Community as Resistance

This is a challenging and complicated time, both in the United States as the new administration makes sweeping cuts to federal jobs, public services, and human rights, and across the world as numerous countries also increase surveillance, barriers to health care, and intolerance for diverse peoples and the equitable and inclusive practices we all need for a more viable future.

There are as many avenues of resistance as there are individuals who take up this task. This issue of Legacy is a testament to interpreters’ diverse, critical roles in providing factual information, resisting historical erasure and whitewashing, affirming how historically marginalized peoples continue to persist and to thrive, and entering into those tricky but essential actions—from clothing to speech choices, from interpretive signage to session topics, and more—of resistance.

As these articles share, determining how best to participate in acts or interpretations of resistance is challenging, even overwhelming. Over these last months, I have talked with interpreters who feel as if they are medical providers in an emergency room that is suddenly overflowing. Of course it is tempting to give up and go home. To opt into silence. To opt into obeying in advance. To opt into letting one project fail so another might have a greater chance of success. To find “sacrifice zones” within ourselves, our communities, our worksites. To let the once-outrageous become normalized.

But the tactics of fear, shock, and overwhelm have been employed by oppressive regimes throughout history. Historian Timothy Snyder, well-known for his book On Tyranny, writes, “Most of the power of authoritarianism is freely given. In times like these, individuals think ahead about what a more repressive government will want and then offer themselves without being asked. A citizen who adapts in this way is teaching power what it can do.”

And this is why not giving in to the very human, and understandable, option of disengaging or checking out is critical. As Mady Castigan wrote in January, speaking specifically to LGBTQ+ peoples in the United States but applicable, I’d suggest, to many more communities as well, “Even if all you do is survive the next four years, your continued existence is resistance against an order to disappear.”

Many generations have experienced oppression and resistance, particularly in colonial nations built on stolen lands, like the United States. The stakes are high now for many, including interpreters; and, for some of us, this is our first direct experience with having our field, our career, or our identity fundamentally challenged. Yet, we have community. We have elders and peoples to learn from who have witnessed more—and not only survived but thrived.

Renata Ramos, a 63-year-old trans Latina, was interviewed by 19th News for their March article about the current political regime in the United States, its effects, and what advice she would give to younger people right now. She shared: