A Story of an Everyday Dissenter: Amanda

On Amanda's channel hope, sarcasm, and information collide, inspiring action.

Can a white board and a phone help fight fascism?

If your answer would be no, let me introduce you to Amanda.

My first interaction with her came through TikTok on Amanda’s Mild Takes. Every week, she pulls out her whiteboard and a stack of sticky notes. With them, she educates.

“I track legislation as it moves through Congress at the national level using just simple Post-Its,” she shared. “The legislative process is extremely convoluted and not at all transparent, so I collate a ton of information into a digestible format that shows people what Congress is ACTUALLY up to.”

To date, hundreds of thousands of people have better understood the legislative process because of her channel. Armed with this information, her viewers, “…can then use it as a template for what calls they want to make that week to their Members.”

This, however, is not her first foray into activism. She began to take a stand years before, first as an abortion clinic escort in her home state of Virginia. Later, she became involved in local electoral politics. This expanded to creating videos for Instagram. “I called it the ‘hope train,’ and I mostly shared good news about the Biden campaign to give people enough hope to go out and take action.”

During the Biden administration, she took a break, yet when Harris lost the election in November, Amanda returned to creating videos. “People needed that kind of tone again, in a much bigger way—because this would be a much bigger fight.”

And it has been.

“My mission is to place the actions of the current Trump administration in the context of American history so we can see how we got here, and how communities throughout American history have successfully resisted fascism.”

Another video series I find encouraging is her list of Trump’s losses for the week. With sarcasm and lines like “The Department of Snarkurity,” she highlights this administration’s “whoopsies.” Not only do the videos bring a bit of levity, but they remind us that not every action taken by the President succeeds, in fact, many do not.

Even her tone encouraging. “I say my takes are “mild” because I deeply dislike how a lot of creators cover the news in a way designed to induce fear and panic, neither of which are useful to successfully strategizing a resistance. So I offer a grounded, clear-headed space for people to take action.”

Hope—this is what people like Amanda inspire. It is hope we must cling to when the days are long. And, there is cause for hope. As she put it, “The nation has survived much worse. Remember, 700,000 people died in the Civil War at a time when the country’s population was a tenth what it is now. And we can survive this.

Despair is what Trump wants you to feel because you’re more likely to obey. Imagine Donald Trump in his full face of bronzer laughing at you, personally, feeling hopeless. Now take that rage and go show him what you’re made of.”

There are a hundreds of ways to resist. Channels like Amanda’s are just one of them.

My thanks to

Amanda's Mild Takes

for taking time to answer my questions. She has recently launched a Substack and you can find her on TikTok.

Up later this week… my weekly list and Audacity, bringing the arts to the resistance.

And speaking of TikTok, I am now sharing bite-sized updates on that platform. Find me HERE.