs
Janeen Comenote, National Urban Indian Family Coalition
Sean King, Sandia Mesa Animation Studios
Holly Zahn, Imagining America
Ralph Stalter, Clark County Theatre Center
David Dehlendorf, San Juan County Democrats (WA)
Adam Hasz, SustainUS
Sarah Hope, The Solutions Project
Noah Winer, Dragonfly Partners
Jason Hays, Evanston Firefighters IAFF Local 742
Maria Estrada, University of Utah

And more than 1500 others and counting...