Earlier this year, we began a series right here on Substack to go over our 10 Steps to Freedom and Power — what each of them are, what they entail, and what we can do today to slow the march towards autocracy.
Authoritarians want us to feel alone.
They want us confused about what words mean, cut off from our neighbors, too exhausted or too scared to push back. It’s their strategy: divide people, flood them with noise, make them doubt what they know, and they stop organizing, showing up for each other, and eventually go quiet.
Step 7: Deny in our 10 Steps to Freedom and Power is about refusing to go quiet. Denying means staying loud, connected, and making it harder — every single day — for those in power to pretend that what’s happening is normal business.
Don’t Let Them Twist Our Language
When language gets twisted, authoritarians grow more powerful. That’s why it’s important to call things what they are and not let them take ownership of our language. Take for example, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion or ‘DEI’.
Diversity: Means all people.
Equity: Means fair access to opportunity.
Inclusion: Means respect for belonging and participation in the American dream.
Authoritarians in America have attempted to demonize all three of those words and to pervert their meaning as insults. But my question is: which one of those values don’t you like? I support all three, so I talk about DEI. Everywhere. In conversations with those who benefit from the range of programs — from the Voting Rights Act to the Americans with Disabilities Act to Title I and public education. And with CEOs and small business owners and conservatives who didn’t realize DEI includes millions of U.S. Veterans who lost their jobs in the anti-DEI fervor. By raising the issue, using the term, I spark conversation and, when it works, understanding. Hiding will not protect us. It simply clears the field.
When we adopt their framing, we accept the premise. When we avoid the language, we signal that there was something wrong. There wasn’t. Protecting the vulnerable and correcting centuries of harm is good. Expanding pathways to the American Dream is good. Whether it’s DEI or democracy or immigration or gun safety, we cannot change our language to change their minds. Instead, we must speak up and believe in our right to do so. That’s why it is so important to use our own words, and encourage the people around us to do the same. Language is one of the first things they come for — don’t hand it over.
The Power of Community
What we say matters. What we do matters too. In defense of democracy, defending communities is the frontline of resistance. Our neighbors are part of our rapid response network when an emergency occurs. Yet, a crisis is the worst time to meet our allies. Preparation comes from engaging early, and getting to know our compatriots. Competitive authoritarianism, the stage of devolution we are in right now, thrives on fraying our community bonds. They want us to feel isolated, and to believe that we’ve already been forsaken. We can defeat this mission by building community and connection. Doing so looks different for everyone. In the digital age, we can create group chats to share news and resources or conduct regular check-ins. For others, where the personal is possible, consider hosting a dinner, starting a book club or organizing a neighborhood potluck. Food usually works to get conversation started. The point is to find the people in your area who are paying attention (or want to) and stay close to them.
It won’t be easy. But community is infrastructure that allows people to survive hard times. The more connected you are — to real people, in real life — the harder you are to isolate and the more effective you become at denying authoritarianism power.
Practice nonviolent civil disobedience
Over the past year and a half, we’ve seen how powerful nonviolent disobedience can be. Tens of millions of people have shown up to protests, attended town halls, and organized walkouts, sit-ins, phone banks, or letter campaigns. This is an effective way of denying authoritarians their power because it allows us to use our bodies, our voice, or our presence, to refuse to cooperate.
Last week, our 10 Steps Campaign, alongside our co-lead the National Domestic Workers Alliance, and many other partner orgs, showed up in Washington, D.C. We came together for a Day of Action to demand the end of family and child detention. Our coalition crossed ideology and theories of change, but we had a common bond: we will not sit idly while kids languish in prison camps across the country. By knitting together diverse organizations, coordinating to lift up each other’s work and centering children and the shared act of reading, we told those in power that we would not go away. We also showed up in local district offices and online — insisting on action. Policy will not change overnight, but part of Step 7 is denying ourselves victory because we didn’t achieve immediate change. Salvaging democracy is a long haul endeavor, and we must use every failure to remind each other what we can be.
Yesterday, We Gathered at the Capitol to Demand an End to Child and Family Detention
Yesterday in Washington, D.C., we stood alongside advocates, organizers, families, faith leaders, and lawmakers outside the U.S. Capitol to call for an end to family detention. Over the past year, we have watched thousands of children and parents become targets of an immigration system rooted in fear and cruelty. Since January 2025, families have been d…
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Getting Started:
Maintain connections across political and social differences.
Practice communal care and mutual support.
Use inclusive language, support DEI, challenge harmful rhetoric and refuse to participate in harmful systems.
Refuse to self-censor under threat or pressure, especially people in positions of privilege, authority, or leadership, and declining to participate in loyalty pledges or oaths.
Refuse to participate in surveillance or data collection.
Building Momentum:
Challenge exclusionary policies in your workplace or institutions.
Organize community building events that center diversity.
Refuse to use euphemisms or dog whistles that mask injustice.
Leadership Development:
Partner with and learn from established organizations to develop community-controlled alternatives, cooperatives and mutual aid networks.
We don’t have to do the same thing, but we can all do something. Pick an action that you feel comfortable with, and do that consistently. Deny fear its place. Remember: we’re not doing this alone. Across our cities and states, our workplaces, and our neighborhoods, there are people paying attention and looking for each other. We launched the 10 Steps Campaign because we know they are out there, looking for us. Looking for you. Our job is to find them, because every act of insistence makes it a little easier for the next person to do the same and a little harder for authoritarians to take a stronger hold.
Thank you, Stacy. Here in Athens, AL we have 2 book clubs - one for learning to fight fascism, and one to read "banned" books. Our local Indivisible group is active, holding signs and banners on bridges once or twice a week, and we participate in all the No kings events. We are starting a monthly meet-up at a pizza place to encourage each other. Lots more, but you just gave us some more ideas.
Stacy Abrams standing up with the truth for democracy, anyone who doesn't like diversity, equity ànd inclusion either doesn't understand it or doesn't want civil rights, seems kind of sad.