My good friend Cody Pogue came out swinging against those people, who with their vote, are in the process of destroying many families throughout our country.
This friend is going through the stages of grief over an administration planning on DACA repeal but realizes activism over blind anger is the solution. The process he displayed as he came to a personal resolution is revealing. One can learn from it. Anger is virtually always the initial response to well-meaning people’s reaction to codified hate.
Cody was volunteering alongside DACA recipients on the Hurricane Harvey recovery. His original post reads.
I was volunteering this morning when I ran into some of my friends who are part of the DACA program also volunteering. They are doing so much good for our community, yet Donald Trump is expected to announce that he will end the DACA program and try to have them deported because, although they grew up in America, pledge allegiance to our flag, attend church in our neighborhoods, and volunteer in our communities, they were not born here.
It’s a shame that such an evil man has the power to do so much harm to such good people for absolutely no reason. He has never volunteered his time for his community like they are doing, yet he thinks he is better than them purely because of luck of birth. It’s a shame such an evil person can have so much power in this great country. Losing the election by four million votes may have made him the president, but it didn’t make him a decent human being like those students who were volunteering early this morning. They will always be better than him in every way.
Then Cody heard about the reported Trump decision on DACA. His immediate reaction was that of the activist that he is. He posted the following.
I don’t ask for favors very often, but a quick favor. Yesterday Donald Trump announced that he is going to announce Tuesday whether he will repeal DACA, a program that gives young people who were born in another country but grew up in the United States (who came forward and have no criminal record) a chance at a normal life. Many Republicans have told me “I want to shut down the border and deport the people who came here as adults, especially the criminals, but those who were brought here as children should be able to stay.” Here is your chance. In Texas, please contact these officials and leave a message telling them that you support DACA and that you want dreamers to get a fair shot at life just like the rest of us.
Ken Paxton (Attorney General of Texas): 5124652100
The White House: https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact
Texas Senator Ted Cruz: (202) 224-5922
Texas Senator John Cornyn: 202-224-2934You can also contact your congressman http://www.fyi.legis.state.tx.us/Home.aspx
It doesn’t take much time and all you have to do is leave a message, not even talk to someone. If you are a Republican and support DACA, it holds extra weight to tell them that you are a Republican so they know you actually care about this issue and are not just acting in a partisan manner. Please help with this. If this is repealed, we will be pushing these young people into the shadows. They will no longer be able to hold a job or drive a car or do any of the other things we can do. They did not choose this. They were brought here when they were young. They grew up pledging allegiance to our flag, going to our churches, and many even volunteered or rescued people during Harvey. They are our friends and neighbors and they are valuable people in our community. Please do your part just like I have already done and encourage your friends to as well.
As the decision sunk in, Cody got angry and lashed out with two angry posts. The first post said,
Shame on you if you voted for Donald Trump. Shame on you. You destroy lives for no reason and it’s wrong. You call yourself Christians but you are against everything Christ stands for. Go ahead and unfriend me now because you lost all of my respect.
Cody, a History/Government professor and also attended divinity school. His post lashing out used scripture.
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean.” -Matthew 23:27. A message for the “Christians” Who voted for Donald Trump.
A few hour later, Cody came to an important realization. His final post of the thread said,
A secret to politics I figured out years ago is that we have to fight for what we love instead of against what we hate. It’s nothing more than a change of mental focus, but if I am fighting for what I love, I see my goal and I do whatever it takes to make that goal become a reality. Defeat is not an option. If I’m fighting against what I hate, I lose sight of my goal and quickly end up just expressing anger and calling people names, which accomplishes nothing and probably does more harm than good. There are lots of issues I care about, but protecting dreamers is probably the issue I care about most. When I saw the report that Trump had decided to end daca last night, I lost it. I regret that that happened, not because anything I said was wrong. It was totally how I feel. But it did nothing to help dreamers. The goal of protecting them is all that matters.
So Trump isn’t announcing anything until Tuesday. Rumor is that he has already made up his mind, but he has known to be fickle. Furthermore, even if he sticks with it, we have 6 months to convince Congress to do something before the rules change. Finally, if DACA actually is repealed, it will be devastating, but we as a community will have to come together and support our brothers and sisters and protect them in less political ways. Hope is never lost. We have to fight hard and fight smart, with our eyes on the goal. We will win because we refused to give up. #daca #dreamers #community #family #yeswecan
Cody Pogue’s Facebook thread is more than informative. It shows the stages many go through when fighting for human rights for all. It is easy to lash out at those that are either evil, gullible or grossly ill-informed. It is important to resolve in one’s mind as Cody did in his own words that positive activism that ultimately yields positive results is much more effective than anger at those that are promoting evil.
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