I'll Keep My Signs Up

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It is 69 days since the 2024 election, and the eve of Inauguration Day when Donald Trump will stand in front of the U.S. Capitol...

Scratch that, he gets too chilly.

...when Donald Trump will be inside the U.S. Capitol, surrounded by a cohort of his peers, including CEO of Facebook and owner of WhatsApp and Instagram, Mark Zuckerberg; CEO of Amazon and owner of the Washington Post, Jeff Bezos; and CEO of Twitter and owner of Tesla and SpaceX, Elon Musk.

Feels right.

We live upstairs in a multi-family home on a street filled with other houses full of families, and while I never put a campaign sign in the yard, I still have two up in the window. It's a big front window that is hard to miss by the many, many deliveries from Amazon, kids walking by on their way to school, neighbors leaving for work. On the left, "Madame President," bright pink in Barbie font; on the right "Harris Walz." All around town the political signs have disappeared, though there are more than a few Trump flags left, but overall things have quieted down. And my kids want to know when I'll do the same.

Not anytime soon.

Because it's not about an election won or lost now, it's about a message, a "dog whistle" if you will. A not-so quiet indication of where we stand as new rules pop up over the next four years that will do their best to erase history.

CivilRights.org

It's not lost on me that Inauguration Day is Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday, a time when we celebrate diversity and civil rights. And yet I look around and wonder where those civil rights will go when birthright citizenship begins to disappear. Even here, a sanctuary state where my kids play with friends from Russia, India, Pakistan, Italy, Ukraine, Peru, Mexico, Venezuela, and China, where they've worked so hard to stand out in their classes and speak English better than I ever could. The ones whose grandparents and great-grandparents walk them to the bus stop in the cold, wrapped up against the winds they didn't have back home. The little huddled masses so excited to catch up every morning in bouncy and bright conversation from which I can pick out only a few words. Our crossing guard. The kid with the beagle. The little Italian Grandpa who stoops and crosses against the light. The moms who scoop up all the kids in the neighborhood whose mothers go to work early. All immigrants. All like a big family that I can only observe from the sidelines.

I'll keep the signs up for them.

News.VA.gov

I think of the little boy who plays soccer on my son's team, who surprised us all by transforming into a beautiful dancer at the school recital, never touching the ground as he showed us his true passion. I think of the checker at Target who my kids don't even think to question, but I know how hard they worked to be recognized. I think of the trainer at the gym who's so kind and so helpful, and doesn’t want you to see their gender, just their person. I think of the timid kids bunching together in community at after-school clubs, finding their voices and learning to be proud of who they are, instead of trying to change for everyone else.

I'll keep the signs up for them.

2024 Women’s March, Washington D.C.

And the girls who still have to fight. Fight to earn their way. Fight for equal pay. Fight off attackers. Fight for their own bodies. Fight to join the military. Fight for every breath of existence in a world that has suddenly started spinning in reverse.

I'll keep the signs up for them.

What about the families who are struggling to survive, earning a paycheck that doesn't cover their bills because they're taxed higher than the billionaire down the street? What about families on WIC and SNAP, programs threatened by Project 2025? What about families of federal employees, their jobs at risk?

I'll keep the signs up for them.

It is only recently that WIC has become a target of conservatives seeking to slash government funding. In the 1990s and 2000s, WIC for the most part enjoyed bipartisan support. But House Republicans have been seeking to slash WIC since 2012, when they proposed cuts of $243m. -- The Guardian

My kids are in school. Your kids are in school, or they were, or they will be. What about them? What happens when all the requirements for math, and science, and reading have disappeared? What happens when they're told that college doesn't matter anymore? What happens when the choir, the band, the drama class, and all the art classes just vanish? What happens when the teachers disappear, replaced by self-taught adults who couldn't pass geometry and don't read, or want to ban books all together?

I'll keep the signs up for them.

Sandy Hook Victims - CNN

And Daniel Barden (7). And Olivia Engel (6). And Alyssa Alhadeff (14). And Martin Duque Anguiano (14). And Layla Salazar (11). And Jackie Cazares (9). And every child, teacher, and helper who lost their lives for simply going to school, because Congress refuses to enact the same basic gun restrictions as our neighbors to the north. Since 1999 Canada has seen 3 school shootings. The United States has seen more than 400.

I'll keep the signs up for them.

I'll keep the signs up to show that I do not support mass deportation, and my home is a safe space. I'll keep the signs up to show that I support gender-affirming care, and my home is a safe space. I'll keep the signs up to show that kids who identify as LGBTQ are equal and deserving, and my home is a safe space. I'll keep the signs up to show that if you worship in a way that looks like me, or in a way that doesn't look like me, my home is a safe space. I'll keep the signs up to show that if you speak like me, or don't, if you look like me, or don't, if you were born like me, or weren't, my home is a safe space.

I'll keep the signs up to show that violent mobs shouldn't be pardoned, that Black Lives Matter, and Felons will always be held accountable for their actions. I'll keep the signs up to show that women and sexual assault victims should be believed. I'll keep the signs up to show that social media is free expression and should not be a competition between countries and billionaires. I'll keep the signs up to show that even when you didn't, I voted on your behalf, and that my home is a safe space for you, too.

Tonight TikTok went dark - I hope temporarily - but symbolic of the many, many things that might go dark in the next four years.

I've set my beacon in the window. Have you?

Ellie is an author, editor, and owner of Red Pencil Transcripts, and works with filmmakers, podcasts, and journalists all over the world. She lives with her family just outside of New York City, and is represented by Vicki Marsdon at High Spot Literary.