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What's next? Things to do after a big march

What's next? Things to do after a big march
march photo via Indivisible Twin Cities

First, a personal note: I shared a poem at the No Kings rally here in the Twin Cities yesterday. Find the full text, some video, and a bunch of my thoughts on the process here.

a photo of KTM performing at a podium that says "no kings twin cities"

Before I get to the point of this post, I'll also share: while summers are usually off-times for me, I have three performances coming up in July:

  • Tuesday, July 1: Better Things at Moon Palace Books. I’ll be sharing some work at this reading alongside some fantastic artists. More info here.
  • Sunday, July 13: ROOTBEER & RESISTANCE at Boneshaker Books. I’ll be talking more about this as the date approaches, but the basic idea is that this is a more informal, community-focused event that will have a few poetry performances but is mostly about sharing some resources and having space to build community – again, especially for people who are newer to activism and organizing. More info here.
  • Wednesday, July 23: SECRET RIVERS Live at Silverwood Park! Secret Rivers is a project I am very excited about – it’s me performing poems alongside SEE MORE PERSPECTIVE’s live production on the MPC and Loop Station 505. Also: it’s a free, all-ages, outdoor event! More info on the event here. And more info on the Secret Rivers project here.

A few thoughts and reflections on what we can do AFTER a big march or rally

If you follow my work, you probably know that I've written this kind of piece before. For example:

This post will pull from some of those pieces, but I think it's the kind of topic that is worth grappling with over and over again. Especially as someone who isn't any kind of full-time organizer, but who does work with a lot of (1) young people and (2) people brand new to activism, I think a lot about invitations and entry points.

I’ll admit it’s a bit of a clickbait title because an important point is that activism advice (like poetry advice, for what it’s worth) isn’t some universal, one-size-fits all thing. I think some of the frustration that comes from “but what do we DOOO?” discourse is rooted in influencers and talking heads trying to give people a simple, linear, step-by-step guide to changing the world; it is very easy to make a super authoritative tiktok or IG slideshow giving your followers all the info they’ll ever need… while being loud and wrong about all of it.

Because people, holding different identities, living in different places, with different access to resources and opportunities, are necessarily going to have different “pathways” into the movement. And ideally, that should be a strength, not a weakness. The tactics that work for a grandmother in rural Iowa aren’t the same tactics that a twenty-something radical in the Bay or Brooklyn might want to use. Sure, there will be overlap here and there, but the key word is intentionality. 

All that being said, there is definitely an audience of people out there looking for ideas, looking to take the energy and inspiration of yesterday’s march into tomorrow and beyond. So I’ll share a few thoughts here.

1. Take an hour or two to do a personal reflection, inventory, or exploration.

Think of this as a journaling exercise, before we dive head-first into the work, that might help give us a little direction. Luckily, there are some existing resources for this already:

2. Get plugged in: What work is already happening where you are?

We know that just “knowing more” or “following people on social media” are not enough to get to the world we want, but I would argue that they are elements of a key step on the journey there. When we feel overwhelmed and alone, we have to know that there are others doing good work out there.

  • Connect: Do some research to find out where/how your community shares events and information. Find organizations (not just influencers, online accounts that post memes and screenshots, or media talking heads, but *groups* of human beings actively engaged in organizing) doing cool stuff where you live, subscribe to their email lists, and follow them on social media. Being part of the “web” of information and calls-to-action can be a useful early step.
  • I know "do some research" is a loaded phrase in 2025. Maybe this is a whole other post, but I personally never use chatgpt for anything because it can't be trusted. But some combination of googling, plus asking people in your community, plus looking at a big event or march and seeing who is cosponsoring it, plus seeing who is organizing other kinds of good events near you, etc. might all be (while still imperfect) useful here.
  • This is a work-in-progress, but here is a handout (specific to 2025 in the Twin Cities, Minnesota) sharing a “snapshot” of organizations here. We'll be debuting this officially at the 7/13 event.

3. Join (or find other ways to support) an existing group.

Maybe the single most important point in all this: Find your political home. Don’t put all the pressure on yourself as an individual to change everything. The only way we get out of this is collective struggle. That includes “official” organizations, unions, and nonprofits, but it also includes more informal, unofficial formations: collectives, neighborhood groups, etc.

