Thread by @ashleyrallison

Congressman John Lewis once said “Do not get lost in a sea of despair. Be hopeful, be optimistic.”

What makes you hopeful? Seriously. Share it!

If you’re like me, you could use a few reasons to keep your head up.

Here are 50 reasons to stay hopeful from the past 3+ years.

50. On Jan. 28, 2017, thousands showed up to airports in support of Muslim families impacted by Trump’s unconstitutional #MuslimBan.

That night, a federal judge in NY issued a stay allowing people stranded in airports to temporarily avoid deportation.

📷: Stephanie Keith/Getty

49. Much to the dismay of Donald Trump, #Parasite won Best Picture at the Oscars, making it the first non-English language film to win in the 92 years of the Academy Awards.

📷: Valerie Macon/AFP via Getty Images

48. In November 2018, voters elected a historic number of women, POC, and LGBTQ people into Congress, including 117 women elected or appointed to Congress, 23 freshman House members who are people of color, and at least 10 LGBTQ members of Congress.

Image: @voxdotcomsha

47. In January 2020, Virginia ratified and passed the #EqualRightsAmendment, making it the 38th and final state needed to ratify the #ERA as the 28th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

Image: @washingtonpost

46. In Jan. 2020, the @WNBA agreed to a new collective bargaining agreement that includes a 53% pay raise for players, requires teams to give fully paid maternity leave, new child care benefits, and more.

This happened thanks in large part to Black women! teenvogue.com/story/wnba-col…

45. Young people — and young Black, brown, & Indigenous POC in particular — continued to lead. From climate to anti-gun violence to immigrant rights, the future is in good hands with our young people. #MarchForOurLives #ClimateStrike #HereToStay

📷: Gabriella Demczuk for TIME

44. The rise of #TheSquad showed the power of representation in Congress!

@IlhanMN & @RashidaTlaib are the first Muslim women in Congress.

@AOC is the youngest woman to be elected to Congress.

@AyannaPressley is Massachusetts’ first Black congressman.

43. @sharicedavids and @Deb4CongressNM became the first Native women elected to Congress!

Image: @CNN

42. @LaurenUnderwood made history as the youngest Black woman elected to Congress! She was 32 when she was sworn in to represent Illinois’ 14th Congressional District. She defeated a Republican incumbent.

📷: Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune

41. In a field made up of 2 Black women, a white woman, and a gay man, New York elected its first Black woman attorney general and the first Black woman to serve in statewide office. @TishJames is now leading the effort to hold Trump accountable in NY. nytimes.com/2018/09/13/nyr…

40. In November 2018, @lucymcbath — mother of the late Jordan Davis, the young man who was shot and killed in the national Loud Music Shooting — won the race for Georgia’s Sixth Congressional District.

📷: Alyssa Pointer / AP

39. On February 12, 2018, 17-year-old @ChloeKim, the daughter of Korean immigrants, made history as the youngest woman to win a medal in snowboarding at the #Olympics. She won gold.

📷: Loic Venance/AFP/Getty Images

38. In November 2017, @mayorcantrell became the first woman (and the first Black woman) to be elected mayor of New Orleans in the city's 300-year history.

📷: Kevin Litten, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune

37. In 2017, Minneapolis made history when they elected @annapoetic and @CunninghamMPLS — the first openly trans Black elected officials in the U.S. — to the Minneapolis City Council.

📷: Jim Mone/AP

36. On November 7, 2017, @pwcdanica became Virginia’s first openly trans candidate elected to the Virginia House of Delegates. She won re-election in November 2019.

