Letter to the Editor: Bruin Democrats vows to exercise civil rights during Trump tenure

In order to hold the president and his Congress accountable for maintaining and extending to all Americans the rights enshrined in our Constitution and restoring trust in the political process, we Bruin Democrats pledge ourselves to a persistent and probing exercise of civil rights in the following ways:

First, we will continue to help elect progressive candidates to local, state and federal offices. Once elected, we will hold them accountable through direct communication, social media and physical assembly.

Second, we will protest the legislative and public acts of the president and the feckless Republican leaders who continue to enable, rather than restrain, him. Those who would forsake their country and fellow patriots of any creed, color, gender or national origin for personal gain must be recognized and castigated at the ballot box, in the halls of power and on the streets. To that end, we invite you first to walk out of class today and join us in protest as Chief Justice John Roberts swears our republican democracy’s most immediate contemporary threat into its highest office.

Third, we will renew our commitment to our fellow Angelenos and invite you to join us in our quest to strengthen the weakest in our community, which began Saturday at the Los Angeles Foodbank and will continue on a monthly basis.

Those who voted for the Republican nominee made a choice that is already undermining American institutions and the values that we hold dear. Our president-elect ran a campaign rooted in xenophobia, white supremacy and ignorant disregard for the Constitution. His dark history – ranging from shirking responsibility for construction contracts to the admitted assault of a number of women – suggests that he will have little patience for the responsibilities of his office and the inviolable rights of everyone chasing an American dream. We hope you will join us in the fight to keep those rights – and keep going.

Jack Price
Policy director, Bruin Democrats