Whether you're a middle-of-the-road liberal who wants to get the GOP out of power, or a committed radical interested in militant, disruptive direct action: none of this is stuff we can do as individuals.

There are many different kinds of groups doing many different things: a local DSA chapter might have ways to plug in right away (around labor stuff, tenant’s rights, environmental justice, or whatever other campaigns are going); a local abortion rights group might be looking for volunteers who can be clinic escorts, or offering abortion doula trainings; a local immigrant rights group might need to raise money for legal fees; a neighborhood mutual aid collective might need people to drive supplies around; a school might need afterschool volunteers/mentors; your community library might need support; the list goes on—there is good stuff happening, and there are ways to plug in; it is okay if it takes some time and effort to figure out where to go.

  • If you can find a group in your community doing work you’d like to support, the move might be to attend an open meeting (if they have those), and/or email to set up a “one-to-one” (a meeting to talk more about what they’re doing, and how you might plug in), and/or attend one of their events and see what happens next.
  • A reminder that "showing up" doesn't always have to be in-person. A link I find myself sharing a lot is the Disability Visibility Project's 26 ways to be in the struggle, beyond the streets
  • Remember that not every group is set up to onboard a bunch of new people. Some groups may not need more people, but may need other kinds of support: social media signal-boosting, organizing fundraiser events for them, donating directly, etc.
  • Of course, the other side of this point is that, depending on where you are and what is or isn’t already going on there, it might make sense to start something new. It doesn’t have to be a big nonprofit: it could be a book club/discussion group, or a regular meetup for a group of neighbors to do some volunteering. Be creative.

4. While we can go out of our way to join groups and collective efforts, we can also bring the work into the spaces in which we already find ourselves.

This is one of those points that is going to look very different for people in different places (literally and figuratively), but a few thoughts:

  • Cultivate community: While we’re connecting to activist groups, remember that *connection* itself really matters. Let’s also join up in groups centered on our hobbies, our pets, sports, faith communities, the art we make/like, and beyond. Some groups will be explicitly political, some won’t, and some might find subversive/creative ways to *do* political work even when they themselves aren’t activist groups. Resist isolation, build community.
  • On that note, a down-to-earth version of leadership is taking the initiative to “pivot” our workplaces, schools, worship spaces, community spaces, etc. toward justice. This could be about starting an issue-based club at your high school, an anti-oppression committee at your workplace, a mutual aid initiative at your church; the list goes on.
  • Find ways to show up that make sense for you: Not everyone can show up in the same ways, and that’s okay. But whether it’s in-person or virtual, another specific action is to show up to something you maybe normally wouldn’t, whether that’s a protest, teach-in, virtual panel discussion, film screening, or something else. There is no road map—but showing up might open doors to something else.

5. For those of us in a position to think bigger, let’s think bigger. 

It isn’t my place to advise or tell people what to do, but something to think about might be that if these are desperate times, maybe it’s time to expand our notions of what is possible. Maybe it’s time for that mid-life career change (scary as that always is) to pursue a job that is more in line with your values. Or maybe you stick to the job you have, but take the initiative to connect to other people in your field about different possibilities for pivoting your work toward justice. Or maybe you’re a college student, and you email your adviser to set up an appointment to explore class possibilities that might put you on a *path* to a more movement-oriented career rather than the one you had been planning on.

Or maybe, depending on what your job is and what access to power or authority you have, this is a time to be refusing orders or being intentionally disruptive, even if that means jeopardizing your position.

Again, I am not giving advice here, and we all have different factors impacting how we can navigate this point; it's just food for thought. Our connection to movement work doesn’t have to be through our job (and for a whole lot of people it isn’t), but there may be possibilities to explore there, especially for people trying to balance their time, money, and energy with their values.

Some useful perspective on what marches and rallies can and can't accomplish.

I thought about sharing this at the very beginning, but I think it makes sense to end with it. Three links:

Those three links feel like must-reads right now. The first talks about what rallies and marches CAN accomplish. The second is a great deeper-dive into what they can't: how visibility and awareness won't do the work of organized, sustainable resistance. And then the third is full of recent, real-world perspective on protest.

I know there's a lot in this newsletter post, but I hope something can be useful. Thanks for reading.