Sad about the loss of Chadwick? Don’t post “thoughts and prayers” on social media & move on. There’s one simple way to truly, fully honor his legacy.

We don’t need Hollywood to give us symbols. We have real-life living heroes all around us.

We call these largely peaceful protests “riots.” But when peaceful protest takes a knee, or skips a game, we condemn that too.

We share an instagram story about the too-soon-dying of a Hollywood hero of color, but fail to feel the 200,000 plus deaths, and counting, many of which hit communities of color first and hardest because we have pushed the most desperate and least taken-care-of to the front lines, and called them heroes, too.

We say “don’t talk about politics,” or “both parties are the same” or, “not Democratic Party, not Republican Party, I’m a member of Dance Party,” failing to understand that nihilism is the cold cousin to murder, and that great nations gone silent have supported fascist regimes before. I can send you a list of 1,000s of different votes between the two parties, all of which add up to the battle between selfish power and wholesome truth. No, it’s not black and white, and both parties are part of the same system, but that system is us, and we can make it better by participating, not giving in to selfishness.

We worry about our right to vote, about the post office, about our White House being used for a campaign, about our Secretary of State breaking the law, about women of color and immigrants being used (without their knowledge, in the RNC) to cloak a white supremacist’s hateful actions in rainbow garments…but we forget that if you, and I, each got him, and her, to vote—if we turned out at even 60% we’d drown this hate in the very bathtub it looked to drown our government. And when we defeat hate, it’s not with hate, it’s with love, humor, heartbreak, and the rage of truth and justice, not hate and trolling.

We have a few weeks to save this tilting democracy from the edge—a democracy without a free and fair election, without an EPA that protects its citizens, without a fight against climate change harnessed to the wheels of innovation and jobs, without a free press, without health care for all including those with preexisting conditions…is not a democracy. It’s a fascist state. You don’t have to read the old books, though they’d tell you where we are. We’re living history. Let’s bend it toward light—for all of us, for our unborn, for if we truly care about life, or economy, we have only to look at the facts, and see that this fork in the road is clear, and now is not the time for inaction.

Sad about Chadwick? Honor him not with an RT or Post but by getting one friend to vote.