Welcome to the Truth and Action Roundup, a reliable weekly source of information, inspiration, and action for the first hundred days of the second Trump administration. Did a friend forward you this email? Sign up here to continue receiving it.

Today is Friday, Feb. 21, day 33 of the new Trump administration. Believe it or not, Donald Trump has now been back in office for more than a month. At times, these few weeks have felt like years, with the daily outrages and horrors feeling incredibly heavy and overwhelming. Yet there is some solace in the idea of endurance in the most literal sense of the word. If you're reading this, we hope you find some solace in the fact that we and you are enduring. We are enduring by staying rooted in a faith and a God that demand and promise justice for the oppressed, release for the captives, and good news for the impoverished. That faith reminds us that even the most oppressive earthly rulers and regimes are only a passing shadow, and that the light that shines in the darkness will never be overcome by it. We hope this week’s Truth and Action Roundup can continue to help anchor you for the days and weeks to come.

— Rev. Adam Taylor and Rev. Moya Harris, Sojourners

In the News

Here’s what’s been happening this week:

1) Pushback on the foreign aid freeze. Humanitarian organizations that receive funding from USAID asked a federal judge to find the Trump administration in contempt of court, claiming that funding is still not reaching organizations on the ground, harming some of the world’s most vulnerable people every day the funds are withheld. This despite the court’s order last week to unfreeze foreign assistance payments while the litigation plays out over whether the Trump administration can unilaterally freeze these programs without input from Congress.

2) Trump’s revisionist history of the Ukraine-Russia war. President Trump made alarming and false statements this week about Ukraine in the context of its war with Russia, even as his administration continues efforts aimed at negotiating peace between the two nations, seemingly with little input from Ukraine — the country that was invaded. On Tuesday, Trump blamed Ukraine for Putin’s decision to invade it, and on Wednesday called the democratically elected president Volodymyr Zelenskyy a “dictator.”

3) DOGE does further damage. The Department of Government Efficiency efforts to slash the federal budget and workforce continued this week:

The Internal Revenue Service will lay off roughly 6,000 relatively recently hired workers in the middle of tax filing season.
DOGE is seeking access to sensitive taxpayer information within the IRS, raising significant privacy concerns. The information that Elon Musk’s team is seeking contains highly sensitive personal data such as Individual Tax Identification Numbers, which many undocumented immigrants obtain in order to pay taxes, receive bank loans, secure a driver’s license, or provide proof of residency, despite being unable to obtain a Social Security number or receive most government benefits.

4) Dept. of Ed. threatens erasure of race-conscious aspects of campus life. The Department of Education warned schools through a “dear colleague” letter that they risk losing federal funding if they consider race when making scholarship or hiring decisions or acknowledged race in “all other aspects of student, academic, and campus life,” giving institutions 14 days to comply. This announcement goes far beyond the 2023 Supreme Court ruling barring race-conscious admissions practices by also seeking to penalize staffing decisions and the offering of services to subsets of students based on race. Though some aspects of this announcement are likely to trigger legal challenges, there is considerable fear and uncertainty over how it could impact aspects of education as wide ranging as HBCUs, African American studies programs, cultural affinity groups, and much more.

Take Action

• Tell Congress: Stop Mass Deportations Now! Join our partners at the American Friends Service Committee in demanding that Congress take immediate steps to halt deportations, such as protecting places of worship, workplaces, schools, hospitals and other sensitive locations, as well as stopping the practice of detaining people at ICE check-ins.

• Consider Running For Local Office. Ballot Ready has launched a resource to explore eligibility for positions in your area, access filing instructions and upcoming deadlines, and connect with trusted training organizations that have helped thousands of first-time candidates run for office.

What We’re Reading

• Love Is the Only Sane Response in a Time of Fear

by Laura Kirk

Jesus and bell hooks remind us that love cannot fail.

• Free Immigration newsletter from the SojoAction team

Read the latest edition of SojoAction’s monthly immigration newsletter, which is full of curated, relevant, and practical resources to fuel your engagement in the fight for the liberation and joy of our immigrant communities. You can sign up to receive this free newsletter here.

• A Palestinian Christian’s Perspective on Trump’s Plan to ‘Own Gaza’

by Fares Abraham

The world may see Gaza as a demolition site, but we believe that God will breathe life into Gaza.

Deep Breaths

Centering Down  

I need a reset. How about you?  Are you breathing?

Lately, I’ve been tracking the things I know will help me navigate all that’s unfolding around me.  This constant onslaught of disheartening news can subconsciously negatively affect our nervous systems. Add the usual stressors of life, and we can easily become emotionally dysregulated and unable to cope. I’ve come to understand that I must intentionally center down to stay attuned to Spirit in these moments. When I feel out of sorts, I can’t just push through — I have to be deliberate.  

So I shift.  

I adjust my music to instrumental lo-fi.  

I light candles.  

I set timers when working to remind myself to pause, breathe, and take breaks. 

I make sure I am hydrating with water and herbal teas.

I establish rituals to bring my spirit and nervous system back into rhythm.  

I pray.

Today, will you center down with me? Will you slow down long enough to hear what God is speaking in this moment?  

Howard Thurman is the perfect guide for this kind of soul work. May his words usher us into stillness today and in the days ahead.  

— Rev. Moya Harris, Director of Racial Justice, Sojourners

How Good Is It to Center Down

"How good it is to center down!

To sit quietly and see one’s self pass by!

The streets of our minds seethe with endless traffic;

Our spirits resound with clashing, with noisy silences,

While something deep within hungers and thirsts for the still moment and the resting lull. With full intensity we seek, ere the quiet passes, a fresh sense of order in our living; A direction, a strong sure purpose that will structure our confusion and bring meaning in our chaos.

We look at ourselves in this waiting moment—the kinds of people we are.

The questions persist: what are we doing with our lives? —what are the motives that order our days?

What is the end of our doings? Where are we trying to go?

Where do we put the emphasis and where are our values focused?

For what end do we make sacrifices? Where is my treasure and what do I love most in life?

What do I hate most in life and to what am I true?

Over and over the questions beat upon the waiting moment.

As we listen, floating up through all the jangling echoes of our turbulence, there is a sound of another kind—

A deeper note which only the stillness of the heart makes clear.

It moves directly to the core of our being. Our questions are answered,

Our spirits refreshed, and we move back into the traffic of our daily round

With the peace of the Eternal in our step. How good it is to center down!" 

— Howard Washington Thurman  

The Truth and Action Roundup is compiled by Sojourners staff:
President: Rev. Adam Russell Taylor
Director of Racial Justice: Rev. Moya Harris
Senior Research Associate: J.K. Granberg-Michaelson
Senior Adviser and Director to the President’s Office: Elizabeth Denlinger Reaves
Senior Director of Campaigns and Mobilizing: Sandy Ovalle Martínez
Director of Congregational Outreach & Education: Rev. Andrea Saccoccio
Associate Editor: Josina Guess
Mobilizing and Policy Assistant: Miriam Tellez
Senior Director of Marketing: Sandra Sims