How do we keep up the momentum?

Editorial | June 17th, 2025

Fighting the good fight

By Sabrina Hornung

Over two thousand rallies took place nationwide June 14 as part of the “No Kings" protest. Ten of those protests were held in North Dakota, with thousands in attendance. We’re fired up, met more like-minded people, bounced some facts, figures and shared concerns off of each other. We’re fired up because we got together and made our voices heard.

Call your lawmakers, write your lawmakers, call and write your lawmakers — make it rain, remind them who they work for and voice your concerns. Write some letters to the editor, send it to multiple editors, whether it be us or the big guys at The Forum, Tribune, Herald or all of the above — and encourage your friends to do the same. Make it a party.

Be sure to share your story when you voice these concerns. Tell them why these things matter to you. How is this legislation affecting you? How is it affecting your family and loved ones? Story sharing is an empathy builder and it’s one of the most powerful tools in not only an activist’s toolkit, but in the human toolkit. Our own shared and unique individual experiences are what make us.

You’ve more than likely heard the old proverb, “You can catch more flies with honey than vinegar.” I’m a firm believer in that, though I have seen fly traps made with vinegar and dish soap, which could be an analogy insinuating that, if you’re smooth enough you can still achieve your desired impact. So when you reach out to your lawmakers or editors your gut reaction might be caustic. Avoid that. Instead, be tactful. Winston Churchill once said, “Tact is the ability to tell someone to go to hell in such a way that they look forward to the trip.”

I understand the hurt, the anger and the impulse to tell them how you really feel (believe me — I get it). Keep in mind what happens when you insult someone; they shut down. They become defensive and you lose the appeal to reason. They’ll either shut you out or hurl another insult your way, which isn’t productive. Odds are, you’ll just end up mad or end up with a screenshot of a dumb conversation that will just take up space in your phone (space that’s better reserved for cat pics).

Perhaps the secret sauce is to find some level of common ground. It’s disarming.

Why? Because it shows you’re both human. And it could very well prove that we’re all fighting for the same thing. It could prove how this administration’s cuts are affecting everyone. They’re preying on America’s fears by putting a manufactured boogeyman under our beds and pitting Americans against Americans so they question each other, instead of the leadership. There’s too much fingerpointing under the narrative of “they” are taking our jobs, “they” are a threat to your daughters. Keep in mind that each pointed finger has three more fingers pointed in their own direction.

Don’t let us be divided, that’s how they win.

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