📷: Al Drago for The New York Times

35. Beyoncé’s #Homecoming performance at Coachella.

34. 65 years after Emmett Till was murdered by white supremacists, lynching may *finally* be a federal crime. The Emmett Till Antilynching Act passed this week in the House and will next require action in the Senate. #OutlawLynchings washingtonpost.com/politics/house…

33. In August 2019, @cyntoia_brown was finally released after spending 15 years in prison starting when she was 16.

Brown is committed to advocating for criminal justice reform. essence.com/news/cyntoia-b…

@cyntoia_brown 32. In April 2017, Bill O'Reilly was fired from FOX after years of organizing and calling on advertisers to #DropOReilly in light of his racism, Islamophobia, and misogyny, which included harassing a Black woman. nytimes.com/2017/04/19/bus…

@cyntoia_brown 31. In November 2018, Florida voters said YES to Amendment 4, which automatically restores the right to vote to nearly 1.2 million formerly incarcerated Floridians.

This was a major victory for voting rights! time.com/5447051/florid…

@cyntoia_brown 30. Despite efforts to attach a modern-day poll tax to Florida’s Amendment 4, a federal appeals court ruled it was unconstitutional to force Florida’s formerly incarcerated to first pay off their financial obligations before registering to vote. mic.com/p/floridas-ame…

@cyntoia_brown 29. In April 2018, @SenDuckworth became the first U.S. senator to give birth while in office. nytimes.com/2018/04/09/us/…

@cyntoia_brown @SenDuckworth 28. #MeToo created space for survivors to feel supported and made a national hero of @TaranaBurke, the original creator of @MeTooMVMT.

📷: Nyra Lang for Variety

@cyntoia_brown @SenDuckworth @TaranaBurke @MeTooMVMT 27. Thanks in large part to #SurvivingRKelly — executive produced by @dreamhampton — Black women and girls who were abused by R. Kelly might finally get the justice they deserve. The film helped bring widespread attention to R. Kelly’s crimes. npr.org/2019/02/20/695…

@cyntoia_brown @SenDuckworth @TaranaBurke @MeTooMVMT @dreamhampton 26. Thanks to Black women, Doug Jones defeated Roy Moore to become Alabama’s new Senator and flip a Senate seat from red to blue in one of the reddest states in the country. npr.org/2017/12/13/570…

@cyntoia_brown @SenDuckworth @TaranaBurke @MeTooMVMT @dreamhampton 25. In July 2019, California became the first state to ban discrimination against Black students and employees over natural hair. The #CROWNAct, which would ban hair discrimination, is gaining steam. cbsnews.com/news/crown-act…

@cyntoia_brown @SenDuckworth @TaranaBurke @MeTooMVMT @dreamhampton 24. Activists in Durham, North Carolina successfully toppled a 93-year-old Confederate statue just days after the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.

📷: Rodney Dunning via Flickr

@cyntoia_brown @SenDuckworth @TaranaBurke @MeTooMVMT @dreamhampton 23. L̶a̶ ̶L̶a̶ ̶L̶a̶n̶d Moonlight won Best Picture at the Oscars!

@cyntoia_brown @SenDuckworth @TaranaBurke @MeTooMVMT @dreamhampton 22. In May 2019, @ava brought the stories of the #Exonerated5—Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana, and Korey Wise—to the world, and with it greater awareness around this nation’s desperate need for criminal justice reform.

📷: Frazer Harrison via Getty

@cyntoia_brown @SenDuckworth @TaranaBurke @MeTooMVMT @dreamhampton @ava 21. In Oct. 2019, astronauts @Astro_Christina and @Astro_Jessica completed the first all-women spacewalk. They were guided on the ground by veteran NASA astronaut & capsule communicator Stephanie Wilson, the second African-American woman to go into space. cnn.com/2019/10/18/wor…

@cyntoia_brown @SenDuckworth @TaranaBurke @MeTooMVMT @dreamhampton @ava @Astro_Christina @Astro_Jessica 20. In February 2020, @Astro_Christina returned to earth after a record-breaking 328 days in space, the longest single spaceflight by a woman. cbsnews.com/video/astronau…

@cyntoia_brown @SenDuckworth @TaranaBurke @MeTooMVMT @dreamhampton @ava @Astro_Christina @Astro_Jessica 19. In June 2019, @JanetMock became the first out trans woman to call creative shots at a major content company after locking a 3-year multimillion-dollar deal with Netflix. variety.com/2019/tv/featur…

@cyntoia_brown @SenDuckworth @TaranaBurke @MeTooMVMT @dreamhampton @ava @Astro_Christina @Astro_Jessica @janetmock 18. Watchmen. Regina King is still King. And Yahya...my my!

