Like most, I am pleased to say goodbye to 2018.  Although after reflecting, I see the many benefits from the year just gone.  

While shocked on a near-daily basis at the disrespect spewing from the White House and Congress, this was also a year of mobilization.  Demonstrations supported women, refugees, children and families, the environment and other concerns about US policies as well as the survival of the republic.  Human rights appear to be in decline within our borders, however the opportunity to discuss human rights law and universal human rights has never had a broader US audience.  Many who are stunned by the disrespectful culture had not been familiar with the human rights framework.   For many, what had been intuited as inappropriate and inhumane behavior now is understood as a deprivation of human rights.

2018 saw the #MeToo and Times Up movements thrive, bringing results with it.  The movement to eliminate confidential settlement agreements, the convictions of Larry Nassar and Bill Cosby, along with the arrest of Harvey Weinstein were shocking only in their novelty.  CEOs and other business leaders are being dethroned.  Women supporting women made the difference.

Black Lives Matter is widely supported and the focus of public action as well as long overdue examination of the civil and criminal justice systems.

A new and diverse Democratic cohort was elected and will assume their congressional roles.

Much remains to be done.  Men and women of color continue to be harmed by police in disproportionate rates, to the extent that few conclusions can be drawn other the targeting and bias toward brown and black people.   Women and the sexually different experience higher rates of violence than men.  Men experience high rates of gang violence. Children are separated from their parents at borders as well as through our civil and criminal systems that fail to honor the bonding of children with their parents.  Congress needs to determine whether it will promote democracy by reining in a cruel president.  

2018 was a year of adjustment.  For the first time there was widespread discussion whether our democracy will or can survive.  Behavior we considered unthinkable in a president shocked us, along with the impact of inhumane policies.  Now we know what to expect.  Any denial of the fragility of our democracy has been dispelled.

And we survived.  We are more settled, more focused.    2019 will bring new strategies and activism.  Hope abounds. I for one look forward to the New Year, not only because it marks the end of a difficult 2018, but because we have seen successes in human rights advocacy and more successes are on their way.