Today, I’m giving, for a second time, a presentation called “Now What? Steps for Sustainable Action.” I’m at The Gatesworth, a senior living center in the St. Louis area.

This virtual handout will be very similar to the previous one, but St. Louis was hit by a tornado since then, so I’m including additional resources. Our history of activism in St. Louis meant that we were able to provide what is being called the People’s Response, beginning immediately after the storm. Activism in our region, today, includes gathering needed resources and getting them to people who need them.

I also have new resource pages to share since my A to Z Challenge this year was all about activism.

Introduction

Upcoming book discussions by the Community for Understanding and Hope Book Group.

Thursday, June 19, 2025. On Juneteenth by Annette Gordon-Reed
7:00 pm, Mudd’s Grove, 302 W. Argonne Dr.

Thursday, July 17, 2025. Against Technoableism: Rethinking Who Needs Improvement by Ashley Shew
7:00 pm, Meeting Room, Kirkwood Public Library, 140 East Jefferson Ave.

Thursday, August 21, 2025. James by Percival Everett
7:00 pm, Meeting Room, Kirkwood Public Library, 140 East Jefferson Ave.

Books by black women that inspire community and activism:

• The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson
• Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in America by Melissa V. Harris-Perry
• Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools by Monique Morris
• The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together by Heather McGhee
• The 1619 Project edited by Nikole Hannah-Jones
• Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds by Adrienne Maree Brown

Step 1. Self-Care.

Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.
~Audre Lorde

Dr. Kira Banks, professor of psychology at St. Louis University, is leading a year-long book club on YouTube to explore A Year of Self-Love Journal:52 weeks of prompts and practices for loving who you are by Jamila I. White. The weekly prompts and videos are short – so it’s not too late to catch up if you want to use this resource to practice self-care.

Atlas of the Heart by Brené Brown (my book review)

Feelings Wheel (pdf) (from University of Central Arkansas)

How do I talk about politics at work? (Dr. Kira Banks video)

Being White Today: A Roadmap for A Positive Antiracist Life by Christine Saxman, Shelly Tochluk (book information from The StoryGraph)

Step 2. Community.

Erica Chenoweth explained the 3.5% rule at a TEDx Talk. A look at the history of resistance to governments, including authoritarian ones, found that nonviolent campaigns nearly always succeeded

after they had achieved the active and sustained participation of just 3.5 percent of the population.

A follow-up discussion paper in 2020 uncovered a couple of exceptions but still contained a lot of hope for sustained activism.

Step 3. Action.

198 Methods of Nonviolent Action (pdf) (from the Albert Einstein Institution at Brandeis University).

How to contact elected officials: P is for Phone Calls.

How to write op-eds, letters to the editor, and public statements: O is for Op-Eds.

Ideas for donations that support actions: G is for Give Generously.
In the wake of the May 16 tornadoes in St. Louis, I’m also supporting Action St. Louis as they coordinate volunteers and donations to best serve the people who were impacted.

Mobilize.us is a great site to find events, including the closest NO KINGS protest on June 14, 2025.

How to visit your state capital: L is for Lobbying.