As a queer, formerly undocumented woman of color and Mexican immigrant, last year’s election shook me to my core. The millions of Americans who voted for Trump’s obscenely xenophobic platform left me feeling helpless. As I finished out my time in school, grappling to reclaim my power and that of my community, I pledged to work towards resourcing movements that insist on everyone’s right to live with real safety in the place they call home.
I joined WRL’s national office a couple of months ago as a Freeman Intern, and took on the challenging task of coordinating our fall phone banking efforts. I've since witnessed firsthand how much WRL depends on individuals like you to support our ongoing work. The work of raising what we need to to keep WRL’s work going happens slowly, one gift at a time. Each day I come into work, it’s so meaningful to know my labor helps sustain WRL's work maintaining strong counter-recruitment efforts, producing new organizing resources, and running national campaigns to shift our resources to meet real community needs instead of paying for war.
Issues that I care about like economic and racial justice are interconnected issues, and our collective resistance depends upon successful coalition building. WRL has been doing this intergenerational and cross movement work for almost a century. As I look ahead to my next step, I'm grateful for the foundation WRL has given me as I continue to foster my lifelong commitment to movement building.
In solidarity,
Dennise Hernandez
