Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07)
“We, the people, must reject this draconian vision of Trump’s America as an inevitability. We cannot submit to a dictator who displays contempt for every person who calls this country home.”
“And as the past year has shown us, the only way to beat a dictator is with defiance.”
BOSTON – In an inspiring op-ed published in the Boston Globe today, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07) reflected on the first year of Donald Trump’s second term in office and celebrated the everyday people who have shown courage and compassion in the face of the Trump Administration’s cruel, callous, and authoritarian agenda. In the op-ed, which comes on the heels of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, Congresswoman Pressley offered examples of successful resistance driven by public pressure and organizing throughout the last year, and reminded readers that freedom must be fought for and won in every generation.
One year ago today, Congresswoman Pressley published an op-ed in the Boston Globe in which she discussed the painful contradictions of the MLK holiday falling on the same day as Trump’s second inauguration and how she is preparing her district for the harm of a second Trump presidency.
Boston Globe Op-Ed: A Year into Trump’s Second Term, Democracy is Still Ours to Defend
By Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley
January 20, 2026
One year into Donald Trump’s second term, I am thinking of our neighbors who have turned toward one another in the face of profound inhumanity. Everyday people who have chosen community and stood in the gap. Mothers and fathers who have held their ground. Teachers who have sheltered babies through family separation and devastating violence.
I won’t enumerate all the harm caused by Trump over the past year. You don’t need me to explain how Trump has gutted your bank account with higher grocery bills, housing costs, and health care premiums — or how your livelihood became a casualty of his mass firing frenzy. You are living it. You are trying to survive it.
There is nothing normal about the blatant violation of our fundamental rights to free speech, bodily autonomy, and due process. There is nothing normal about the militarization of our cities and the deployment of federal troops against its own people. There is nothing normal about masked federal agents abducting hard-working community members, separating families, and killing our neighbors on the street in cold blood. There is nothing normal about enduring the longest government shutdown in American history because Republicans didn’t want to extend critical health care subsidies.
Trump and Republican members of Congress want Americans to believe that this status quo is inevitable. They want a citizenry that is ignorant and uninformed. They want a citizenry that is indifferent to the suffering of neighbors. They want a citizenry that is inactive in the face of injustice.
But one year into the current Trump administration, and on the heels of a day dedicated to the life and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr., we must remember his challenge to us all: to remain active, engaged, and relentless in our pursuit of justice. As King warned in a prophetic 1965 speech at Oberlin College, we must “remain awake through a great revolution.” That may explain why Trump and his allies are so hostile to the idea of being “woke” — they want Americans asleep while they act lawlessly and heartlessly.
That is why we, the people, must reject this draconian vision of Trump’s America as an inevitability. We cannot submit to a dictator who displays contempt for every person who calls this country home.
And as the past year has shown us, the only way to beat a dictator is with defiance.
When Trump ordered Elon Musk to decimate our federal workforce, dismantle life-saving federal programs, and rip essential services away from our most vulnerable communities, people organized, spoke out, and made plain in demonstrations across the country that America has “No Kings.” Ultimately, the Department of Government Efficiency retreated to the shadows.
When the Trump administration continued to deny transparency and accountability to survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s horrific sexual abuse, the public mobilized. People demanded Trump release the Epstein files and forced Congress to pass the Epstein Files Transparency Act into law. Every step forward, won through pressure, brings us closer to the healing survivors deserve.
When rogue immigration agents unlawfully abducted Tufts graduate student Rümeysa Öztürk and kidnapped dedicated employees from an Allston car wash, our community stood up to demand their release and protect their right to due process. We were proud to welcome them back to Massachusetts. Öztürk is now continuing her research, teaching, and contributing to our community, and many of the car wash workers are back home with their families.
And when Trump continued his assault on our democracy, voters across the country showed up at the ballot box last November and made clear that Trump’s authoritarianism has no place in America. Voters elected visionary leaders who spoke of ways to attain an equitable, affordable future.
Let us remember that a more just nation is possible — one where Americans choose people over profit, freedom over fascism, diversity over nationalism, and hope over fear. But that America is only possible if we fight for it, because as Coretta Scott King reminded us: “Freedom is never really won. You earn it and win it in every generation.”
After the Civil War, Reconstruction brought initiatives like the Freedmen’s Bureau, and former slave owners fought relentlessly to dismantle that progress. In the 1960s, the Civil Rights Act and affirmative action moved us closer to equality — and segregationists mobilized to undo them.
Progress has always been met with backlash. But the past year is a reminder that when we show up, lean on one another, and wield our collective power, we can shape history.
As Americans brace for what’s to come, we must reaffirm our commitment to be unapologetic in the pursuit of a better future. All radical work begins with a radical dream. This is not the time to moderate our aspirations or soften our demands. As we push back against an administration that seeks to silence dissent and divide us, we must also advance an affirmative vision for the America we deserve.
We cannot sit and wait for the revolution to come. History has shown us that change comes to those who fight for it.
Ayanna Pressley is a Democratic US representative from Massachusetts.