None of us have any idea what the country and the world will look like by the time you read this letter. Here is what we do know: anti- immigrant hate has been so normalized by this president and his Republican abettors that Congressional candidate for the 11th district, Rosemary Becchi, loudly said in a video many of us have seen and shared that an undocumented person with a broken leg should be denied treatment at an American hospital.

Of course, this is illegal and unethical, and many have responded to the video as I have, by redoubling our efforts to defeat this kind of hatred at the polls. So I hope that by the time you read this, Mikie Sherrill has been re-elected to the Congress for the 11th and the Biden/Harris ticket has won and that despite his threats, the current president has stepped down and that the transfer of power is peaceful.

One way to take care of yourself in the coming weeks of uncertainty is to counter Becchi’s and the current president’s hate with action. Consider volunteering with First Friends to help immigrants in detention in our own Essex County (FirstFriendsNJNY.org). There are many ways for the work that many of us have done against right wing hate to continue, and this is just one example, but I hope that when the dust settles, we remember that there are people locked up in our own county who need people of conscience to volunteer to help.

The work against hate continues.