WE ARE INDIVISIBLE TENNESSEE
Indivisible Tennessee is a loose network of engaged citizens — one of many such groups that have emerged since November — dedicated to opposing the Trump agenda within our own congressional districts by calling, meeting with, and if necessary peacefully protesting, our representatives and senators. Recent town halls have given us the opportunity to speak passionately about issues that are, particularly in the case of any repeal of the Affordable Care Act, a matter of life and death for many of us or our loved ones. However, neither the Indivisible Guide nor Indivisible Tennessee call for or tolerate abuse, threats, or vandalism and we disavow anyone who behaves otherwise.
Indivisible Tennessee’s focus is primarily federal policy. However, as recent news reports make clear, there has also been a groundswell of Tennesseans determined to speak up in defense of their friends, neighbors, and communities against state and local laws that are discriminatory, undemocratic, or just plain mean.
What the reports also make clear is that a number of state and federal legislators interpret dissent as a threat — which is particularly ironic since many of them rode to power on a wave of rowdy and disruptive conservative
demonstrations themselves.
America was built on dissent — that’s why the right to do so is written into the First Amendment. Yet those legislators have attempted to delegitimize their dissenting constituents as merely paid operatives of some shadowy, unknown group.
We are not. Nobody has to pay us because our values aren’t for sale. And those values are probably not that different from yours: We believe every Tennessean and every American deserves the dignity of a living wage; access to affordable health care and medications; the right to worship in peace; safe, supportive education for our children; food cultivated in clean air, soil, and water; and equal protection for our families under the law. We believe America deserves a transparent government that is free from conflicts of interest; that refuses to surrender our global leadership in scientific investment and innovation; that provides wisely considered, apolitical leadership for our military; that administers a compassionate and efficient immigration system; and that honors the commitment it has made to American workers by preserving Social Security and Medicare so that our retired and disabled citizens can live with dignity. We will defend those values whenever they are threatened with our voices and our votes.
We are real Tennesseans with real families. We are your friends, neighbors, and coworkers. We send our children to the same schools, shop at the same stores, and pay just as many taxes as you do. We are independents, Democrats, Green Party members, and yes, even Republicans disgusted by what Trumpism is doing to this country.
Maybe that’s what those legislators are really afraid of.
Margaret Hill is the leader of the Indivisible of Greater Chattanooga: Coming Together for America for Tennessee’s Third Congressional District. Contact her at msmj.hill@epbfi.com.