When Lady Gaga spoke last week, she said things that were true then and, somehow, have become even truer today. She said if we are genuine Americans (and we are, all of us) we must go from viewing people we disagree with as adversaries to viewing them as allies. We need to stand together, for ourselves and for each other.

We need to grieve together. We need to celebrate together. We need to strategize together. We need to mobilize together. We need to hear each other and we need to see each other. We need to comfort and we need to be comforted. We need to listen and we need to be listened to.

To choose good, to choose kindness, to choose community, to honor people that disagree with you – whose opinions run contrary to all that you believe to be true about the world – is not an easy choice. But we don’t want to make the easy choice. We want to make the best choice. We want to make the brave choice.

We believe now, as we have always believed, that America is not America without its people. We need America, and America needs us. One person does not define America. We define America.

Bravely Yours,

Maya Enista Smith

Executive Director