Advice from Bernice King

I've been avoiding Twitter almost completely for the past several days as BlueSky's number of users has been going up precipitously, and my feed gets longer and fuller.

I just checked back on Twitter and saw one thing I thought was worth sharing. It was second hand, a screen snapshot ascribed to one of Martin Luther King and Coretta Scott King's daughters, Dr. Bernice King (still there as Be A King on Twitter).

I've retyped it:

Never say his name

1. Don't use his name EVER (45 will do).
2. Remember this is a regime and he's not acting alone.
3. Do not argue with those who support him – it doesn't work.
4. Focus on his POLICIES, not his orangeness and his mental state.
5. Keep your messages positive; they want the country to be angry and fearful because this is the soil from which their darkest policies will grow.
6. No more hopeless/helpless talk.
7. Support artists and the arts.
8. Be careful not to spread fake news. Check it.
9. Take care of yourselves... and
10. Resist

When you post or talk about him, don't assign his actions to him, assign them to "The Republican Administration" or "The Republicans." This will have several effects: the Republican legislators will either have to take responsibility for their association with him or stand up for what some of them don't like. He will not get the focus of attention he craves.

The advice, it turns out, is from after Trump's 2016 election, and was published in Ebony. It's notable that I assumed it was current.

I think it still stands up. There's not enough awareness that the problem is not just one guy.