@cyntoia_brown @SenDuckworth @TaranaBurke @MeTooMVMT @dreamhampton @ava @Astro_Christina @Astro_Jessica @janetmock 17. @MatthewACherry created #HairLove AND made his Oscar dream come true. The former NFL player’s short film is helping to normalize Black hair and raise awareness around hair discrimination through advocacy for the #CROWNAct.

@cyntoia_brown @SenDuckworth @TaranaBurke @MeTooMVMT @dreamhampton @ava @Astro_Christina @Astro_Jessica @janetmock @MatthewACherry 16. After 2 years of pressure from @ACLU & @ColorOfChange, the private equity firm behind the largest bail bond company in the U.S. has sold its stake — a major victory in the fight to stop the unjust bail industry.
wsj.com/articles/crimi…

@cyntoia_brown @SenDuckworth @TaranaBurke @MeTooMVMT @dreamhampton @ava @Astro_Christina @Astro_Jessica @janetmock @MatthewACherry @ACLU @ColorOfChange 15. @GreyhoundBus finally announced it will stop allowing Border Patrol agents without a warrant to board its buses to conduct immigration checks. nytimes.com/2020/02/22/us/…

@cyntoia_brown @SenDuckworth @TaranaBurke @MeTooMVMT @dreamhampton @ava @Astro_Christina @Astro_Jessica @janetmock @MatthewACherry @ACLU @ColorOfChange @GreyhoundBus 14. In February 2017, Yemeni-owned bodegas and grocery stores around New York closed to protest Trump’s #MuslimBan executive order.

📷: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

@cyntoia_brown @SenDuckworth @TaranaBurke @MeTooMVMT @dreamhampton @ava @Astro_Christina @Astro_Jessica @janetmock @MatthewACherry @ACLU @ColorOfChange @GreyhoundBus 13. The ACA is still here.

@cyntoia_brown @SenDuckworth @TaranaBurke @MeTooMVMT @dreamhampton @ava @Astro_Christina @Astro_Jessica @janetmock @MatthewACherry @ACLU @ColorOfChange @GreyhoundBus 12. Major websites in the wedding industry — The Knot, Zola, and Pinterest — pledged to stop promoting plantation weddings after pressure from @ColorOfChange. buzzfeednews.com/article/claris…

@cyntoia_brown @SenDuckworth @TaranaBurke @MeTooMVMT @dreamhampton @ava @Astro_Christina @Astro_Jessica @janetmock @MatthewACherry @ACLU @ColorOfChange @GreyhoundBus 11. Amber Guyger was found guilty for the murder of Botham Jean. A step forward in the fight for police accountability, Botham Jean's family's lawyer called it a "victory for Black people in America." #BlackLivesMatter nytimes.com/2019/10/01/us/…

@cyntoia_brown @SenDuckworth @TaranaBurke @MeTooMVMT @dreamhampton @ava @Astro_Christina @Astro_Jessica @janetmock @MatthewACherry @ACLU @ColorOfChange @GreyhoundBus 10. In a big win for the movement to #EndMoneyBail, Google and Facebook banned bail ads from their platforms as a direct result of advocacy work from @ColorOfChange, @essie4justice @civilrightsorg @CivRightsCorps and @verainstitute.
colorofchange.org/press_release/…

@cyntoia_brown @SenDuckworth @TaranaBurke @MeTooMVMT @dreamhampton @ava @Astro_Christina @Astro_Jessica @janetmock @MatthewACherry @ACLU @ColorOfChange @GreyhoundBus @essie4justice @civilrightsorg @CivRightsCorps @verainstitute 9. Two words: Zaya. Wade.

