Payee
We went one by one, then all at once, we left our father’s
house. Went outside and returned, sleeping children.
Forgetful then we remembered. We believed in our
father. We believed our father in heaven. We left the
house of our father. We left the house and our father is
in heaven. We left heaven and went to work in America.
We toiled and were paid by our father. We unionized
and made our father cry uncle. We were children. We
were not wrong. We lived under our grandmother’s sofa
cushion. We lived in a tract suburb made of the same
identical house. We took a limestone brick and placed it
in our house in the suburbs. Our house in the suburbs
was pink with palm trees and pink with limestone. Our
house in heaven. Our house in America where we
worked for our father. Our house in heaven where God
was limestone. Our limestone brick we planted in our
yard without a flag. Our flagless yard in the suburbs of
heaven where we only lived for God.
We cannot back down
We now confront a second Trump presidency.
There’s not a moment to lose. We must harness our fears, our grief, and yes, our anger, to resist the dangerous policies Donald Trump will unleash on our country. We rededicate ourselves to our role as journalists and writers of principle and conscience.
Today, we also steel ourselves for the fight ahead. It will demand a fearless spirit, an informed mind, wise analysis, and humane resistance. We face the enactment of Project 2025, a far-right supreme court, political authoritarianism, increasing inequality and record homelessness, a looming climate crisis, and conflicts abroad. The Nation will expose and propose, nurture investigative reporting, and stand together as a community to keep hope and possibility alive. The Nation’s work will continue—as it has in good and not-so-good times—to develop alternative ideas and visions, to deepen our mission of truth-telling and deep reporting, and to further solidarity in a nation divided.
Armed with a remarkable 160 years of bold, independent journalism, our mandate today remains the same as when abolitionists first founded The Nation—to uphold the principles of democracy and freedom, serve as a beacon through the darkest days of resistance, and to envision and struggle for a brighter future.
The day is dark, the forces arrayed are tenacious, but as the late Nation editorial board member Toni Morrison wrote “No! This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal.”
I urge you to stand with The Nation and donate today.
Onwards,
Katrina vanden Heuvel
Editorial Director and Publisher, The Nation
