I never wanted the time period I write in to become relevant to our current day, yet here we are in the US, rapidly backsliding to the 1890s. I have seen a lot of comparisons to Germany in the late 1930s/1940s, which is certainly apt, but I actually think the 1890s is much closer to our current political climate. While there aren’t Nazis in the 1890s, there was certainly plenty of white supremacy and prejudice to go around, but there’s also a glimmer of hope in regards to what might be to come if we can get our act together.

If you know nothing about the 1890s, the biggest takeaway is that the US was becoming a global superpower while actively working against its people. It was the decade where we had the rise of the Gilded Age. Rockefeller, Carnegie, J. P. Morgan had to bail the country out of an economic downturn, and in return, they thought they should be essentially a silent partner in the US while still calling in favors. Populists gained traction by pointing out that the country was truly divided into the rich and the poor or the robbers vs. the robbed while progressives tried to point out and address the growing inequities in the US. At the same time, the government was raising highly unpopular tariffs, trying to colonize places it had no business being in (in this case Hawaii and the Philippines), and enacting the laws that created what came to be codified racial segregation.

Most of these things we’re seeing with a modern flare. Instead of Morgan and Rockefeller who at least tried to appear philanthropic, we have tech bro oligarchs like Musk and Zuckerberg, and where there were steel mills and factory strikes, we have Amazon and AI to contend with. It’s becoming clearer and clearer that, regardless of race, we are held down by the 1% who need us as cheap, exploited labor, and that the government is needs to step up in order to combat that. Much like in the early 1890s, our current (and past) administration is in bed with them, hoping to profit. On the ground, progressives are trying to make a difference. Rights are being pushed for, unions are created, incremental changes are codified.

What I’m hoping is that right now will be a wake up call. In the latter half of the 1890s, after the unpopular tariffs and the assassination of the president who created them, there was a turning point in America where progressives came into power and tried to create change. It was the path that eventually paved the way for FDR’s New Deal decades later, but at the time, progressives fought against that economic inequity by breaking up monopolies, fighting corruption, and campaigning for things that helped the average person have a better life.

As we watch the policies we have taken for granted that helped so many of us get ripped away by a white supremacist agenda, now is the time to push back. Progressives started from the ground up, local to federal, and that’s what we need most right now. We need people to not comply with policies that spit in the face of democracy, human rights, and decency because if we don’t comply, we slow down the machine and mitigate damage. People in the 1890s threw dynamite at Pinkertons sent to break up a strike, so we must do what we can to slow down the people who seek to destroy all we have gained as country. We cannot go back. We will not go back to Plessy v. Fergusin, to separate but “equal.” We cannot cede the hard earned rights of queer and trans people in the name of compromise.

Now is the time to be bold. The Progressives of the 1890s had Teddy Roosevelt. We have people like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Elizabeth Warren. We have people in this fight who want to do right and keep us from falling into the black hole of fascism and plutocracy, but we have to do our part. On a personal level, we need to push back against the white supremacist rhetoric we hear on a daily basis. DEI is just diversity. Being anti-DEI should be called what it is: segregation and white supremacy. We need to learn history and read books from people who are outside our groups to better understand how to be a good ally and unpack our conscious and unconscious biases.

We also need to be vocal with our elected officials about what we want and what we will accept. The presidential vote is not the only one, so during midterms and local elections, we need to show up and choose our leaders with care because they hold our future in their hands. I have called and emailed my elected officials more this week than I think I have in the past four years. Democracy.io has been very helpful in doing that, and every call and email counts, even if your elected official is a conservative. Friction is friction, and if they receive enough of it, they will slow down.

What helped progressives in the past was holding the feet of those in power to the fire until they had to act. Monopolies must be broken, power must be taken back, and laws that protect marginalized people must be made and/or re-instated. I’m sure during the depression of the early 1890s when corruption was at a high, people thought that it was hopeless too, but it wasn’t. Companies and the rich can be tamed, elected officials can be removed, and there has been no movement in history, whether it’s Nazis or the Confederacy, that lasted.

Hate is not sustainable as long as those who choose love and compassion are willing to gum up the works and protect the vulnerable. Mitigate harm, look to your local community for ways to help and support others, and let’s work our way back up. Progressives have done it once, and we can do it again.

I promise I will get back to more writing posts, but at the same time, I refuse to let this become the new normal.