https://twitter.com/nowthisnews/status/1228605617452924928

@cyntoia_brown @SenDuckworth @TaranaBurke @MeTooMVMT @dreamhampton @ava @Astro_Christina @Astro_Jessica @janetmock @MatthewACherry @ACLU @ColorOfChange @GreyhoundBus @essie4justice @civilrightsorg @CivRightsCorps @verainstitute 8. California lawmakers formally apologized to all Americans of Japanese descent for backing FDR’s executive order forcing Japanese Americans in internment camps during World War II. npr.org/2020/02/20/807…

@cyntoia_brown @SenDuckworth @TaranaBurke @MeTooMVMT @dreamhampton @ava @Astro_Christina @Astro_Jessica @janetmock @MatthewACherry @ACLU @ColorOfChange @GreyhoundBus @essie4justice @civilrightsorg @CivRightsCorps @verainstitute 7. #BlackPanther was a cultural phenomenon. And the sequel is coming in 2022.

@cyntoia_brown @SenDuckworth @TaranaBurke @MeTooMVMT @dreamhampton @ava @Astro_Christina @Astro_Jessica @janetmock @MatthewACherry @ACLU @ColorOfChange @GreyhoundBus @essie4justice @civilrightsorg @CivRightsCorps @verainstitute 6. @JordanPeele changed the game of horror movies with the release of Get Out on February 24, 2017. On March 4, 2018, Peele became the first Black person to win an Oscar for original screenplay.

@cyntoia_brown @SenDuckworth @TaranaBurke @MeTooMVMT @dreamhampton @ava @Astro_Christina @Astro_Jessica @janetmock @MatthewACherry @ACLU @ColorOfChange @GreyhoundBus @essie4justice @civilrightsorg @CivRightsCorps @verainstitute @JordanPeele 5. The Supreme Court blocked the Trump administration’s efforts to include an illegal citizenship question on the #2020Census.

This was a major victory for immigrants, communities of color, and democracy.

Shout-out to @ACLU’s @dale_e_ho for all his great work!

@cyntoia_brown @SenDuckworth @TaranaBurke @MeTooMVMT @dreamhampton @ava @Astro_Christina @Astro_Jessica @janetmock @MatthewACherry @ACLU @ColorOfChange @GreyhoundBus @essie4justice @civilrightsorg @CivRightsCorps @verainstitute @JordanPeele @dale_e_ho 4. @StaceyAbrams is fighting for voting rights in Georgia.

@cyntoia_brown @SenDuckworth @TaranaBurke @MeTooMVMT @dreamhampton @ava @Astro_Christina @Astro_Jessica @janetmock @MatthewACherry @ACLU @ColorOfChange @GreyhoundBus @essie4justice @civilrightsorg @CivRightsCorps @verainstitute @JordanPeele @dale_e_ho @staceyabrams 3. @RepMaxineWaters is claiming her time.

@cyntoia_brown @SenDuckworth @TaranaBurke @MeTooMVMT @dreamhampton @ava @Astro_Christina @Astro_Jessica @janetmock @MatthewACherry @ACLU @ColorOfChange @GreyhoundBus @essie4justice @civilrightsorg @CivRightsCorps @verainstitute @JordanPeele @dale_e_ho @staceyabrams @RepMaxineWaters 2. @Simone_Biles. Summer 2020 Olympics.

@cyntoia_brown @SenDuckworth @TaranaBurke @MeTooMVMT @dreamhampton @ava @Astro_Christina @Astro_Jessica @janetmock @MatthewACherry @ACLU @ColorOfChange @GreyhoundBus @essie4justice @civilrightsorg @CivRightsCorps @verainstitute @JordanPeele @dale_e_ho @staceyabrams @RepMaxineWaters @Simone_Biles 1. It’s 2020 and there is an election in November and we are gonna fight like hell to get a racist president out of office. #PowerToThePeople