You See It. So Say It.
From fear to refusal: what the Firewall Hubs are naming — and what your workplace better start facing.
We’ve entered a different phase
Monday night wasn’t just another round of talking heads on Zoom. This time, the mood was clearer. Sharper. People came not just to name the fear — but to start carving out where we go from here.
Every Firewall Hub reported back. And while the details varied — from health clinics losing federal funding to AI being used as a tool to silence dissent — the pattern was unmistakable.
We are not dealing with isolated acts of cruelty. We are watching the systematic dismantling of professional norms, legal protections, and institutional integrity. In every sector.
And here’s what else is true: we are done pretending not to see it.
In healthcare, immigrant farmworkers are vanishing from clinics out of fear of ICE. Rural hospitals and tribal health systems are bleeding staff. Clinics built to serve the uninsured are hanging by a thread. And leadership? Silent.
In education, DEI is being eroded or simply eliminated. Special ed services are cut. Curriculum is sanitized in advance of any formal mandate. Professors self-censor. School boards comply before they’re even asked.
In HR? One participant said it outright: the silence is deafening. Where’s the resistance from the very departments meant to protect workers from discrimination and political targeting? Gone. Or worse: complicit.
In tech, the question is how to leverage tools without reinforcing surveillance. Someone asked: What if we built tools to fill the mental health void the regime is creating? Can technology step in where support services are being gutted? Some are asking whether algorithmic tools could help communities organize or signal resistance.
Every single Hub echoed the same deeper truth: the regime doesn’t need to outlaw care, learning, shelter, or dissent. It just needs to starve them. Scare the people who deliver them. And ensure institutions don’t fight back.
Which brings us to the real audience of this article.
If you sit on a board, run a department, manage a budget, or lead an organization — this part is for you:
Don’t say you didn’t know
Not after this week. Not after the news about deadlisting. Not after the parole termination notices. Not after tribal clinics go dark, students get expelled for protesting, or journalists get blacklisted. You’re watching it happen.
If you stay silent, it’s not neutrality. It’s complicity.
We’ve built The Firewall not just for frontline workers and quiet resisters. We’ve built it for professionals who understand exactly what’s at stake and are willing to start mapping a response. Inside the machine. From the inside out.
This coming Monday, we begin Phase 2 of our strategy: Mapping Refusal.
The question each Hub will answer:
What is one small act of resistance you could take in your workplace?
How could it send a signal that we see what’s happening — and we won’t be silent?
That’s where change begins. One small refusal that breaks the spell of business-as-usual. One act that reminds others: You are not alone.
And we’re not stopping there. Over the next two weeks, we’ll begin coordinating mutual defense strategies across Hubs. That means if someone gets punished for saying no, we don’t just send thoughts and prayers. We show up. We protect each other. We make the punishment costly.
This is what The Firewall is for.
It’s not about symbolism. It’s about structure. It’s about building a cross-sector resistance movement that doesn’t wait for permission — and doesn’t flinch at backlash.
So if you’ve been on the sidelines — this is the time to get in.
If you’ve felt that your sector is quiet — that you’re the only one seeing it — you're not.
If you're looking for a way to turn your insight into action, we’ve built the room for you. It's open. It's ready. And it’s time.
RSVP for Monday’s organizing call We'll be mapping small, real-world acts of refusal that professionals can take inside their institutions.
Join the Chat and find your Firewall Hub Healthcare, law, tech, HR, faith, education, nonprofit, public service, international solidarity, media — this is where cross-sector strategy is happening. Join us.
Forward this article Send it to a colleague. A mentor. A decision-maker. Someone who needs to hear: You can still choose not to comply.