Email: A Personal Plea to Take a Stand

Email:

Date: 10/8/2025

Subject: A personal plea to take a stand

To my friends, family, neighbors, and subscribers,

I am visiting the Rijsk Museum in Amsterdam, which has a remarkable collection of paintings, sculptures, furniture, and objects dating back to 1100. 

The item that most captured my attention was a simple, embroidered handkerchief – not great art, but definitely an item of personal interest.

Here is a photo of the handkerchief, which measures about 12” x 12” and the museum’s label: 

“Camp Reichenbach,” Embroidered Handkerchief, by Agatha Abrahamina (Atie) Siegenbeek van Heukelom (1913-2002)

cotton and silk, 1944

After being imprisoned in Amsterdam, Atie Siegenbeek was transferred through Camp Vught (Netherlands) and then Ravensbrück to the Reichenbach concentration camp. There, she was forced to work in an underground electronics factory. Recording these daily camp scenes, embroidered on a wash cloth, was an act of resistance. The scenes, accompanied by captions, criticized the camp regime. It was crucial that she not be caught with this handkerchief by a camp guard.

I know you have received more emails from me about democracy than you desired; and for that I apologize. 

But every day I awake, and worry that my kids and grandkids are going to have to live in a world like the one inhabited by Atie Siegenbeek.

I can’t sit quietly and let this happen. 

While I, and many others, believe democracy is already in America’s rear view mirror, see: competitive authoritarianism/NYTimes, judicial system/NYTimes, and ICE/ProPublica, I still believe, that the efforts of the many pro-democracy Americans will ensure that we prevent this catastrophe from happening. 

Erica Chenoweth and Maria J. Stephan have studied authoritarianism and found that pro-democracy movements are most likely to succeed when 3.5% of the population (11 million Americans) repeatedly participate in nonviolent, pro-democracy campaigns. 

As of yet, we remain far short of 11 million rally participants.

In an effort to intimidate and silence America’s pro-democracy voices, Trump has begun deploying his personal army (ICE, National Guard, US military) in our cities.

You can help thwart Trump’s authoritarian play by attending one of the upcoming pro-democracy No Kings rallies on 10/18/25, that will take place in more than 2,150 cities.

If we all act now, we can show Trump, his enablers, our judges, civil servants, and the US military that Americans overwhelmingly want to peacefully end this authoritarian nightmare, and now may be their last chance to choose to be on the right side of history.

If we don’t act now, it will not be long before Trump abolishes our right to protest — as has occurred in every modern authoritarian regime — from Russia and China to Turkey, Hungary, Iran, Venezuela, and Egypt — where citizens who once marched freely now risk imprisonment.

Please attend a No Kings rally on Saturday, October 18 at one of the ten “Anchor City” sites: San Francisco, Boston, New York City, Washington DC, Kansas City, Chicago, Atlanta, New Orleans, Bozeman, and Honolulu, where 10s-100s of thousands will assemble. If an Anchor City location is not an option, join a local No Kings rally, as there will be a rally within driving distance of your home. Definitely encourage a friend or two to join you – numbers matter!

Boston’s rally will take place on the Boston Common, noon-3 PM. If you attend, please look for my banner and stop by to say hello.  

Some people may believe that their circumstances will forever protect their families from the terror of the authoritarian state. Before you get too comfortable, I suggest you reread Martin Niemoeller‘s poem.

I Refuse to Stay Silent. Will You? is an eloquent essay about the state of democracy in America. Please share it with your friends.

Thank you for your time,